(MENAFN- Arab Times) Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday offered an amnesty covering security forces members who fled the Islamic State jihadist group, provided they return to their units within 30 days. Multiple Iraqi divisions collapsed when an IS-led offensive swept through Iraq last June, overrunning large areas north and west of Baghdad. In their haste to escape, some security personnel shed their uniforms and abandoned vehicles, weapons and other equipment, which the jihadists have since employed against government forces.
The statement from Abadi's office did not specifically mention IS, but the amnesty covers those who fled, were absent or harmed themselves to avoid service. The amnesty specifically excludes those who committed offences including crimes against state security, corruption and abuse of influence. It was unclear if tens of thousands of so-called "ghost soldiers," who are on the payroll but do not show up for work, sometimes splitting salaries with their commanders, would be covered. While Iraqi security forces performed dismally in the early days of the IS-led drive, they have since regained significant territory with backing from pro-government paramilitaries, a US-led coalition and Iran.
In a separate report, the head of the European Union's humanitarian aid department warned that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating rapidly while the world is preoccupied with crises elsewhere. Jean-Louis de Brouwer told The Associated Press that the number of displaced people in Iraq has quadrupled in the last year and shows no signs of decreasing. "The worst is still to come," he said. "The situation is deteriorating, humanitarian aid is becoming even more essential than it was, the problem is funding." Iraq is convulsed in a battle between the government, its militia allies and forces of the Islamic State group that have taken over large parts of the north and west in the country.
The fighting has displaced some 2.7 million people inside the country, including 110,000 who fled from renewed fighting in and around the city of Ramadi in the western Anbar province in the past two weeks. Many of these are living with other families, inside mosques or in makeshift camps around the western periphery of Baghdad. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of thousands more in the Kurdish northern regions. "This is quite a matter for concern as the needs are skyrocketing and the resources are not increasing," said de Brouwer. "I'm afraid there is also - not donor fatigue - but donor exhaustion." An even larger refugee problem in neighboring Syria and most recently and earthquake in Nepal has drawn attention away from the slow building crisis in Iraq, he said. In June, the EU is to co-host with the UN a new call for humanitarian aid for Iraq in Brussels.
The EU has nearly doubled its allocation for Iraq from $22 million in 2014 to $43 million this year. De Brouwer also criticized the practice of not allowing those displaced from Sunni areas into Baghdad or the Kurdish region without sponsorship, leaving most people stranded. "If they keep on with this kind of practice, they will end up with the kind of ethnic division that will not be good for the country," he said.
Meanwhile, the hardline Ahrar al- Sham group in Syria and other insurgents seized a crossing in the southwest frontier area near Israel on Thursday from a small group of rival Islamist fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
If confirmed, the capture would represent a further advance for Ahrar al-Sham, one of the main jihadist groups in Syria alongside Islamic State and al-Qaeda's Syria wing Nusra Front. In the northwestern Idlib province, Ahrar al-Sham is part of an Islamist alliance which has taken strategic territory from government forces in recent weeks, suggesting the group has recovered after its senior leadership was wiped out last year.
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