Following the fierce fighting in Fallujah, the US government is today (July 20) holding a pledging conference in Washington with major governments. They aim to raise $861 million to support humanitarian and stabilization efforts in Iraq'.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, says that levels of suffering in Syria and Iraq have reached unprecedented levels. "Hundreds of thousands killed; millions on the move; families torn apart," states Maurer. "Even as Ramadan comes to an end, many, many ordinary people are living in abject fear and terrifying uncertainty. A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding."
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says over 9 million people are in urgent need of aid in the Lake Chad region of Africa. More than 2.4 million people have fled their homes in four countries, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria because of the conflict between government forces and armed opposition, which has lasted six years.
As the battle for Fallujah intensifies, thousands of people have fled the central Iraqi city in the past two weeks. The city, the largest in Anbar Province, has been under siege since early 2014. According to the United Nations at least 50,000 people are still trapped in the heart of the city.
Five years since the Libyan revolution which ousted Colonel Gadhafi from power, bullets are still flying. The situation is getting worse as fighting intensifies, pushing people out of their homes.
Today (June 1) the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delivered medicines, baby milk, vaccines and nutritional items for children to the besieged town of Daraya with the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.
An aid convoy carrying much needed humanitarian assistance for over 120,000 people is on route to the besieged town of Al Rastan near Homs.
On the eve of International Mine Awareness Day (4 April 2016), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is highlighting the threat to civilians from anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordnance in Iraq -one of a number of countries where new mines are being laid.
Al Houleh has been under siege since 2012 and the scene of heavy fighting for months. People are in a desperate situation in this and other besieged areas trying to survive on very little.
On the eve of a possible cessation of hostilities in Syria the International Committee of the Red Cross is appealing to all those with influence to work to end the conflict.