Iraqi forces in a race to save the innocents of Amerli as Kerry calls for 'global coalition'

[Geee]

UK Telegraph:

raqi forces started a full-scale offensive to free the besieged town of Amerli, where Shia Muslim residents have been threatened by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), as public support swelled for an international military campaign against the group.

Amerli had been cut off by jihadists since June, with its residents facing shortages of food and water. Had the town been overrun by Isil, its occupants were likely to face death because of their Shia faith, which jihadists consider heresy.

Lt Gen Abdulamir al-Zaidi said the operation to free Amerli from the jihadists had been launched by troops south of the town, with support from Iraqi aircraft, as Shia militias attacked from the north.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, called for the formation of a “global coalition” as King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia separately urged “rapid” international action against Isil.

Mr Kerry said military action was not enough in a piece for the New York Times: “What’s needed to confront [isil’s] nihilistic vision and genocidal agenda is a global coalition using political, humanitarian, economic, law enforcement and intelligence tools to support military force.”

[Geee]

Lost daughters and orphaned children: Iraq has become a tragedy everywhere you turn

 

Sitting across a canvas tent in a refugee camp in northern Iraq, Hanan quietly sobs as she recalls the moment she lost her idyllic family life in a sudden onslaught by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Everything happened at great speed. Two older daughters, both in their late teens, were out in the fields working the land, and the younger two were at home with Hanan.

Shells and rockets began falling and the Isil gunman were rounding up groups of people on the streets.

Neighbours begged Hanan to flee with the two younger teenagers who were with her, and she decided she had no choice. She couldn’t reach the other two and she prayed that they too would escape.

But she has just heard that the two girls she left behind in Mosul were captured and have now been sold, presumably as slaves or wives, to Isil fighters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11065839/Lost-daughters-and-orphaned-children-Iraq-has-become-a-tragedy-everywhere-you-turn.html