BABIL, Iraq — In preparation for the start of school, authorities in Babil province have managed to evacuate displaced families from the many schools that had served as shelters, said educational supervisor Qasim Sultani in an interview with Al-Monitor.
Since the outbreak of fighting between the Iraqi army and allied militias on the one hand and the Islamic State and its allies on the other in northern and western Iraq, hundreds of families have fled conflict areas, seeking safety in the central and southern provinces. Over the summer, empty schools in Babil province, 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Baghdad, received hundreds of displaced families.
