This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/world/middleeast/iraq-aid.html
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| U.N. Plans Ambitious Operation to Help Displaced Iraqis | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| GENEVA — As Kurdish and Iraqi forces backed by American jets battled to dislodge Islamic militants from areas around Mosul Dam in northern Iraq, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday that it was planning one of its biggest aid operations in recent years. | GENEVA — As Kurdish and Iraqi forces backed by American jets battled to dislodge Islamic militants from areas around Mosul Dam in northern Iraq, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday that it was planning one of its biggest aid operations in recent years. |
| Citing “immense” humanitarian challenges in Iraq, the agency is coordinating an effort to deliver aid by air, land and sea to more than a half-million people driven from their homes by fighting in recent weeks. | Citing “immense” humanitarian challenges in Iraq, the agency is coordinating an effort to deliver aid by air, land and sea to more than a half-million people driven from their homes by fighting in recent weeks. |
| A four-day airlift of supplies using Boeing 747s from the southern Jordanian town of Aqaba to Erbil in the Kurdish-held north of Iraq on Wednesday will be followed by truck convoys crossing the border from Turkey, Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Geneva. | A four-day airlift of supplies using Boeing 747s from the southern Jordanian town of Aqaba to Erbil in the Kurdish-held north of Iraq on Wednesday will be followed by truck convoys crossing the border from Turkey, Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Geneva. |
| The operation is “one of the largest we have done and certainly the largest in quite a while,” he said. | The operation is “one of the largest we have done and certainly the largest in quite a while,” he said. |
| The half-million people displaced by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in northern Iraq in June is in addition to the 600,000 people that the refugee agency estimates to have fled fighting earlier in the year in Anbar Province, Mr. Edwards said. | The half-million people displaced by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in northern Iraq in June is in addition to the 600,000 people that the refugee agency estimates to have fled fighting earlier in the year in Anbar Province, Mr. Edwards said. |
| The United Nations estimates that around 200,000 Yazidis, a small religious minority, were driven from the Sinjar area amid reports of summary executions, abductions of women and children, and harsh punishment as ISIS forces took over the area. Most of the Yazidis made their way, often in harrowing circumstances, to northern Iraq, but around 11,000 took refuge in Syria, Mr. Edwards said. | The United Nations estimates that around 200,000 Yazidis, a small religious minority, were driven from the Sinjar area amid reports of summary executions, abductions of women and children, and harsh punishment as ISIS forces took over the area. Most of the Yazidis made their way, often in harrowing circumstances, to northern Iraq, but around 11,000 took refuge in Syria, Mr. Edwards said. |
| With thousands of people living in unfinished buildings or cramming into schools and mosques, a priority of the aid effort is to provide tents and other basics for survival. | With thousands of people living in unfinished buildings or cramming into schools and mosques, a priority of the aid effort is to provide tents and other basics for survival. |
| “Many are still coming to grips with the tragedy they’ve been through in recent weeks,” Mr. Edwards said. | “Many are still coming to grips with the tragedy they’ve been through in recent weeks,” Mr. Edwards said. |
| The refugee agency is setting up about eight camps for the displaced in the Kurdish governorates of Erbil and Dohuk and envisions as many as 14 camps that would be capable of housing 140,000 people, he said. | The refugee agency is setting up about eight camps for the displaced in the Kurdish governorates of Erbil and Dohuk and envisions as many as 14 camps that would be capable of housing 140,000 people, he said. |
| The World Food Program reported Tuesday that it was scaling up emergency food deliveries, describing the food situation in Iraq as the worst since the early 1990s. | The World Food Program reported Tuesday that it was scaling up emergency food deliveries, describing the food situation in Iraq as the worst since the early 1990s. |
| The food agency said it had supplied food to more than a half-million people since June and was hoping to reach 1.2 million by 2015. | The food agency said it had supplied food to more than a half-million people since June and was hoping to reach 1.2 million by 2015. |
| Helped by a donation of $148 million from Saudi Arabia, the agency said it had opened eight emergency kitchens in Dohuk in the past two weeks, providing hot food to about 173,000 people, many of them Yazidis who had fled the violence in the Sinjar mountains. The Saudi donation to the food agency was part of a $500 million pledge it made in July for United Nations humanitarian assistance to Iraq. | Helped by a donation of $148 million from Saudi Arabia, the agency said it had opened eight emergency kitchens in Dohuk in the past two weeks, providing hot food to about 173,000 people, many of them Yazidis who had fled the violence in the Sinjar mountains. The Saudi donation to the food agency was part of a $500 million pledge it made in July for United Nations humanitarian assistance to Iraq. |