Much-needed humanitarian aid, including blankets and kitchenware, have arrived in the Iraqi city of Erbil — a Kurdish region in the crosshairs of Islamist extremists. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said its airlift delivered Tuesday totals more than 60 metric tons, including 3,000 family kitchen sets, 6,000 collapsible water containers, 12,000 blankets and 380 rolls of heavy-duty plastic sheeting.
The relief supplies are being distributed by the International Organization for Migration and are expected to help families into the upcoming winter, USAID said in a news release. An estimated 1.6 million Iraqis have become refugees as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) began overrunning communities earlier this year in an effort to seize control of the country. In Kurdistan, fighters have been working with the U.S. to thwart the terrorists from advancing.
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