This week one of my field days was to Qayyarah. Just a regular visit. As we approached the area, we found ourselves surrounded in all directions by military vehicles. There were vehicles full of soldiers, there were pick up trucks with rocket launchers fixed in the back, there were flat bed trucks stacked with boxes of ammunition, there were tanks, there were military humvees, there were trucks stacked with food supplies. We knew it would be like this, we were anticipating the launch of a new offensive against ISIS in an area called Hawiga. And it's not exactly the first time I've seen this kind to troop movement. But as I watched all the movements, all these different armed groups (it's not as simple as the Army, RAF and Navy - we have all different ethnic factions with their own groups of fighters, their own flags, their own unique goal in mind) it struck me again what a truly dirty war this is.
Earlier in the week I was in my office listening to some new security information that staff had learned and we were trying to decide whether to suspend movements in an area based on these rumours. I was told in some detail (before I had a chance to say I didn't want to hear the specifics) of the torture that had been carried out on a captured ISIS fighter in order to try and glean information about sleeper cells.
As I watched all these men heading off to new frontlines this week, and thought about the treatment of those captured; I just kept thinking 'all of these men are sons, fathers, brothers, friends'. They are all leaving someone behind praying for their safe return. That's the reality of what is happening here and it's heartbreaking. If you pray, please continue to pray for peace in this country.
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