UAE- Iraq peace crucial for ME peace: paper
Date
5/15/2016 2:05:52 AM
(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
ABU DHABI, 15th May, 2016 (WAM) -- A UAE newspaper has said that the attack on a cafe in Baghdad on Friday shows that although Daesh has been steadily losing ground to Iraqi forces on the battlefield, it is not going to give up easily on its campaign of hate and attempt to globalise terror.
Gunmen attacked a cafe with gunfire and grenades north of the Iraqi capital and later detonated suicide belts against security forces in pursuit. At least 16 people were killed and 30 wounded, including several members of the security forces, in the attack in the town of Balad and the ensuing chase, they said.
"The cafe was popular with local fans of Real Madrid football club and drew condemnation from the Spanish government. The club even announced that its players would wear black armbands for their league game on Saturday," said The Gulf Today in an editorial on Sunday.
"At least 94 people were killed in three suicide attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, the deadliest day in the Iraqi capital this year.
"Iraq is a mesh of conflict and suffering. The country has suffered years of war, foreign intervention, internal fighting and sectarian conflict. Hundreds of thousands of people, from so many conflicts, still remain missing.
"There seems to be no quick solution to this situation. The ebb and flow of conflict in the country continues unabated. In early 2014, there were 300,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the country. That figure, over a year later, reached 2.7 million.
"Iraq is a crucial piece in the larger face-off between regional and global powers that increasingly envelops the entire Middle East. Local players all try to take advantage of the situation to further their own agendas. Unfortunately, it is civilians who bear the brunt.
"Iraq is therefore not a self-contained conflict that can be left to simmer for years and years (although, in many ways, that is exactly what has happened). What happens in Iraq has local, regional and global implications. The pain and suffering of the people here, echoes around the region and beyond.
"Iraq might be at the heart of the problem. But in the same way it can be at the heart of the solution. A start has to be made, if there has to be some semblance of peace in the region," concluded the Sharjah-based daily.
WAM/Esraa/Moran