Trump Administration Awards $7.3Mln For Iraqi Minorities Persecuted By IS - US Aid Agency

The United States awarded more than $7 million to two aid groups working to assist Iraqi religious communities persecuted by the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2019) The United States awarded more than $7 million to two aid groups working to assist Iraqi religious communities persecuted by the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Friday.

"USAID Administrator Mark Green announced new financial assistance... to support ethnic and religious minorities displaced by the genocide perpetrated by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," the release said.

USAID awarded $6.8 million to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to help with immediate household needs and another $528,500 to the Solidarity Fund Poland to help deliver quality health care for those displaced and persecuted by IS.

With the latest awards, assistance from the US government to persecuted ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq now totals nearly $380 million, the release noted.

This aid includes funding through USAID's Genocide Recovery and Persecution Response initiative, and complements the Iraq and December 2018 Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act, according to the release.

At its peak, the Islamic State ruled about 12 million people in territory captured in both Iraq and Syria, and up to 18,800 IS fighters are believed still active in the region, according to the latest US estimates.