Starving Iraqis Risk All To Flee IS's Crumbling Rule
Amriyat al-Fallujah (Iraq) (AFP) - Eight hands stretch towards the aluminium plate -- it's the first meal of rice this Iraqi family who just escaped jihadist rule in the Fallujah area has had in two years.
The tent has just been put up, a sheet of bubble wrap strewn on the gravel as a makeshift rug and the heat is searing but Nasra Najm, her daughter and grandchildren have a smile on their face.
"We had been dreaming of this. I wasn't sure rice existed anymore, so when we saw this plate, we couldn't believe it," said the elderly woman with traditional tattoos on her face.
She and her relatives reached the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah 12 hours earlier, after walking through much of the night to dodge the surveillance of the Islamic State group.
Iraqi forces a week ago launched a broad operation aimed at retaking the city of Fallujah, one of IS's most emblematic bastions, in the western province of Anbar.
The progress of pro-government forces has created a window for some civilians to flee from the city's outlying areas and attempt to reach safety.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs several camps in Amriyat al-Fallujah, south of Fallujah, is providing shelter and assistance to around 3,000 people who fled over the past week.
Their stories give an insight into the dire conditions endured by the estimated 50,000 people still trapped inside a city which has been largely cut off from the rest of Iraq for months.
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