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RAF and other coalition planes last month engaged in the biggest air raids against Isis in two years, in a 10-day mission that attacked up to 100 cave hideouts in Iraq and is likely to have caused dozens of casualties.

The attacks concluded on 22 March, the Ministry of Defence said.

British and other nations forces are fighting an estimated 10,000 Isis guerrilla fighters operating in Syria and Iraq, nearly seven years after the war against the terror group began.

Air Commodore Simon Strasdin, who leads the UK air attacks, said he could not give an exact timeline for when the long-running war would end but insisted it would be winnable through the Iraqis being able to stabilise their country.

Iraq has been embroiled in conflict almost continually since the 2003 invasion by US, UK and other international forces, a situation that developed further with the emergence of Isis in the country and neighbouring Syria from around 2013.

The exact number of casualties in the latest operation is unknown; the cave complexes remain to be cleared out by Iraqi ground forces.

Strasdin said: We went after, as a coalition, a number of these targets every night for circa 10 days. It amounted to between 50 and 100 of the targets and complexes.

It is probable that dozens died. Strasdin predicted that the UK would be involved in operations during 2021 that would lead to more people killed than the 67 whom the UK said died fighting British forces during 2019 and 2020.

Isis fighters have been hiding out in the remote Makhmur mountains area which lies between the Iraq government zone of control in the south and the Kurdish-run north in a series of modified limestone caves that UK defence sources said were at least three miles from civilian sites.

The attacks on the cave complexes are understood to have taken months of planning as coalition forces sought to first find and then locate the hideouts. This was many, many months of building understanding and intelligence, Strasdin said.

Britain joined the US and dozens of other countries in attacking Isis from the air while relying on local ground forces. Early in 2019 the terror group lost the last of its territory, leading to speculation as to when the war would end.

At one point between late 2019 and early 2020 air raids and drones strikes by the RAF ground to a halt. But the latest raids show the conflict is far from over, even as those involved argue that the end of the war remains relatively close.

Chris Coles, from Drone Wars, which tracks air and drone strikes by British forces, said that the heavy bombardment in northern Iraq was perhaps the first indication of a constant campaigning strategy outlined by the UK government in last months integrated review of defence and foreign policy.

With few boots on the ground there is almost no pressure to bring military interventions to an end and so we are likely now to see British aircraft and drones engage endlessly in sporadic bouts of bombing with almost no visibility of the consequences for those on the ground, he added.

The RAF used Typhoon jets during the operation, targeting the caves with Paveway bombs, and used Storm Shadow cruise missiles for the first time in two years. Separately, on 4 April, an RAF Reaper drone struck in Syria for the first time in almost two years, aiming at a group of Isis members.

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RAF engaged in 10-day attack on Isis in Iraq this spring - The Guardian

BAGHDAD The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed a 250,000 Euro contribution from France towards agricultural resilience-building activities in Basra governorate in the south of Iraq, that will support 7,500 people and their families.

This is the first time France supports WFPs work in southern Iraq, enhancing the long-term self-reliance of tens of thousands of people indirectly in food-insecure, vulnerable communities. Such initiatives are even more vital during the pandemic.

The project is also funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented in collaboration with the municipality in Basra, local communities and NGO partner Action Against Hunger.

Iraq is particularly affected by climate change through droughts and salinization of irrigation water, including the South of the country, said Bruno Aubert, French Ambassador to Iraq. There is an urgent need for action.Against this backdrop, France is deeply committed to support Iraqi agriculture through the World Food Programme. Planting date palm trees contributes to combatting desertification and supporting revenues of Iraqi farmers.

More than half of the participants are women, and the project is providing business grants to 50 women trainees, to support them in setting up small businesses. This includes advice on food production, marketing and selling to local markets, enhancing linkages and helping create sustainable incomes.

WFP welcomes this generous support from France, which will help create new job opportunities and mitigate the impact of climate change on natural resources, said WFP Representative in Iraq Abdirahman Meygag. "WFPs strong partnership with France on development assistance has a positive effect on local communities, improving agricultural productivity and peoples access to water. The participants are also able to build small businesses and value chains for the food they produce in the southern Iraq.

Solar water pumps for irrigation are another innovative solution introduced in the project, along with agroecology training to participants, covering practices with low environmental impact. In this way, the initiatives help improve livelihoods in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner.

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France supports WFP's agricultural resiliencebuilding projects in the South of Iraq [EN/AR/KU] - Iraq - ReliefWeb

Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawel speaks at a Canadian Special Operations Forces Command change of command ceremony in Ottawa on April 25, 2018.

PATRICK DOYLE/The Canadian Press

Some Canadian soldiers supported a major military offensive last month that U.S. and Iraqi officials say killed dozens of fighters loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, according to the commander of Canadas military elite special forces.

In an exclusive interview with the Canadian Press, Major-General Peter Dawe said his troops helped plan the two-week operation codenamed Ready Lion, which involved using air strikes and Iraqi snipers to root Islamic State forces from mountain hideouts.

The Canadians also provided surveillance and assistance with resupplying local forces as the assault in the Makhmur Mountains was underway, Maj.-Gen. Dawe added, and were on standby with helicopters to provide medical evacuations.

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The revelations about Canadas involvement in Operation Ready Lion represent the first real update in more than a year about what the roughly 200 Canadian special forces soldiers currently in Iraq are doing as part of Canadas ongoing fight against the Islamic State.

They also coincided with the federal governments recent decision to extend the entire mission, which also involves hundreds of non-special forces troops scattered in Iraq and the surrounding region, until next March.

Canada has had special forces in Iraq since September, 2014, when the international community first scrambled to stop the Islamic State from taking over large swaths of Iraq and Syria. While Canadas anti-Islamic State mission has evolved several times, it has continued to include special forces.

Maj.-Gen. Dawe confirmed Canadas special forces are continuing to operate out of a military base near the city of Irbil, in Iraqs northern Kurdistan region. That base has come under attack from rockets several times over the past year, but the general said no Canadians have been hurt.

Operation Ready Lion was launched on March 9 and, over the course of the next two weeks, saw Iraqi and coalition aircraft pound a series of Islamic State tunnels and bunkers with 312 air strikes. Islamic State fighters who tried to flee were captured or killed by Iraqi snipers.

U.S. and Iraqi officials say 120 hideouts were destroyed and at least 27 Islamic State fighters killed, though its unknown how many may have been buried in the cave complex, which sits in an area of the country that is difficult to police.

While the operation has been hailed as a success, Maj.-Gen. Dawe said Canadas support is the exception to the trend when it comes to what his troops have been doing in Iraq.

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Maj.-Gen. Dawe would not get into specifics, but suggested the training and assistance that Canadian troops have been providing to their Iraqi counterparts has shifted from working alongside them on the battlefield to more behind-the-scenes planning.

That reflects the Iraqis having started to develop their own skills and experience as they hunt down Islamic State cells and sympathizers, Maj.-Gen. Dawe said, though he confirmed Canadian troops do sometimes accompany their charges into the field.

Its a progression, he said. Were still on occasion tactically advising and assisting. And historically, on occasion, weve found ourselves proximate to hostile actors. And on occasion, weve had to defend ourselves and our partners.

Maj.-Gen. Dawe again wouldnt provide details, but said Canadian troops have fired in self-defence on at least one occasion in the last couple years.

The military and federal government faced questions earlier in the mission about whether Canadian special forces were in combat, even though officials insisted they only fired in self-defence and were not engaged in offensive combat operations.

Sergeant Andrew Doiron is the only Canadian to have been killed during the Islamic State mission, but died from so-called friendly fire in March, 2015. The governments decision to extend the anti-Islamic State mission comes amid uncertainty about exactly what form Canadas presence in Iraq and the surrounding region will take in the coming months.

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That includes a NATO training mission that previously involved 250 Canadian troops and was led by a Canadian, Major-General Jennie Carignan, until command was transferred to Denmark in November. Canada now has only 17 trainers involved in the mission.

Brigadier-General Mike Wright, who as commander of Joint Task Force Impact oversees those parts of Canadas anti-Islamic State mission that dont involve the special forces, says NATO is now working with Iraq to determine the best approach to the training effort.

We remain plugged in, we being the Canadian Armed Forces at NATO, because those discussions about the future of the [Iraq training] mission happen in Brussels, he said, suggesting the results of those discussions will determine Canadas future contribution to the effort.

Canada also has a headquarters unit, two CC-130 Hercules transport planes and support staff in Kuwait involved in the anti-Islamic State mission, along with teams of military trainers in nearby Jordan and Lebanon.

All told, there are about 500 Canadian troops in the region, though the federal government has authorized up to 850.

There has been growing concern about the threat posed by Iran and Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq, even as the number of Islamic State fighters believed to be in Iraq and Syria has shrunk from between 14,000 and 18,000 to between 8,000 and 16,000.

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While that has led to analysts arguing the purpose of the mission has shifted from dealing with the Islamic State to checking Iran, Maj.-Gen. Dawe and Brig.-Gen. Wright were both adamant that their focus remains on the Islamic State, which is also known as Daesh.

Our mandate is the defeat of Daesh, Brig.-Gen. Wright said. So thats what we remain focused on. ... Obviously, we pay attention to other threats within the region for situational awareness and force protection.

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Canada's special forces involved in major assault on Islamic State in Iraq last month - The Globe and Mail

Nancy Gilson| Special to The Columbus Dispatch

Several years ago, New York City artist Susan J. Barron happened to be talking with two widows of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When both of the womens husbands returned home from multiple deployments, they seemed fine. Then both took their own lives on the streets of their hometowns.

I was struck by how appalling and wrong that was, Barron said in a telephone interview from New York.

And then the women told me that 22 American veterans commit suicide every day in the United States. And that number is probably even higher because its not fully reported.

Her shock and distress at the stories and statistics prompted Barron to begin Depicting the Invisible, a series of portraits of American military veterans suffering Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. She has created 24 portraits and has shown them in a variety of cities throughout the United States.

Fourteen of these large, six-by-six-foot portraits are on view through Jan. 2 Downtown at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. In addition, Barrons award-winning documentary about the portraits can be seen on her website, susanjbarron.com.

The portraits combine photography, painting, collage and text to present individual studies of the veterans surrounded by their own words, describing what they saw and experienced in combat and what they feel as victims of PTSD.

The portrait, titled Josh and Emma, shows a bearded, tattooed man cradling a baby and surrounded by fragments of text: Our mission was to flush out Al Qaeda. Returning from patrol we hit a pothole. The pothole detonated … I came home in a rough place. With PTSD I go into pure panic mode. I look like a monster reacting to a butterfly … We had Emma ten days ago … Im not sure I believe in God but I do believe in new beginnings.

Although the portraits appear to be black and white, Barron prints the photographs of her subjects in four colors, giving the works greater depth. Backgrounds are painted and some have drips of black dots that refer to the black dots of brain scans of PTSD victims. From hours and hours of conversations with her subjects, Barron distilled their experiences to 140 words poetic text that surrounds the veterans.

She discovered her subjects through word of mouth and with help from Freedom Fighter Outdoors, an organization supplying support and activities for injured veterans.

I mostly spoke to (the veterans) by phone, Barron, 62, said. They would say, Ill give you 15 minutes, and then five hours later, I had to go pick up my kids at school and Id say, lets continue this tomorrow … I think many of them didnt have an opportunity to talk much about what happened to them. And in general, I think many veterans feel invisible and forgotten.

Barrons subjects had all served in either Iraq or Afghanistan. According to a National Health Study for a New Generation of United States Veterans, of 60,000 veterans from those two wars, more than 13 percent of them screened positive for PTSD; other studies put the figure higher, at between 20 and 30 percent. In the past 13 years, about 500,000 U.S. troops who served in these wars have been diagnosed with PTSD.

Veterans told me that they have these images of war that they cant get out of their minds, Barron said. They haunt their dreams; the images are ever-present.

While most of her subjects are men who, she said, suffer PTSD from experiences in combat, her portraits of women tell a different story.

Their PTSD is from military sexual assault, Barron said. This is the intersection of military service and the #MeToo movement. Almost all of the women that I talked to said they werent believed. … We need to believe them.

Male or female, Barrons subjects face those looking at their portraits.

They make direct eye contact with the viewer, which is really important, Barron said. I want viewers to bear witness. These veterans are owning their stories. They are real people who have put their lives on the line for you.

Lt. Gen.Michael Ferriter, U.S. Army (retired) and president and CEO of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, calls the portraits captivating.

Barron challenges us to confront the invisible realities of individuals with PTSD, he said.

Veterans in these portraits are continuing service, serving their communities by sharing their stories to help others.

The museum has scheduled interactive events to connect with regional veterans and to encourage public dialogue about PTSD, something the artist applauds.

Barron who studied at Boston University, the Art Institute of San Francisco and Yale University said she strives to make a difference with her art.

I had a professor who said you have a limited amount of work capacity in your life, so make every painting count, she said. If I can use my skill set to bring awareness and make the world a better place, thats what I want to do.

But creating the works in Depicting the Invisible included moments of sorrow.

Her portrait Damon shows a confident-looking African American man who upon returning from combat practiced Buddhism and yoga and worked in a number of community projects.

We were about to open the exhibit in Manhattan and I got a call from his mother that he had passed on suicide … I was blindsided. I knew him so well and we had talked about everything and I felt that I should have known. I was feeling very dark and was considering stepping away from the project. Then the veterans reached out to me and said, 'This is why youre doing this project and why we gave you our stories. You cant walk away.

So I continued and there have been many moments of joy. These are amazing, heroic people. Considering what theyve been through and what theyve seen, its remarkable that they still have so much grace and walk with such dignity and compassion.

negilson@gmail.com

Depicting the Invisible: A Portrait Series of Veterans Suffering From PTSD continues through Jan. 2 at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, 300 W. Broad St. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Admission ranges from $10 to $17, with U.S. veterans and active duty military, Gold Star families and ages younger 5 admitted free. The exhibit also is available online. Tickets for the virtual exhibit cost $7 and can be reserved at http://www.nationalvmm.org. For more information, visit the website or call 614-362-2800.

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Visual arts | 'Depicting the Invisible': Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan wars the focus of exhibit - The Columbus Dispatch

I

t wasnt until Ali tried to sell the cooking gas canister he had stolen from his parents stove that he realised it was drugs that were consuming him not the other way around. The 27-year-old Iraqi had already sold his mobile phone,chairs, bed, even the very mattress he slept on to buy just a few more grams of crystal meth.

The last item left was this battered canister, but even that wouldnt fetch enough to cover the cost of a fix. Feverish and tipping into withdrawal, he was eventually stopped at a checkpoint in a rundown Baghdad neighbourhood.

The frail young man with tell-tale pock-marked skin doesnt remember exactly what happened next, beyond going cold turkey in prison. I was in another world, we all were, we wanted to escape our miserable lives, he told The Independent from Al-Qanat police station in eastern Baghdad, where he is serving four months for possession.

His concentration frayed, Alis eyes looked like wells. It has massively impacted my community; we have a lot of penniless people and those who have died from it, he said. But living is hard.

Ali (not his real name) is one of thousands of crystal methamphetamine addicts in Iraq, a country that until comparatively recently had not suffered a nationwide wave of drug addiction, even while opium and heroin drowned countries such as Iran and Afghanistan.

Funded by contributions to our Supporter Programme, The Independent spoke to health practitioners in Iraq now calling the rising tide of crystal meth abuse a hidden epidemic and warning it has become even more dangerous since the arrival of the coronavirus.

Meth destroys the bodys defence systems, it causes things like losing weight, leaving them vulnerable to all diseases including, of course, Covid-19, said Qassem Warash, a chief nurse at Ibn Rashed hospital, Iraqs main rehabilitation centre, as he did his rounds.

It makes people stop caring, they will be less likely to practise things like social distancing.

The highly addictive man-made stimulant, which was invented in Japan and used during the Second World War to keep troops awake, ravages the bodys immune system and can cause multiple life-threatening side effects including heart and kidney failure, as well as dramatic weight loss.

Qassem Warash, a chief nurse at Iraqs main rehabilitation centre, says the crystal meth epidemic makes the youth more vulnerable to Covid-19

(Bel Trew)

The added risk of Covid-19 does not deter users. You dont think about the dangers. I am a labourer. We all started taking it because we have a hard life, Ali said, dreamily.

It transports you to another, better world. You dont care.

No way to escape

An increasing number of Iraqis are turning to crystal meth to escape the difficult reality of soaring unemployment, corruption ravaging the economy and the crumbling infrastructure of a country that has veered from conflict to conflict since the US-led invasion in 2003.

According to a report published by the Atlantic Council in February, about 60 per cent of Iraqs population is under the age of 25, while the unemployment rate for young people in Iraq is estimated to be 36 per cent.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says that crystal meth has become the main drug of concern in the country, and warned in a February report that, while it was once only smuggled in from nearby Iran, the drug is now being clandestinely manufactured at laboratories inside Iraq.

The addicts I speak to say they have no work, no hobbies, no other way to escape.

The main hub remains the southern border governorates such as Basra and Maysan. There, powerful gangs of dealers have long smuggled the substance into the country, said one local in Basra who has knowledge of the industry but declined to be named for security concerns.

The source said women were often used as drug mules because they were searched less. A stash bought for as little as 5,000 Iraqi dinars (2.50) a gram can then be sold on in for four or five times the original price, giving dealers a tidy profit.

No longer just a transit country for drugs en route to Turkey, Iraq has become a destination in its own right over the past few years as violence and poverty soared.

Basra was an easy first target, not just because of its geographical position. Once known as the Venice of the East, the southern city has seen unemployment skyrocket over the past few years while basic infrastructure including access to clean water is lacking.

Here in Basra, there are no parks, there are no clubs, we dont even have a cinema. There is literally nowhere for the youth to go and nothing for them to do, the Basra resident said.

The youth have lived through multiple wars. The addicts I speak to say they have no work, no hobbies, no other way to escape.

Meth addiction has stretched Iraqs already creaking criminal justice system. The counter-narcotics teams at Qanat prison, where Ali is being held, said it was at full capacity with 217 crystal meth addicts and dealers being held, the inmates lying crammed side by side in cells.

Ibn Rashed hospital is the largest government-run rehab facility in Iraq

(Bel Trew)

Officers said numbers have surged significantly since 2017 as both the countrys economy and the price of crystal meth tanked. In this directorate, we have registered a 40 per cent increase in addicts since 2017 and a 30 per cent increase in drug dealers, Major Haidar told The Independent.

Its because of an increase in the availability of crystal meth that is driving prices down.

He said back in 2017 one gram would cost around $100 (72) but now it is being sold in some areas for as little as 20,000 Iraqi dinars just 10.

The exact prevalence of the drug is not known because of a lack of data. But Major Haidar said that across the country over 6,000 people were arrested last year on drugs charges while over 120kg of crystal meth was confiscated by the authorities.

The official Facebook page of Iraqs General Directorate for Combating Narcotic Drugs regularly posts updates on drug busts and has started a slew of awareness campaigns to encourage residents to share any information about dealers and the industry.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi health ministry said that, after alcohol, crystal meth was the most commonly abused drug. Latest data showed 813 addicts recovering in government-run rehabilitation centres, far outstripping any other substance.

It took my life

One such patient is Ahmed, 32, an out-of-work daily labourer, who checked himself into Baghdads Ibn Rashed hospital after his family had eventually thrown him out of the house.

Ibn Rashed is one of only two government-run psychiatric hospitals that rehabilitate addicts in federal Iraq; it is also the largest. There, 13 beds have been given over to patients like Ahmed who are recovering from substance addiction.

Ahmed said that both men and women use the drug, although fewer women spoke out because of stigma. He said drug dealers were using increasingly creative ways to draw in new clients.

Instead of risking jail by peddling their wares on the street, dealers have started quietly handing out small amounts of crystal meth for free to those living within vulnerable communities. The dealers then wait for their new clients to get hooked, so a new wave of addicts comes begging for more.

When you get desperate some dealers will tell you to go steal things like motorcycles or whatever, to pay for the drugs, he told The Independent from his hospital bed, where a fellow patient lies motionless behind him.

Users are increasingly becoming low-level dealers to fund their habit and the cycle continues at great cost. I would be married with a family and job if it wasnt for crystal meth, it took my life.

Ahmed sold everything he owned and put every penny of his meagre earnings into his habit, quickly alienating himself from his family and friends who told him he could not return home until he had been cured.

By that point, the young man said, he was suffering terrifying hallucinations and hearing voices. His digestive system had been destroyed and his memory shot.

I went through at least three days of withdrawal, I was curled up like a 90-year-old man, he said.

Iraq once had the death penalty for users and dealers but passed legislation in 2017 under which judges can order rehabilitation for addicts or sentence them to jail for up to three years.

Ahmed is lucky to be in a rehab centre.In parts of Iraq where there are no facilities available, many drug users are jailed.

Medics at Ibn Rashed said there needed to be more dedicated units and hospitals built across the country because the numbers of addicts were growing and locking them up was not a solution.

We need thousands of beds across the country which we dont have, Dr Arjan Toqali told The Independent. Take Kirkuk where I am from, there are just eight beds available across the entire area.

For Ali and Ahmed, the problem is not just a matter of life or death for them but for their entire generation.

This drug isnt threatening to destroy the youth, said Ahmed as he sat in the Ibn Rashed hospital garden. Crystal meth has finished us already.

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Breaking Baghdad: How Iraqs crystal meth epidemic is ravaging the nation - The Independent