Daily Comments On Humanitarian Crisis In Iraq

Tehran, Aug 18, IRNA - ˈIran Dailyˈ on Monday condemned the ISIL Takfiri militants invasion of many parts of Iraq, including places near Iraqˈs border with Syria, mercilessly killing even women and children. In light of the humanitarian crisis created by the criminal terrorists group, Iraq and its semi-autonomous Kurdish region are under dire threat of the ISIL and its allies, wrote the English-language paper in its Opinion column. Iran helped the Kurds bearing in mind the age-old Iran-Kurdistan ties and Iranian officials’ realistic understanding of the situation in northern Iraq. From the onset of ISIL assault, Iran announced that it back the Iraqi and Kurdish people and will use its facilities to help Iraq’s central government and the KRG in the face of the terrorists’ threats, noted the paper. Based on this, Iran delivered huge humanitarian aid to the Kurdish government, it said adding that the countryˈs aid to Iraqi Kurds is very important from the strategic and political angles. In a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region has praised Iran for supporting Iraqi Kurds in the current tough circumstances as ISIL terrorists are wreaking havoc on the Arab country. Masoud Barzani thanked the Islamic Republic for throwing its weight behind Iraqi Kurds in the face of the ongoing crisis fueled by the ISIL Takfiri terrorists. The Kurdish leader further said friendly relations and mutual Tehran-Erbil cooperation will definitely consolidate peaceful co-existence between neighboring Iranian and Kurdish people. “I am sure that the friendly relations, reciprocal contributions, and peaceful and brotherly coexistence between the Iranian nation and the Iraqi Kurdistan will not only continue, but also will be further strengthened,” the paper quoted Barzani as saying. Kurdish media reports say Tehran has dispatched consignments of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, to Iraq’s Kurdistan region since the ISIL militants began their terrorist operations in the northern parts of the Arab country in early June. Iraqi Kurds have encountered many problems and atrocities in the city of Sinjar. Many of Iraqi refugees including Kurdish Yazidis have been killed and thousands more are besieged by ISIL terrorists in the mountains of Sinjar. The refugees are in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter because they have nowhere to escape. This is while thousands of Kurdish women and children are in the custody of the terrorists. Local Kurdish intelligence sources say they have received information that the captured women are being sold to traffickers at between $500 and $43,000 to work in bordellos across the Middle East. Several women have reportedly been forced to marry ISIL militants. The ISIL terrorists have been committing heinous crimes in the captured areas of Iraq, including the mass execution of civilians and Iraqi security forces. Therefore the Iraqi refugees are in very precarious condition and need international assistance. Today the Iraqi Kurdistan is hosting Arab, Kurdish, Yazidi and Christian refugees despite the fact that its facilities are very limited. So aid for the oppressed refugees in Kurdistan by Iranian organizations is necessary because this is a moral and humanitarian duty of Iranians to help those are in dire need in the neighboring state that has historical and civlizational links with Iran, the paper said in conclusion.