More Than Half of Iraq's Displaced Have Returned Home

Iraqis flee from the Old City of Mosul on July 5, 2017, during the Iraqi forces' offensive to retake the city from ISIS. (AFP / Ahmad Al-rubaye)
Iraqis flee from the Old City of Mosul on July 5, 2017, during the Iraqi forces' offensive to retake the city from ISIS. (AFP / Ahmad Al-rubaye)
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More Than Half of Iraq's Displaced Have Returned Home

Iraqis flee from the Old City of Mosul on July 5, 2017, during the Iraqi forces' offensive to retake the city from ISIS. (AFP / Ahmad Al-rubaye)
Iraqis flee from the Old City of Mosul on July 5, 2017, during the Iraqi forces' offensive to retake the city from ISIS. (AFP / Ahmad Al-rubaye)

More than half of Iraqis displaced by conflict to other parts of the country have returned to their homes, the UN migration agency said on Thursday.

At the end of December, more than 3.2 million displaced Iraqis had gone home while 2.6 millions still lived away, the International Organization for Migration said.

"The retaking of areas by the Iraqi forces is significant, as is the improvement of security," said IOM communications officer Sandra Black.

More than a third of those internally displaced are in the northern province of Nineveh, after tens of thousands fled second city Mosul during the months-long military campaign to retake the city from ISIS.

More than one million Iraqis have returned home to the Sunni-majority western province of Anbar, from which Iraqi forces expelled the last militants late last year.

Nearly one third are reported to have returned to houses that have been significantly or completely damaged, Agence France Presse quoted Black as saying.

Around 60 percent went back to housing that was only moderately damaged.

Other infrastructure has also been affected in the fighting, with residents in some areas reporting no water or power supply.



Lebanese Politician Accuses Israel of Increasing Bombardment to Wring Concessions

This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Lebanese Politician Accuses Israel of Increasing Bombardment to Wring Concessions

This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

Lebanon’s deputy parliament speaker has accused Israel of ramping up its bombardment of Lebanon in order to pressure the government to make concessions in indirect ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah.

Elias Bou Saab, an ally of the Iran-backed group, said Monday that the pressure has increased because “we are close to the hour that is decisive regarding reaching a ceasefire.”

“We are optimistic, and there is hope, but nothing is guaranteed with a person like (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu),” Bou Saab told reporters.

Israel has carried out heavy strikes in central Beirut in recent days, while Hezbollah has increased its rocket fire into Israel.

The United States is trying to broker an agreement in which Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces would withdraw from southern Lebanon and Lebanese troops would patrol the region, along with a UN peacekeeping force.

Israel has demanded freedom of action to strike Hezbollah if it violates the ceasefire, but Bou Saab said that was not part of the emerging agreement.

He also said Israel had accepted that France be part of the committee overseeing the ceasefire after Lebanese officials insisted. There was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli side.

Israel has objected to France being on the committee in the wake of the International Criminal Court’s decision last week to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military commander.

France said it supports the court. It said the question of whether it would arrest Netanyahu if he set foot on French soil was a “complex legal issue” that would have to be worked out.