IRAQ: IRAQI RED CRESCENT AND OTHER CHARITY SOCIETIES ALLOWED TO ENTER FALLUJA AS U.S. MARINES OCCUPY SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN THE CITY

Record ID: 649442

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQI RED CRESCENT AND OTHER CHARITY SOCIETIES ALLOWED TO ENTER FALLUJA AS U.S. MARINES OCCUPY SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN THE CITY
  • Date: 23rd November 2004
  • Summary: (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 24 , 2004) (REUTERS) AMBULANCES AND TRUCKS CARRYING AID SUPPLIES LEAVING FOR FALLUJA TRUCK AND BANNER READING 'AL-SAFA SOCIETY' VARIOUS OF AID SUPPLIES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TAHA ABDUL GHANI, HEAD OF AL-SAFA SOCIETY, SAYING: "It took weeks to get this permission to enter the city of Falluja. We contacted the Iraqi government and the U.S. military to try and get permission and yesterday we were told we could go today." AMBULANCES LEAVING SLV/CU: EXTERIOR OF THE IRAQI RED CRESCENT (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF THE AMBULANCES OUTSIDE OF THE IRAQI RED CRESCENT (2 SHOTS) (U3) FALLUJA, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 23, 2004) (REUTERS) U.S. SOLDIER IN [POSITION BEHIND SANDBAGS AT SCHOOL WS/MV: U.S. SOLDIERS CLEANING RUBBLE AT SCHOOL COURTYARD (2 SHOTS) TWO U.S. SOLDIERS SITTING IN CORRIDOR OF SCHOOL, EATING CLOSE-UP OF U.S. SOLDIER DRINKING PEPSI COLA AND EATING BISCUIT U.S SOLDIERS SITTING AMONG PILES OF DAMAGED DESKS/ ONE OF THEM SMOKING CLOSE-UP OF U.S. SOLDIER SMOKING TORN BOOKS SCATTERED ON FLOOR CLOSE-UP OF TORN SCHOOL BOOK U.S. SOLDIERS AMONG PILES OF DESKS HAS'S: SHOT THROUGH WINDOW / U.S. SOLDIERS SITTING IN SCHOOL (2 SHOTS) SCU: U.S. SOLDIER AIMING FROM SCHOOL BUILDING/ COLUMN OF SMOKE RISING FROM BUILDING IN FRONT OF HIM U.S. SOLDIERS IN SCHOOL BUILDING U.S. SOLDIERS CARRYING SANDBAG VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS ERECTING SANDBAG FORTIFICATION (3 SHOTS) REAR VIEW: CLOSE OF A U.S. SOLDIER AIMING BEHIND SANDBAG REAR VIEW: TWO U.S. SOLDIERS U.S. SOLDIERS WALKING IN SCHOOL COURTYARD CIVILIAN DETAINEE BEHIND BARBED WIRE BARRICADE / U.S. SOLDIER SITTING NEARBY CU/SV: DETAINED CIVILIAN WITH HIS FACE COVERED WITH HEAD-DRESS SITTING ON GROUND/ U.S. SOLDIER NEARBY (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FALLUJA AND BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Conflict,Finance,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAUEFQ5VG3D5H3TQLZ2CK1QT9C
  • Story Text: Iraqi Red Crescent and other charity organizations enter Falluja as U.S. Marines occupy school buildings in the city.
    U.S. military allowed Iraqi charity societies and Iraqi Red Crescent (IRCS) to send aid supplies and ambulances to the people inside the rebel-held city of Falluja on Wednesday (November 24).
    About ten ambulances and several aid trucks were sent by the Iraqi Red Crescent and al-Safa Society.
    "It took weeks to get this permission to enter the city of Falluja. We contacted the Iraqi government and the U.S.
    military to try and get permission and yesterday we were told we could go today," Taha Abdul Ghani, head of al-Safa society said.
    The IRCS has appealed to the UN for help to reach residents left in Fallujah who are desperate for humanitarian aid.
    Last week aid agencies including the Red Cross warned of a major humanitarian disaster unless Iraqi and US authorities allowe d food, water and medicine to reach the trapped civilians in the besieged city. The U.S. forces have blocked convoys of the Iraqi Red Crescent from entering the city.
    Many of Falluja's 200,000 to 300,000 residents fled the city before the assault, which began more than ten days ago. US officials had estimated that 1,200 to 3,000 insurgents were barricaded in the city.
    Schools currently closed because of the war in the besieged city of Falluja have been turned into weapon collection centres or bases for the U.S. Marines.
    Like all other buildings in the city, school buildings have their share of the damage that was inflicted on the city. Desks and boards were reduced to piles of rubble and torn schoolbooks littered the floor of classrooms.
    Entrances to school buildings had been reinforced with sandbags as snipers took positions on the rooftops or pointing their guns from the windows.
    The Istabreq school at al-Shuhada neighbourhood, was no exception. An elderly Iraqi man was held in the courtyard of the school with hands bound behind his back and his eyes covered by his white head-dress.
    U.S. Marines could be seen in the yard of the school clearing up debris, while others took a rest in the corridors or classrooms, smoking or drinking cola.
    Taking advantage of the lull in fighting, some U.S.
    Marines were busy fortifying their base with walls of sandbags.
    Damaged desks were piled up in the corners of the classrooms as torn books scattered over the floor.
    After pounding Falluja with air strikes, artillery fire and tank shells, marines are now scrambling to find caches so that some 300,000 residents who fled before the assault can return. They have been astounded by the quantity and variety of weapons, from Egyptian sub-machineguns to Russian and German models and flame-throwing rifles.
    Hundreds of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers and bomb-making equipment have been uncovered inside couches, behind hidden walls and even on top of the city water tower, marine officers said.
    Marine officers say they know tracking down all insurgents is impossible but they hope the weapons searches will lead them to houses that guerrillas could use in future.
    Some insurgents are still keen to fight. A few were caught swimming across the Euphrates river to get back into Falluja at a spot near the hospital, holding up their AK-47s above the water and floating on beach balls, marine officers said.
    Marines, who expect to stay in Falluja until Iraqi forces can take over security, can't afford to push too hard or fast in the house to house searches because they are trying to gain the trust of residents.
    awa/jd
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