Human Tragedy Unfolds in Iraq’s Al-Qaim
AL-QAIM, Iraq, May 13, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Hundreds of Iraqi families have fled the western Iraqi town of Al-Qaim to escape the ongoing US attacks there, with the Red Crescent warning that the US offensive has turned the city into a “big disaster”, as local inhabitants complained about the stench of dead bodies laid on the streets or beneath the rubble of houses as a result of the fierce US offensive.
Firdous Al-Abadi, a spokesman for the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS), said more than 100 Iraqi families have fled Al-Qaim in the Al-Anbar province near the Syrian borders to the town of A’ana, some 75 km from Al-Qaim.
She added that unknown numbers of Iraqi families also fled to Rawa and Haditha, some 70 km to the northeast.
“More people are desperately trying to leave the town and according to our information US troops have closed all exit points,” Abadi told the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) Thursday, May 12.
The ongoing clashes in the city barred many medical convoys from reaching the city to bury corpses of the Iraqis killed in the fighting, whose bodies are laid on the streets and beneath the rubble of the houses.
“The situation is very tragic and could turn into a disaster because of the dead bodies which are left in the streets,” doctor Walid Al-Obeidi told Al-Quds Press Friday.
He urged both US occupation forces and Iraqi resistance fighters to halt the clashes to allow the medical convoys to bury the dead.
More than 1,000 US Marines have been launching a sweeping offensive on the city of Al-Qaim since May 7, on claims of searching for followers of Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq.
No Choice
Iraqi children pay the price.
Iraqi families, who have fled the town, said many innocent people were caught in the middle of the clashes between the US occupation forces and the Iraqi resistance and had no choice but to leave their homes.
“I couldn’t take anything with me as we ran to escape clashes. We have been helped by a Sheikh in this mosque,” Abu Omar told IRIN, as he and his four-member family took refuge in a mosque in Al-Qaim.
Um Mazin, another Iraqi woman fleeing the town, said she left the area with her family to escape the American bombings, according to the Associated Press (AP).
“The Americans do not hit the gunmen; they hit the houses of civilians.”
But as they hurried to escape their lives, they failed to bring enough supplies they needed to survive.
“We did not take enough food, water, medicine or clothes...and we are tired of the sandstorms,” Um Mazin said wearily.
“No one can go back now, and we do not know what happened to our husbands.”
On Thursday, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society sent a convoy of supplies to the area, carrying food and medical items, potable water, tents and ambulances.
“A team of 15 people with three trucks packed with tents, blankets, kitchen utensils, water, medicine and food arrived today in Akashat,” Mazen Abdallah told Agence France Presse (AFP) Friday.
Lack of Supplies
As they left the western Iraqi town, fleeing families have taken refuge in two abandoned schools and a mosque between Al-Qaim and Rawa as well as in the local sports stadium to escape the clashes.
Helping them to survive, local religious leaders from the area were supplying the families with food and water.
However, there are high fears of a humanitarian crisis in the area as a result of the continuing clashes which prevented the relief convoys from reaching afflicted people.
“Our contacts inside Al-Qaim, told us by phone, that there is no power, no telephones and a 24-hour curfew has been imposed,” Al-Abadi said.
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