VOA: IS Fighters Fleeing Iraq Leave Carnage Behind
AYYARAH, IRAQ/WASHINGTON — As Islamic State fighters are being routed from cities and towns across Syria and Iraq, they increasingly leave behind carnage, causing major damage to local economies and devastating people they already have traumatized.
A VOA reporter this week visited a town that was held by IS until last week, when Iraqi forces pushed the fighters out. The oil-rich town of Qayyarah, 60 kilometers south of Mosul, was under IS rule for more than two years. IS militants made certain that Qayyarah's infrastructure was damaged before they were defeated. Houses were partially or fully destroyed. Oil wells were set ablaze, causing major damage to the economy and the environment. At least 10 oil fields were burned down, local sources said.
"IS targeted oil fields knowing it was people's money," said Hussein Jasim, a resident of Qayyarah, referring to the Iraqi economy.
Read more ....
Update: Apocalyptic scenes as fleeing ISIS fighters bomb Iraqi town's pipelines leaving rivers of oil and streets on fire (Mirror)
WNU Editor: The Islamic State is going to be defeated .... but the scars of this conflict are going to last for years.
True. Everybody was laughing at G.W.Bush when he said, after 9/11, that the war against terror will be more than a decade long. In fact he was a little bit optimistic.
ReplyDelete