Fallujah, Iraq : The United Nations on Wednesday revised significantly upward the number of civilians believed trapped in besieged Fallujah, a Daesh/ISIS stronghold near Baghdad, to possibly 90,000 from a previous estimate of 50,000.
In a telephone interview with Reuters in Baghdad, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande warned that civilians could face a “harrowing” situation in the besieged city, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad.
“More than 20,000 people have managed to flee the city in extremely difficult conditions, having walked for days and faced Daesh fire to reach government-held areas,” she said.
Grande made an urgent call to fund operations to help more than 7 million people in the war-torn country, saying only 30 percent of the UN’s $860 million appeal has been met so far.
“We just can’t do more if we don’t get urgent funding,” she said, adding: “It is so hard to understand how the international community can be investing so much in the military operation and shortchange the victims.”
UN agencies had appealed to all parties to the conflict in Iraq to protect families and provide those affected by the violence free and safe access away from the conflict.—AB/IINA