US Marines advance further into the western part of Fallujah

BAGHDAD, December 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US warplanes pounded in the small hours of Sunday, December 12, several neighborhoods in the western Baghdad city of Fallujah, the heaviest in weeks.

The renewed bombardment followed the flare up of fierce fighting between the occupation forces and fighters in the battered city, reported Aljazeera news channel quoting an Iraqi reporter inside the city.

Columns of smoke have been seen billowing from Al-Askari, Al-Shuhada, Al-Sinaei and Al-Jubail neighborhoods, Fadil Al-Badrani told the Doha-based broadcaster.

He further said that explosions have also been heard in several areas of the city and that several bodies are still scattered in the city's streets.

Some 10,000 US marines and army forces, alongside some 2,000 Iraqi national guardsmen unleashed a long-expected  onslaught on the resistance hub on November 8, capping long nights of massive US raids.

The successive air strikes have caused huge damage in the western Baghdad city, with dead bodies littering the streets.

Red Crescent Out

The Iraqi Red Crescent has been unable to enter the neighborhoods to distribute medical and food supplies.

The relief group was forced last week to leave the war-battered city on US military orders.

It distributed food, water and blankets to around 1,500 people in the city.

About 80-to-90 percent of Fallujah's 300,000-strong population are said to have evacuated the city, escaping the hell of continuous US air raids.

US occupation forces have for many days banned relief teams from entering Fallujah to help the wounded and bury the dead.

ICRC Concerned

The streets of war-battered Fallujah flooded by water (AFP)

A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) paid a short trip to Fallujah last week for the first time since the unleashing of the American onslaught.

The Iraqi aid workers were unable to meet families in the devastated city during the visit but they spoke to local water and sewerage officials who painted a grim picture of the sanitation conditions, the ICRC spokesman, Florian Westphal, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The aid agency, with its proud reputation of neutrality in conflict zones, insisted that it did want an armed escort, but US soldiers argued it was too dangerous for a civilian vehicle to travel unaccompanied, the spokesman said.

“This is something we will take up with the US authorities again,” said Westphal, noting that the ICRC “would like to be able to act independently and to be seen to be acting independently.”

Once inside, the relief workers met public works officials from Fallujah and witnessed first-hand raw sewage flowing in the deserted streets.

“They talked to a number of technicians of the water and sewage boards who told them... basically that the water treatment facilities and sewage systems had been damaged and are currently not functioning,” Westphal said.

The onslaught severely damaged Fallujah's already dilapidated public works infrastructure, which the ICRC is determined to help fix.

“We are now looking at what we can do to help to repair these structures... Hopefully we will be able to do something about that very quickly,” said the ICRC spokesman.

During the snapshot of life inside Fallujah, the ICRC team said that they saw very few civilians and were unable to speak to any of the remaining families due to security fears expressed by the US military.

But the team did manage to visit a small clinic set up inside a mosque.

“There was not anybody being treated at that time but it does seem as though this is the only health facility that is available inside the city,” said Westphal.

He added that the US-controlled Fallujah General Hospital appeared to remain out of bounds.

In an unusual criticism of the bloody situation in war-torn Iraq , the ICRC lambasted Friday, November 19, “utter contempt” for humanity shown by all parties.

“As hostilities continue in Fallujah and elsewhere, every day seems to bring news of yet another act of utter contempt for the most basic tenet of humanity: the obligation to protect human life and dignity,” said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the ICRC's director of operations.

Over 2,000 people were killed in the largest military offensive in Iraq since last year's US-led invasion.