 |
|
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
IRAQ: Dozens of Iraqis evacuated from Lebanon require urgent assistance
BAGHDAD, 31 Jul 2006 (IRIN) - Dozens of Iraqis who fled Lebanon after the Israeli offensive began on 12 July have now reached the Iraqi capital, Baghdad and urgently need assistance, Iraqi officials said.
“They [the Iraqis] have lost everything they had and now depend on assistance from relatives, most of whom are living in poverty,” said Diyar Salushi, a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ali Hussein, 38, an Iraqi who worked as a cabinet maker in Beirut said that when the Israeli offensive started, he and his five family members tried to flee to the mountains. “Later we learnt that our house and office were totally destroyed,” he said.
The Iraqi embassy helped them to leave the country. “But our situation is critical here since we do not have a home, money or job and the children are sick with no medicines,” Hussein said.
According to Salushi, about 800 Iraqis have been safely transported to Syria but only about 100 have returned to Iraq. He said so far officials know of two Iraqis who have died during the bombardment in Lebanon.
The remaining Iraqi refugees are living in improvised camps near the Syrian capital, Damascus, waiting for humanitarian assistance to return to Baghdad.
“We are giving assistance to those in Syria like food supplies and medical assistance, but in Iraq it gets easier since they have relatives to help them and assist their return,” Salushi said.
Manhal Hussein Al-Saffi, counsellor at the Iraqi embassy in Lebanon, said there are about 400 Iraqis in Lebanon waiting to be evacuated to Iraq. The telephone at the Iraqi ambassador’s residence rings constantly with calls from expatriate Iraqi families seeking help.
“We are trying to fix the most number of trips on a daily basis, but no one is giving us a guarantee of safety,” Al-Saffi said. “For this reason it is so difficult to evacuate all Iraqis at the same time. We have transport for them, but it will depend on safety conditions.”
The Iraqis that have returned say that their situation is harder in Iraq, since they no longer have daily salaries to support their families.
“I was in Lebanon working with my family for more than three years, and I lost everything I had because they attacked my home which had inside everything I built during this time, including our money,” said Jaffer Ala’a, 53, a plumber. He left Iraq due to war.
“Now I’m here in Iraq depending on assistance, leaving from a conflict to a conflict, seeing in the eyes of my children suffering and depression with the idea that life is a war and whatever we are, our fate is bullets and destruction,” Ala’a said.
No immediate assistance has been given as yet to those Iraqis who have returned to the country, either from government or local nongovernment organisations.
Iraqis who have come from Lebanon said that they do not want to return even if the fighting stops. They said they will try to leave for countries in Europe and the Americas, where war is far away.
“I thank Lebanon for helping us during the three years that I was there with my family,” said Carlo Yacari, 42, an Iraqi Christian who was living in Beirut. “But we cannot tolerate more destruction and violence, and we now will work hard to leave to a European country where at least we will be far from the sounds of explosions and bombardments.”
AS/AR/LS
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
