UNIPATH STAFF
Daesh no longer controls any oil wells in Iraq after government offensives in September 2016 drove the terrorists from Shirqat, an area near Kirkuk. Iraq’s military said Daesh fighters put up little resistance.
The previous month, Daesh lost the Qayyarah oilfield south of Mosul, while Najma, an oilfield near Qayyarah, became inaccessible to Daesh because of the government offensive. The successful offensives deprived Daesh of the oil income it needed to control territory, pay its fighters and wage its terror campaign.
Driving Daesh from Shirqat and Qayyarah also allowed humanitarian aid to reach those cities for the first time in more than two years, according to the World Food Program, which said tens of thousands of civilians were in desperate need.
They had been living under harsh conditions, with limited water, food and medical care. The United Nations agency distributed food through its partnership with Muslim Aid. The agency said 30,000 people in Qayyarah had been trapped and that all of the city’s shops had been destroyed or closed. Sources: Reuters, The Wall Street Journal