Iraq still needs Massive Int'l Support

Effective partnership between Baghdad and Erbil is equally critical to Iraq’s unity and stability for fighting ISIL, he continued. “The past period has seen the two sides increasingly expressing disappointment with the implementation of the oil and revenue-sharing agreement signed last year, and was marked by some unilateral steps that work against the interest of both sides and the country as a whole.”

One year after the fall of Mosul, stated the Special Representative, a third of Iraq remains under the control and governance of ISIL. “The military offensives of the Iraqi security forces, with the critical support of the Popular Mobilization Forces, tribal Sunni volunteers, and the International Coalition, have yet to significantly change the situation on the ground,” he concluded, reminding the Council that while Tikrit was liberated in March, Ramadi fell in May. The Government’s ongoing offensive in Anbar aims to reverse that “setback.”

Recalling that the human cost of the conflict remains “far too high”, Mr. Kubiš said that since he last briefedthe Council, UNAMI had recorded a minimum of 1,200 civilians killed and more than 2,000 wounded as a result of armed conflict or terror attacks.

“The Mission continues to receive widespread reports of attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, extrajudicial killings, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual violence, forced recruitment of children, wanton destruction and looting of civilian property, and denial of fundamental rights and freedoms,” he reported.

Minorities, women and children, Mr. Kubiš emphasized, continue to be particularly vulnerable to the “horrors and indignities” inflicted by ISIL. “The recent terrorist outrage during the Eid holidays near a Shi’ite mosque in Khan Bani Saad in which over 120 civilians were reported killed and some 170 injured is another tragic witness to this.”