Iraq has been in a near constant state of conflict for almost 35 years beginning with the Iraq/Iran War of the 1980s. This was followed by the original ‘Gulf’ War and then the US government’s war on terror.
These conflicts have led to immense civilian casualties and seen the development of a humanitarian crisis within the country, which has been particularly devastating for the most vulnerable members of society; women and children.All of these conflicts have now been superseded by the formation of the Islamic State militant group, formerly called ISIS.
This group began as a relatively small collective of Islamic extremists but has now grown in to a self-sustaining, serious threat to the region taking over numerous towns and villages, taking part in countless atrocities and causing serious issues for domestic and international security forces.
This current crisis looks set to escalate with the international community preparing for a series of air strikes in the region with several nations having already taken part in strategic bombings. This in itself has serious ramifications for the civilian population and it remains to be seen how drastically this new form of military intervention will affect the already devastated women and children of Iraq.
Hussein Al-Alak, a British Iraqi writer and editor of Iraq Solidarity News (Al Thawra) – the UK's leading English language news and information provider on Iraq, has recently written numerous blogs and academic pieces on the conflict in Iraq and is held as an authority on issues pertaining to the impact on women and children within the nation, in addition to the topics of genocide and the country’s history.
Read the interview Iraqi Perspective: Cycles of Violence in full, on the website of the Safe World for Women.
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