“The rehabilitation process can not resume unless the security situation improves with the conclusion of the battle for Mosul”, oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters.
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Last week, Iraqi forces pushed the extremist group from Qayyarah, a town considered strategic for any future offensive against Mosul.
Witnesses and relatives told Human Rights Watch that two tribal militias (Hashad al-Asha’ri) recruited as fighters at least seven children from the Debaga camp on August 14, 2016, and drove them to a town closer to Mosul, where Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are preparing for an offensive to drive the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, from the city.
The US-led coalition fighting Daesh in Iraq and Syria for the past two years has for months framed the upcoming battle for Mosul as the defining fight against the extremists in Iraq. Islamic State used to ship at least 50 tanker truckloads a day from Qayyara and nearby Najma oilfields to neighbouring Syria.
Iraqi militias are recruiting children from camps for those displaced by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), in preparation for a full-scale offensive to recapture the city of Mosul from the Islamist group, an worldwide rights groups said on Tuesday.
Smell of fuel inundates area.. Wind carries the smoke from well fires into the town centre. More than a few minutes in the area leaves one’s throat burning, and children walking the streets have quickly developed coughs.
He added the United States should urge the Iraqi government to ensure troops supporting them don’t have under 18s in their ranks. Gas rains down on us at night. “They are suffocating us”. “The birds, the animals are black, the people are black”.
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Children flashed peace signs and some played in the black reflective pools of oil that spilled into main streets after Islamic State blew up pipelines and wells next to a main hospital in a likely attempt to obstruct visibility for coalition air strikes.
