Tuesday marked the deadline for American troops to pull out of Iraq’s towns and cities — a long-anticipated date that has been met by street festivals in Baghdad.
Iraqis cheer — and fear — U.S. pullout from cities
Tag Archives: conflict
Sri Lanka claims last rebel area taken
Sri Lankan government soldiers seized the last remaining coastal stretch under the control of Tamil Tiger rebels, the Ministry of Defense said Saturday, marking a possible end to a quarter-century-long fight in the island nation. The seizure marks the total capture of coastline territory previously controlled by the rebels, the government said, after army divisions advanced from the north and south to link up.
Obama condemns Sri Lanka fighting, urges aid
President Obama on Wednesday urged Sri Lanka to halt "indiscriminate" shelling of civilians trapped with the remnants of the country’s Tamil Tiger rebels and to let humanitarian aid in.
Pakistan military faces up to humanitarian crisis
Pakistan’s military is dealing with more than a million Pakistanis who have been displaced by fighting since last year, a military spokesman said Tuesday.
U.N.: 360,000 escape war-torn Pakistani region
Civilians continued to flee Pakistan’s northwest in droves Monday as government troops prepared to engage Taliban militants in the crisis-hit Swat Valley. More than 360,000 Pakistanis have fled their homes since May 2, the United Nations has reported. “Obviously more people are on the move,” said Ariane Rummery, a spokeswoman for the U.N.
Chaos in Tamil war zone, U.N. says
The Sri Lankan offensive against the faltering Tamil Tiger rebel movement has killed or wounded "significant numbers," and thousands are trapped by the fighting, the United Nations said Wednesday. The Sri Lankan army launched an operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam in the country’s north on Monday, and a deadline for the rebels to surrender passed Tuesday
U.S. calls for cease-fire in Sri Lanka
The State Department Thursday called for a cease-fire between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tigers to allow civilians to escape the fighting, after a two day humanitarian pause ended with renewed violence. “We call upon the government and military of Sri Lanka, and the Tamil Tigers to immediately stop hostilities until the more than 140,000 civilians in the conflict area are safely out,” Acting Spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement. “Both sides must immediately return to a humanitarian pause and both must respect the right of free movement of those civilian men, women and children trapped by the fighting.” Wood urged the government to halt shelling of the safe zone and allow international monitors into ensure the safe exit of the civilians
Bomb threat looms over Lebanese villagers
Diab Diab lost an eye and part of a leg trying to clear unexploded bombs from the fields of southern Lebanon.
Study: Iraqi widows struggle in new roles as breadwinners
While violence decreases across Iraq, women in the war-ravaged country face worsening hardships as warfare has thrust them into the role of family breadwinners, an aid group’s survey said. In a release dated Sunday coinciding with International Women’s Day, Oxfam International issued, “In Her Own Words: Iraqi Women Talk About Their Greatest Concerns and Challenges.” Many women have been widowed and have had to run their families because their husbands “had been killed, disappeared, abducted or suffered from mental or physical abuse,” the survey says. As a result, many have been unable to earn a decent living.