BAGHDAD: The US-led coalition has come under increasing scrutiny by monitoring groups regarding civilian casualties in the fight against the Daesh group in Iraq, a turn that is worrying some in the country’s political leadership who fear the destruction and loss of life could complicate hopes of reconciliation with the country’s minority Sunnis.
The Pentagon acknowledged over the weekend that at least 352 civilians have been killed by coalition strikes in Iraq and Syria since the start of the air campaign against Daesh in 2014. However, activists and monitoring groups say the number is much higher.
The coalition argues that casualties are inevitable in urban warfare with irregulars mixing with civilians and determined to stage a last stand. But critics see a degree of recklessness and excess that aligns with the heavy-handed rule of the Sunni areas by the Shiite dominated Iraqi government.
Here’s a look at some aspects of the situation.
A DEVASTATING MISTAKE
Last month, the Pentagon launched an investigation into an incident in which Mosul residents say a single airstrike killed more than 100 civilians sheltering in a house in the western part of the Iraqi city that was also being used by Daesh fighters.
While both Iraqi and coalition planes are active in the skies above Mosul, the US acknowledged coalition planes conducted a strike “at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties,” but did not confirm the number of casualties inflicted or the circumstances of the event.
The incident sparked outrage in Iraq and beyond with calls from local government officials as well as the United Nations for greater restraint in the fight against Daesh for Mosul.
Despite the allegations surrounding the March 17 strike, the spokesman for the US-led coalition Col. John Dorrian told The Associated Press that the coalition’s anti-Daesh operations remain “the most precise air campaign in history.”
“But all the tactics, techniques and procedures and plans that we have, all these things are executed by people,” he said, “and what that means is, it’s not going to be perfect, it’s going to be as good as we can possibly make it.”
More than a month since the incident, Dorrian declined to specify when the investigation — the most extensive single investigation into civilian deaths undertaken by the coalition since the fight against Daesh began — would be complete.
WHY IT’S HAPPENING
Civilian deaths in the nearly three-year battle against Daesh spiked as Iraqi forces pushed into Mosul, undertaking some of the toughest fighting yet. The battle space, with its narrow streets, is claustrophobic and the Daesh group is holding hundreds of thousands of civilians in the city as human shields.
Since Iraqi forces pushed into western Mosul in February, the fighting has killed and wounded more than 4,000 civilians, according to the United Nations, a number that only counts civilians who reached a trauma hospital for treatment.
In the most recent report, the Pentagon announced on Sunday that investigations conducted during the month of March show that coalition airstrikes killed 45 civilians, mostly in and around Mosul. In each incident, the Pentagon said “all feasible precautions were taken,” but the strikes still resulted in “unintentional” loss of civilian life.
The report came days after President Donald Trump gave the Pentagon greater flexibility to determine the number of US troops in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon had already been making quiet, incremental additions to the troop levels in both countries in recent months.
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
The Pentagon acknowledged over the weekend that at least 352 civilians have been killed by coalition strikes in Iraq and Syria since the start of the air campaign against Daesh. Activists and monitoring groups put the number much higher, with London-based monitoring group Airwars reporting coalition strikes have killed more than 3,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria since 2014.
The Pentagon’s Sunday statement also included the findings of an audit begun in March that inspected the way the US-led coalition reports and tracks civilian casualties in the fight against Daesh.
The statement said the audit found that 80 civilian deaths caused by coalition airstrikes had not been previously publicly reported and two civilian deaths previously reported were found to have not been caused by the coalition.
Some in Iraq’s political leadership have expressed concern that the levels of damage and loss of human life in Mosul will make reconciliation with the country’s minority Sunni population more difficult after a military defeat of Daesh.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR POST-WAR GOVERNANCE
Iraq’s Parliament speaker, Salim Al-Jabouri, one of the highest ranking Sunni government officials, has said that reports of increased civilian casualties in western Mosul are of “great concern.”
When Haider Al-Abadi took office in 2014, he promised reforms that would hold corrupt Iraqi leadership accountable and allocate more of a political stake to the country’s Sunnis. Al-Abadi has handed more control over to Iraq’s regional leadership and appointed a Sunni to lead the Ministry of Defense. But some Iraqis are warning the outcome of the Mosul operation could be pivotal for how the country’s Sunnis view Baghdad’s Shiite-dominated government.
Iraq’s foreign minister has warned such a massive reconciliation effort will need funding and support akin to the Marshall Plan that helped western Europe recover from the devastation of World War II.
In order for Iraq’s military gains to stick, the international community needs “to present assistance to Iraqis and support development and overcome the effect of war against Daesh terrorist gangs,” Jaafari said in a statement released by his office. Daesh is an Arabic name for ISIS.
ROOTS OF DAESH SUPPORT
When the Daesh group rampaged through northwestern Iraq in 2014, the extremists were welcomed by some Sunnis who thought Daesh represented a Sunni revolution that would deliver them from the country’s Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.
Under former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, many of Iraq’s Sunnis began to view the country’s security forces as an occupying force. Police and military units often swept through Sunni communities detaining all military-aged males in an attempt to quell dissent, filling the country’s prisons with men arrested on trumped-up terrorism charges.
Baghdad has not yet presented a comprehensive plan for the governance of Nineveh province once the fight for Mosul is concluded and plans for an Iraqi “national guard” that would give greater control of local security to regional leaders have languished in Parliament.
The United Nations reports more than 800,000 civilians have returned to Anbar province after much of that territory was retaken from Daesh last year, but rebuilding there is mostly being financed with private money as Iraq is still battling an economic crisis sparked in part by the worldwide drop in oil prices.
Civilian casualty toll could complicate Iraqi reconciliation
Civilian casualty toll could complicate Iraqi reconciliation
Displacement of Palestinians from embattled Gaza confronts Egypt with array of challenges
- Egyptians feel morally obliged to help Palestinians but wary of a mass influx through Rafah
- Officials in Cairo see large-scale expulsion by Israel as death knell for Palestinian statehood
CAIRO: More than 1 million Palestinian refugees have found their last refuge in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city on the Egyptian border, where they grimly await a widely expected Israeli offensive against Hamas holdouts in the area.
Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians, many of them with the help of family members already outside Gaza, have managed to cross the border into Egypt, where they remain in a state of limbo, wondering if they will ever return home.
For its part, the Egyptian government faces the prospect of a mass influx of Palestinians from Gaza into Sinai should Israel ignore international appeals to drop its plan to strike Hamas commanders in Rafah.
Although the Egyptian public is sympathetic to the Palestinian plight, shouldering the responsibility of hosting refugees from Gaza is fraught with security implications and economic costs, thereby posing a difficult dilemma.
Furthermore, despite taking in refugees from Sudan, Yemen and Syria, the Egyptian government has been cautious about permitting an influx of Palestinians, as officials fear the expulsion of Gazans would destroy any possibility of a future Palestinian state.
“Egypt has reaffirmed and is reiterating its vehement rejection of the forced displacement of the Palestinians and their transfer to Egyptian lands in Sinai,” Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the Egyptian president, told a peace summit in Cairo last November.
Such a plan would “mark the last gasp in the liquidation of the Palestinian cause, shatter the dream of an independent Palestinian state, and squander the struggle of the Palestinian people and that of the Arab and Islamic peoples over the course of the Palestinian cause that has endured for 75 years,” he added.
Additionally, if Palestinians now living in Rafah are uprooted by an Israeli military offensive, Egypt would be left to carry the burden of a massive humanitarian crisis, at a time when the country is confronting daunting economic challenges.
Although Egypt earlier this year landed its largest foreign investment from the UAE, totaling some $35 billion, experts believe that the economic crisis is far from over, with public debt in 2023 totaling more than 90 percent of gross domestic product and the local currency falling 38 percent against the dollar.
Salma Hussein, a senior researcher in economy and public policies in Egypt, believes Egypt is not in the clear yet.
“We are slightly covered but we will need more money flowing in and bigger investments,” she told Arab News. “We also have large sums of debt we need to pay back. The IMF pretty much recycled our debt and we have interest rates to cover.
“In times of political instability, we see a lot of dollars leaving the country in both legal and illegal ways. This happened in 2022 and it also happened during the last presidential elections in 2023.
“I think the same thing will happen again now due to what’s happening in the region. This is all a loss of capital which can affect us.”
She is confident foreign assistance will be offered. And although the cost of hosting refugees will be high, there are many economic benefits to be had from absorbing another population — even for the Arab world’s most populous country.
“Egypt is too big to fail,” said Hussein. “There will be a bailout of its economy when it’s in deep trouble. And while investments and loans might not turn into prosperity, they will at least keep the country afloat. This is where we are now.
“As for the presence of a growing number of Palestinian refugees, I don’t think any country in the world had its economy damaged by accepting refugees. On the contrary, it might actually benefit from a new workforce, from educated young people, and from wealthy people who are able to relocate their money to their country of residence.”
However, it is not just the economic consequences of a Palestinians influx that is unnerving Egyptian officials. This wave of refugees would likely include a substantial number of Hamas members, who might go on to fuel local support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
FASTFACTS
• 1.1m+ Palestinians who have sought refuge in Rafah from fighting elsewhere in Gaza.
• 14 Children among 18 killed in Israeli strikes on Rafah on April 20.
• 34,000 Total death toll of Palestinians in Israel-Hamas war since Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas shares strong ideological links with the Muslim Brotherhood, which briefly controlled Egypt under the presidency of Mohamed Morsi in 2012-13 and has since been outlawed.
Since Morsi was forced from power, the country has been targeted by Islamist groups, which have launched attacks on Egyptian military bases in the Sinai Peninsula. The government is concerned that these Islamist groups could recruit among displaced Palestinians.
The decision might be out of Egypt’s hands, however. Several members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government have publicly called for the displacement and transfer of Palestinians in Gaza into neighboring countries.
Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, previously said that the departure of the Palestinians would make way for “Israelis to make the desert bloom” — meaning the land’s reoccupation by Israeli settlers.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s minister of security, also said: “We yelled and we warned, if we don’t want another Oct. 7, we need to return home and control the land.”
Up to 100,000 Palestinians live in Egypt, many of them survivors of the Nakba of 1948 and their descendants. Their numbers steadily rose when Gamal Abdel Nasser came into power in 1954 and permitted Palestinians to live and work in the country.
However, matters changed after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Palestinians became foreign nationals, excluded from state services and no longer granted the automatic right to residency.
The precise number of Palestinians who have arrived in Egypt since the Gaza war began after Oct. 7 has not been officially recorded.
Those who have made it to Egypt, where they are hosted by sympathetic Egyptian families, fear they will be permanently displaced if Israel does not allow them back into Gaza. Many now struggle financially, having lost their homes and livelihoods during the war.
For host families, this act of charity is an additional burden on their own stretched finances. “We feel for the Palestinians but our hands are tied,” one Egyptian host in Cairo, who asked to remain anonymous, told Arab News.
“I am struggling financially myself, but I cannot bring myself to ask for rent from a man who lost his entire family and now lives with his sole surviving daughters.”
On the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, trucks carrying aid and consumer goods are idling in queues stretching for miles, waiting for Israeli forces to permit entry and the distribution of vital cargo.
Many of the Egyptian truckers waiting at the border are paid to do so by the state. “We get salaries from the government and they provide us with basic food and water as we wait here,” one driver told Arab News on condition of anonymity.
Israel has been limiting the flow of aid into Gaza since the war began, leading to shortages of essentials in the embattled enclave. Although Israel and Washington say the amount of aid permitted to enter has increased, UN agencies claim it is still well below what is needed.
Meanwhile, the truck drivers are forced to wait, many of them sleeping in their cabs or carrying makeshift beds with them. “I’d do this with or without a salary,” the trucker said. “Those are our brothers and sisters who are starving and dying.”
With events in Gaza out of their control, all Egyptians feel they can do is help in whatever small way they can — and hope that the war ends soon without a Palestinian exodus.
“It is unfathomable to me that we are carrying life-saving equipment and food literally just hours away from a people subjected to a genocide, and there are yet no orders to enter Gaza through the border,” the truck driver said.
“It shames me. I park here and I wait, and continue to wait. I will not leave until I unburden this load, which has become a moral duty now more than anything.”
Biden and Netanyahu speak as pressure on Israel’s planned Rafah attack increases
TEL AVIV, Israel: The White House on Sunday said US President Joe Biden had again spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as pressure builds on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a ceasefire in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.
The White House said that Biden reiterated his “clear position” as Israel plans to invade Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah despite global concern for more than 1 million Palestinians sheltering there. The US opposes the invasion on humanitarian grounds, straining relations between the allies. Israel is among the countries US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit as he returns to the Middle East on Monday.
Biden also stressed that progress in delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza be “sustained and enhanced,” according to the statement. The call lasted just under an hour, and they agreed the onus remains on Hamas to accept the latest offer in negotiations, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to comment publicly. There was no comment from Netanyahu’s office.
A senior official from key intermediary Qatar, meanwhile, urged Israel and Hamas to show “more commitment and more seriousness” in negotiations. Qatar, which hosts Hamas’ headquarters in Doha, was instrumental along with the US and Egypt in helping negotiate a brief halt to the fighting in November that led to the release of dozens of hostages. But in a sign of frustration, Qatar this month said that it was reassessing its role.
An Israeli delegation is expected in Egypt in the coming days to discuss the latest proposals in negotiations, and senior Hamas official Basem Naim said in a message to The Associated Press that a delegation from the militant group will also head to Cairo. Egypt’s state-owned Al Qahera News satellite television channel said that the delegation would arrive on Monday.
The comments by Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari in interviews with the liberal daily Haaretz and Israeli public broadcaster Kan were published and aired Saturday evening.
Al-Ansari expressed disappointment with Hamas and Israel, saying each side has made decisions based on political interests and not with civilians’ welfare in mind. He didn’t reveal details on the talks other than to say they have “effectively stopped,” with “both sides entrenched in their positions.”
Al-Ansari’s remarks came after an Egyptian delegation discussed with Israeli officials a “new vision” for a prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, according to an Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss developments.
The Egyptian official said that Israeli officials are open to discussing establishing a permanent ceasefire in Gaza as part of the second phase of a deal. Israel has refused to end the war until it defeats Hamas.
The second phase would start after the release of civilian and sick hostages, and would include negotiating the release of soldiers, the official added. Senior Palestinian prisoners would be released and a reconstruction process launched.
Negotiations earlier this month centered on a six-week ceasefire proposal and the release of 40 civilian and sick hostages held by Hamas in exchange for freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
A letter written by Biden and 17 other world leaders urged Hamas to release their citizens immediately. In recent days, Hamas has released new videos of three hostages, an apparent push for Israel to make concessions.
The growing pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire deal is also meant to avert an Israeli attack on Rafah, the city on the border with Egypt where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is seeking shelter. Israel has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles. The planned incursion has raised global alarm.
“Only a small strike is all it takes to force everyone to leave Palestine,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asserted to the opening session of the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia, adding that he believed an invasion would happen within days.
But White House national security spokesman John Kirby told ABC that Israel “assured us they won’t go into Rafah until we’ve had a chance to really share our perspectives and concerns with them. So, we’ll see where that goes.”
The Israeli troop buildup may also be a pressure tactic on Hamas in talks. Israel sees Rafah as Hamas’ last major stronghold. It vows to destroy the group’s military and governing capabilities.
Aid groups have warned that an invasion of Rafah would worsen the already desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, where hunger is widespread. About 400 tons of aid arrived Sunday at the Israeli port of Ashdod — the largest shipment yet by sea via Cyprus — according to the United Arab Emirates. It wasn’t immediately clear how or when it would be delivered into Gaza.
Also on Sunday, World Central Kitchen said that it would resume operations in Gaza on Monday, ending a four-week suspension after Israeli military drones killed seven of its aid workers. The organization has 276 trucks ready to enter through the Rafah crossing and will also send trucks into Gaza from Jordan, a statement said. It’s also examining if the Ashdod port can be used to offload supplies.
The war was sparked by Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 into southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities, who say another 250 people were taken hostage. Hamas and other groups are holding about 130 people, including the remains of about 30, Israeli authorities say.
Israel’s retaliatory assault on Hamas has killed more than 34,000 people, most of them women and children, according to health authorities in Gaza, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally.
The Israeli military blames Hamas for civilian casualties, accusing it of embedding in residential and public areas. It says it has killed at least 12,000 militants, without providing evidence.
UAE field hospital in Gaza provides prosthetics for wounded Palestinians
- The hospital revealed plans to distribute 61 prosthetics to wounded people over several phases
RIYADH: The UAE field hospital in Gaza has begun the process of fitting prosthetics for individuals who lost limbs during Israel’s war on the encalve, Emirates News Agency reported on Sunday.
The hospital revealed plans to distribute 61 prosthetics to wounded people over several phases, with each phase accommodating 10 individuals for the fitting process, coupled with physical and psychological rehabilitation support.
Established last December, the UAE field hospital in Gaza boasts a capacity of 200 beds and operates with a medical team comprising 98 volunteers from 23 different countries, including 73 men and 25 women.
Since then, the hospital has conducted a total of 1,517 major and minor surgeries, catering to over 18,000 cases necessitating medical intervention.
Their services range from initial first aid to life-saving surgeries, provision of essential treatments and medications, intensive care, and ongoing medical consultations and support.
Blinken to visit Israel, Jordan on new Mideast trip
SHANNON, Ireland: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and Jordan on a trip through Wednesday, the State Department announced, after the US and Israeli leaders discussed hostage-release talks.
Blinken will travel to both countries, a State Department official confirmed as the top US diplomat refueled Sunday in Ireland.
The trip was announced after President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone about ongoing talks to halt Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip in return for the release of hostages.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate a new truce between Israel and Hamas for months, as public pressure mounts for a deal.
Biden also reiterated concerns about Israel launching an operation in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than one million Palestinians have taken shelter.
The State Department did not immediately announce details of the two stops.
Migrants eyeing Europe bide their time in Tunisia
EL-AMRA: Thousands of sub-Saharan migrants have huddled in Tunisian olive groves for months, living in makeshift tents and surviving on meager rations while keeping their hopes alive of reaching Europe.
Around 20,000 are in isolated areas near the towns of El-Amra and Jebeniana, some 30 and 40 kilometers north of the port city of Sfax, humanitarian sources say.
Sfax is one of Tunisia’s main departure points for irregular migration to Europe by boat, and was once a hub for sub-Saharan migrants.
After being forcibly removed from the city last autumn, migrants set up camp in neighboring towns as they awaited their chance to make the perilous crossing.
One weary 17-year-old calling himself Ibrahim said he had left Guinea more than a year ago, hoping to reach the other side of the Mediterranean “to provide for his sick mother and little brother” back home.
He said that after walking for three weeks from the border with Algeria, he arrived in El-Amra in midwinter, about three months ago.
“It’s really difficult here,” he said, adding that he and other migrants feel trapped on the sidelines of society.
“Even shopping, we have to do it in secret ... You can go out looking for work, but when it’s time for your employer to pay you, they would call the police,” he said.
Last year, anti-migrant violence broke out and hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans were kicked out of their jobs and homes.
Tens of thousands embarked from Sfax in 2023 because of its proximity to Italy, the closest European country.
“We are only a few kilometers from Europe,” said Ibrahim of Lampedusa island some 150 kilometers away.
Near El-Amra, in tents made of tarpaulins and rods, groups of five — and at times even 10 — share the same sleeping space.
Men, women and children, mostly from Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Sudan, congregate by language.
The women cook stew as men remove the feathers of inedible-looking yet indispensable bony chickens.
The winter “was very cold, but we managed to survive thanks to the solidarity we have as African brothers,” said Ibrahim.
“If someone has food and you don’t, they give you some,” he said.
“We bought the tarpaulins with our money,” which relatives managed to send them, “or by begging.”
Some 7,000 migrants received their first food aid in months from NGOs earlier in April, but they said this was not enough and called for more help from Europe, which has ramped up measures aiming to curb irregular migration.
According to Romdhane Ben Amor, spokesman of the Tunisian NGO FTDES, the North African country “is turning into a de facto detention center because of border control agreements signed with the EU.”
Hygiene is a pressing concern at the encampments. “There have been many births and sicknesses,” said Ibrahim.
One humanitarian source said there had been one migrant birth per day in recent weeks at a hospital in Jebeniana.
Salima, 17, said she had no diapers for her four-month-old baby and had to use plastic bags instead.
While awaiting the resumption of departures for Europe, delayed because of bad weather, Salima said she was still determined to make the crossing.
Tunisian authorities raided several encampments recently, tearing down tents and kicking out some migrants, after locals allegedly reported thefts.
Near Jebeniana, journalists saw used tear gas canisters, bulldozers and destroyed tents — some of which were already being put back up.
“We’re very tired of the police,” said 22-year-old Sokoto — also a pseudonym — who left Guinea three years ago and entered from Algeria last January.
“Just yesterday, I was chased from shops” in the town of El-Amra, he said.
Mohamed Bekri, a resident of El-Amra, said he often brings food and water to the migrants for “humanitarian” reasons.
“There are babies who are three and six months old,” he said.
Despite the tensions and the dire situation the migrants find themselves in, none of those interviewed said they wanted to return to their countries of origin.
“The reverse gear is broken,” said Sokoto. “I left to help my family and I suffered a lot to get here.”
