IMF sees growth ahead for Algeria    Egyptian pound inches down in early July 1 trading    Madbouly represents Egypt at 4th UN Conference on Financing for Development in Seville    Bloody escalation in Gaza amid warnings of humanitarian, health catastrophe    Egypt, Iran FMs discuss Gaza truce, nuclear talks revival    Egypt's Environment Minister calls for stronger action on desertification, climate resilience in Africa    Egypt in diplomatic push for Gaza truce, Iran-Israel de-escalation    Peace is not imposed by bombing… nor achieved by normalisation peoples reject: Al-Sisi    Spinneys Opens A New Store in Hurghada    Egypt to launch new dialysis filter factory in July, covering 65% of domestic demand    Egypt teams up with private sector to boost university rankings    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Egypt leverages diplomacy to advance global health partnerships    Egypt to toughen truck safety rules following fatal Ring Road accident    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Egypt condemns deadly terrorist attack in Niger    Egypt, Tunisia discuss boosting healthcare cooperation    Egypt's commodity reserves "very reassuring", some stocks sufficient for 9 months — trade chief    Egypt's FM, China's Wang discuss Iran-Israel escalation    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt's GAH, Spain's Konecta discuss digital health partnership    Grand Egyptian Museum opening delayed to Q4    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Egypt discovers three New Kingdom tombs in Luxor's Dra' Abu El-Naga    Egypt launches "Memory of the City" app to document urban history    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Oil fires cast black cloud over Iraqi town retaken from IS group
Published in Ahram Online on 30 - 08 - 2016

It gets darker earlier these days in the northern Iraqi town of Qayyara, which Islamic State militants abandoned about a week ago after setting fire to many of the region's oil wells.
Smoke billowing into the sky during a Reuters visit on Monday blotted out the sun in central districts hours before nightfall, producing an apocalyptic scene in this desert settlement which lacks electricity amid 49 degree Celsius (120°F) temperatures.
The Iraqi military's recapture of Qayyara, along with a nearby airbase in July, is the latest and most significant advance in a U.S.-backed push to Mosul, the largest city under Islamic State control anywhere in its self-proclaimed caliphate.
Baghdad wants to retake Mosul before the end of the year, which it says will effectively end the militants' presence in Iraq more than two years after they seized a third of its territory. Some officials from countries in the U.S.-led coalition supporting the Iraqi forces have said that timeline may be too ambitious.
Yet the loss of Qayyara certainly dealt a blow to Islamic State, which had extracted oil from some 60 wells and sold it to help finance its activities.
Islamic State used to ship at least 50 tanker truckloads a day from Qayyara and nearby Najma oilfields to neighbouring Syria. A sign remains on the main road announcing prices of crude in places like the Syrian city of Aleppo, 550 km (340 miles) west of Qayyara.
Rudimentary refineries once used to refine oil for local consumption have been abandoned on the side of the road leading east out of the town.
The smell of petrol now overwhelms the area, wind carrying the smoke from well fires into the town centre. More than a few minutes in the area leaves one's throat burning, and children walking the streets have quickly developed coughs.
Abdel Aziz Saleh, a 25-year-old Qayyara resident, said he wants Baghdad to put out the fires as soon as possible.
"They are suffocating us," he said. "The birds, the animals are black, the people are black. Gas rains down on us at night. Now the gas has reached the residential areas."
He and other residents said oil had spilled into the nearby Tigris River - assertions denied by the oil ministry, which said the oil spills had been contained by trenches. While several bodies were seen floating in the river on Monday, Reuters could not confirm it had been contaminated with oil.
Iraq says it has put out fires at four oil wells in the Qayyara region, but Reuters could not locate any such efforts at the wells closest to residential areas.
Around a dozen separate plumes of smoke were still distinguishable across the horizon as night fell, when a convoy of firetrucks approached the town.
It was not immediately clear how long it will take to extinguish the flames. When Iraq's military torched hundreds of Kuwaiti oil wells in 1991 ahead of advancing U.S.-led forces, most fires burned for around two months but some wells were not capped for almost a year.
The oil ministry said it does not expect to resume production from the Qayyara region before Mosul's recapture. The two main fields, Qayyara and Najma, used to produce 30,000 barrels per day of heavy crude before the takeover by Islamic State.

PEOPLE IN THE STREETS
Despite the well fires, Qayyara remains full of inhabitants. Whereas civilians in most other areas recaptured from Islamic State fled ahead of or during government offensives the majority of Qayyara's roughly 20,000 residents have stayed put.
A counter-terrorism officer said that was partly due to the speed with which the army recaptured Qayyara, surprising the Islamic State fighters before they were able to dig in. Qayyara is also located near a military airfield, so many residents in the area have relatives in the army.
With no power and no more fear of punishment from Islamic State's harsh rule, much of the population was in the streets on Monday, waving to military vehicles that handed out basic supplies like cooking oil, sugar and canned food.
Children flashed peace signs and some played in the black reflective pools of oil that spilled into main streets after Islamic State blew up pipelines and wells next to a main hospital in a likely attempt to obstruct visibility for coalition air strikes.
Commanders are confident electricity can be restored soon in Qayyara and said booby trapped streets and buildings are less of a concern than they were in the western cities of Ramadi and Falluja.
"We surrounded them quickly, so they didn't have time to lay many IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," said the officer from the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS), which spearheaded the Qayyara operation along with the army's 9th armoured division.
"There were a lot on the main street they thought we would use to enter but instead we came in from the desert."
The militants still managed to put up a fight, he said, quickly mustering five vehicle-borne IEDs to attack the forces.
The approach to the city shows signs of the fighting that followed, with many buildings collapsed by aerial bombardment. The U.S.-led coalition said it had launched more than 500 air strikes in support of Iraqi forces, nearly as many as in last year's battle for the much larger city of Ramadi.
Qayyara and its nearby airbase - where the bulk of a 560-strong U.S. troop reinforcement will be based - will form the main staging base for the anticipated offensive on Mosul, 60 km (35 miles) to the north.
Many neighbourhoods in Qayyara appear mostly or completely intact, and civilians, many of whom appeared to have recently shaved the beards that Islamic State requires men to grow, said they feel safe in their homes.
After showing off the body of an Islamic State fighter crushed when the building he was in was hit by an air strike, two men from Qayyara alerted soldiers to a possible suicide bomber hiding in a nearby home, which they proceeded to investigate.
A hundred metres from the decomposing corpse, a well fire burned, spewing smoke and bright flashes into the sky.


Clic here to read the story from its source.