Iraqis still living in the city of Fallujah said Tuesday that conditions were deteriorating, with no electricity, food shortages and limited medical aid for the wounded.
"The situation in Fallujah is a tragedy," one resident, who gave his name as Ismail, said by telephone.
"People cannot reach the clinics or the hospital and there are many wounded people. Most people are staying inside their houses. The fighting is heavy," he said.
Although most of the population of 300,000 has fled the city in recent weeks, tens of thousands of civilians are thought to have stayed behind. Under the terms of a curfew imposed on Monday they cannot leave their homes.
The city's main hospital was the first target captured in the operation and there were reports Tuesday that another medical clinic had been destroyed in bombing. Once the attack began, power was cut off to the city and some residents said the water supply had also been cut.
"The Americans have entered areas right in the center of town and there they fought with the mujahidin," said the man, who spoke from al-Joulan neighborhood, an insurgent strongpoint in the northwest.
"There are a lot of people dead who I saw with my own eyes," he said.
Another resident, Fadril al-Badrani, a correspondent for Reuters and the BBC, said the artillery and bombing had been intense.
"Every minute, hundreds of bombs and shells are exploding," he said. "The north of the city is in flames. I can also see fire and smoke. Fallujah has become like hell."
He said shops were closed and food supplies were limited. Roads were cratered by the bombardments and most people stayed in their homes.
"Electricity is cut off because of damage to the main power station from the bombardment. The water supply has been cut off too," he said.
"People, particularly children and women, tend to stay at home, fearing being mistaken for a military target. Doctors say medical supplies at the main hospital, which has been in US hands since Sunday, are low," he said.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
China yesterday held a low-key memorial ceremony for the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not attending, despite a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. Beijing has raged at Tokyo since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month said that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Japan. China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital. A post-World War II Allied tribunal put the death toll
A passerby could hear the cacophony from miles away in the Argentine capital, the unmistakable sound of 2,397 dogs barking — and breaking the unofficial world record for the largest-ever gathering of golden retrievers. Excitement pulsed through Bosques de Palermo, a sprawling park in Buenos Aires, as golden retriever-owners from all over Argentina transformed the park’s grassy expanse into a sea of bright yellow fur. Dog owners of all ages, their clothes covered in dog hair and stained with slobber, plopped down on picnic blankets with their beloved goldens to take in the surreal sight of so many other, exceptionally similar-looking ones.
‘UNWAVERING ALLIANCE’: The US Department of State said that China’s actions during military drills with Russia were not conducive to regional peace and stability The US on Tuesday criticized China over alleged radar deployments against Japanese military aircraft during a training exercise last week, while Tokyo and Seoul yesterday scrambled jets after Chinese and Russian military aircraft conducted joint patrols near the two countries. The incidents came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi triggered a dispute with Beijing last month with her remarks on how Tokyo might react to a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan. “China’s actions are not conducive to regional peace and stability,” a US Department of State spokesperson said late on Tuesday, referring to the radar incident. “The US-Japan alliance is stronger and more
RSS