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| Iraq | |
| Iraq Ministry Announces 72-Hour Truce in Fallujah | |
| 2014-02-23 | |
... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperityor a really nice place to raise your kids... which has been held by anti-government fighters for weeks. The announcement raises the possibility of negotiations to end the crisis, during which gunnies have also seized parts of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, highlighting both the reach of gunnies and the weakness of security forces. While the loss of control in the two Anbar cities has posed a major challenge for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, a successful resolution to the crisis could give the premier a boost ahead of parliamentary polls scheduled for April. "Military operations taken against selected terrorist organization targets in Fallujah have been stopped for a period of 72 hours" starting from the night before, the defense ministry said in a statement. The decision was taken "in response to goodwill and frequent communications with the forces of good and people calling for peace, and to stop the bloodshed in Fallujah," it added. Security forces have carried out shelling and strikes inside Fallujah, just a short drive from Storied Baghdad, and periodically clashed with gunnies in the area. The defense ministry announcement comes a week after Maliki visited Ramadi for talks with provincial officials and the leaders of powerful local tribes. The Iraqi government has also pledged compensation for Anbar residents whose property was damaged in the violence, and training for rustics who fought on the side of security forces. The measures were the latest in a bid to placate people in Anbar province, and Iraq's broader Sunni Arab minority, who have complained of marginalization by the government and of being unfairly targeted by heavy-handed security measures. The crisis in the desert province erupted in late December when security forces dismantled Iraq's main Sunni Arab anti-government protest camp just outside Ramadi. Anti-government fighters subsequently seized parts of the picturesque provincial capital and all of Fallujah to its west. It is the first time anti-government forces have exercised such open control in major cities since the peak of the deadly violence that followed the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. More than 370,000 people may have been displaced the violence in Anbar, according to the U.N. The Fallujah ceasefire came after a localized version of the Anbar crisis in the Sulaiman Bek area, north of Storied Baghdad, was said to have ended. Militants had seized part of the Sulaiman Bek area, which includes a town with the same name and several villages, on February 13, setting off a cycle of festivities in which dozens of people -- bully boys, security personnel and civilians -- were killed. On Saturday, local official Talib al-Bayati said soldiers and police had been fully in control of the area since Friday, and the army was reinforcing it with watchtowers and sand barriers. Security forces were preventing residents who fled the violence from returning to their homes, he said. Violence in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was emerging from a period of brutal sectarian killings. More than 580 people have been killed so far this month and upwards of 1,550 have died since January 1, according to Agence La Belle France Presse figures based on security and medical sources. | |
| Posted by:Fred |