Title:Nearly a year since fall of Iraq’s Mosul, hunt for bodies goes on

MOSUL: Atop an enormous mound of rubble under blistering sun in Iraq's second city Mosul, fire crews and police chip away at a grim but vital task. Some 10 months after dislodging the Daesh group, they are still extracting bodies from the ruins of the shattered Old City. "Over three days, 763 bodies have been pulled from the rubble and buried," Lt. Col. Rabie Ibrahim says. Despite the overpowering stench, the men work relentlessly, braving unexploded munitions in an area devastated by the nine-month battle. "The operations will continue until all the corpses are extracted" from the heart of the city, Ibrahim says. Civilians' bodies that can be identified are handed to their families, while the remains of Daesh combatants are buried in a mass grave on the western outskirts of Mosul. Some of the putrefied corpses are sent to Nineveh province's health services, Ibrahim adds. The workers, their faces covered with masks or scarves, move with great caution. The bodies of jihadists are sometimes still clad in suicide belts. Grenades, homemade bombs and other crude contraptions left by Daesh fighters during their retreat to Syria pose a constant threat. The improvised boobytraps are hidden under multiple layers and obstacles — the rubble of collapsed homes, disemboweled furniture and uprooted trees, in some places subsiding into the waters of the Tigris that meander murkily below. Where a maze of cobbled streets was once lined with homes and market stalls, there is now a formless mess populated by stray animals, insects and disease. The destruction is so great that some residents cannot pinpoint the remnants of their homes or even their street as they try to direct salvage workers to the remains of loved ones. The rubble makes it impossible to bring in heavy construction machinery, says General Hossam Khalil, who leads Nineveh province's civil defense force. His men therefore have to rely on smaller vehicles, but Mosul "only has a few," he says. There is a pressure to work as quickly as conditions will allow: residents are exhausted by three years of Daesh rule, nine months of brutal urban combat and now the slow pace of reconstruction. "But it's impossible, with this stench, this pollution and the epidemics they can cause," says Othmane Saad, an unemployed 40-year-old whose home in the old city is entirely destroyed. Another resident, 33-year-old Abu Adel, wants the authorities "to clear all the corpses as quickly as possible" and to "compensate residents so they can rebuild, then establish public services." But the task is titanic. Since Mosul was retaken in July, "2,838 bodies, including 600 Daesh members, have been retrieved from the rubble," governor Naufel Sultane says. Even after the corpses are taken away and buried, they leave harmful bacteria which the Tigris can carry far beyond the old city. The authorities insist drinking water stations are unaffected and that they pump water from the Tigris' central depths, avoiding the banks and other shallows. But gastroenterologist Ahmed Ibrahim advises caution. "You must boil water before drinking it and don't use river water, either for bathing or washing," he says. Birds and fish "can carry typhus, bilharzia and gastroenteritis," he adds.

摩苏尔：在伊拉克第二座城市摩苏尔的太阳下方堆满了巨大的瓦砾，消防人员和警察在一项严峻但至关重要的任务中抢走了这些碎屑。达伊什少校打倒了大约10个月后，他们仍在从破旧城废墟中抽取尸体，"三天来，从瓦砾中抽取763具尸体，"Ibrahim中校说。尽管存在令人难忘的恶臭，但士兵们在一个被9个月战争摧毁的地区不遗余力地工作着，不畏艰险的未爆炸弹药。易卜拉欣说，"这些行动将继续下去，直到所有的尸体都从城市中心抽出"。可以辨认的文人尸体交给家人，而达希什战斗人员的遗体则埋在摩苏尔西部郊区的乱葬坑里。Ibrahim补充说，有些尸体被送往尼尼纳韦省的医疗机构，这些工人脸上戴面具或戴疤痕，极其谨慎地移动，有时圣战者的尸体仍身穿自杀带。达什战士在撤退到叙利亚期间留下的格陵墓、自制炸弹和其他粗暴的违禁品不断构成威胁。这些简易的诱杀装置被隐藏在多层和障碍物下，在一些地方补贴在底格里斯水域，而底壁房屋倒塌，家具和连根拔起。在一片铺满鹅卵石街道的迷宫里曾经排满了家园和市场，现在那里充斥着流散的动物、昆虫和疾病的一团糟。破坏非常严重，一些居民在试图将救助工人送到亲人的遗骸时无法确定其房屋的残余，甚至无法确定其街道的残骸。胡萨姆·哈利勒将军说，由于废墟，不可能引进重型建筑机械，他领导尼尼微省的民防部队，因此他们的士兵不得不依赖较小的车辆，但摩苏尔只有少数车辆。在条件允许的情况下，必须尽快工作的压力很大：居民被达伊什统治三年时间用尽，9个月野蛮的城市战斗以及目前重建的步伐缓慢。“但是按照这种恶臭，这种污染和他们可能造成的流行病是不可能的，”Othmane Saad说。另一位居民33岁的Abu Adel希望当局“尽快清除所有尸体”，并“赔偿居民，以便他们能够重建，然后建立公共服务”。自7月份摩苏尔被重新夺回以来，"2 838具尸体，包括600名达伊什族成员，从瓦砾中找回，" 总督Naufel Sultane说。即使尸体被带走并埋葬，它们仍然留下了底格里斯人可能携带的远在旧城以外的有害细菌。当局坚持说，饮用水站不受影响，他们从底格里斯中部水里抽水，避免银行和其他浅水，但胃肠专家艾哈迈德·易卜拉欣建议谨慎小心。他说：“你必须在喝水之前把水煮沸，并且不要用河水来洗澡或洗衣。”鸟和鱼可以带伤寒，bilharzia和胃肠炎，” 他补充道。

TEHRAN: Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Sunday that European efforts to save the nuclear deal after the exit of the US were not sufficient.

泰赫兰国：伊朗外交部长扎里夫星期天说，欧洲在美国退出后拯救核协议的努力是不够的。

"The cascade of decisions by EU companies to end their activities in Iran makes things much more complicated," Zarif told reporters.

扎里夫对记者说：“由于欧盟企业决定结束在伊朗的活动，情况变得更加复杂。”

He spoke after meeting with EU Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, who has been on a two-day visit to Tehran — the first by a Western official since Washington announced its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal earlier this month.

在与欧盟能源专员米格尔·阿里亚斯·卡内特（Miguel Arias Cante）会晤后发言，后者对德黑兰进行了为期两天的访问，这是自华盛顿本月早些时候宣布退出2015年核协定以来，西方官员的第一次访问。

"With the exit of the United States from the nuclear deal, the expectations of the Iranian public toward the European Union have increased... and the EU's political support for the nuclear agreement is not sufficient," Zarif added in comments carried by state broadcaster IRIB.

"随着美国退出核协议，伊朗公众对欧盟的期望增加了.而欧盟对核协议的政治支持是不够的，"扎里夫在IRIB国家广播公司的评论中加入了。

Several foreign firms have already halted their Iranian operations while they wait to see how talks within the EU will play out.

几家外国公司已经停止了伊朗的业务，他们等着看欧盟内部的会谈将如何展开。

French oil major Total said last week it would abandon its $4.8-billion investment project in Iran unless it was granted a waiver from Washington.

法国石油巨头道达尔(Total)上周表示，除非得到华盛顿的豁免，否则将放弃其在伊朗的48亿美元投资项目。

Another French energy giant, Engie, said Saturday it would cease engineering work in Iran before November, when US sanctions are due to be reimposed.

另一位法国能源巨头——引擎(Engie)周六表示，将在11月之前停止在伊朗的工程工程，届时将重新实施美国的制裁。

"The European Union must take concrete supplementary steps to increase its investments in Iran. The commitments of the EU to apply the nuclear deal are not compatible with the announcement of probable withdrawal by major European companies," Zarif said.

"欧洲联盟必须采取具体的补充措施，增加在伊朗的投资。扎里夫说，欧盟承诺实施核协议，与欧洲主要公司宣布可能退出条约不符。

Canete said he recognized that time was short and that clear measures were needed from Europe to protect investments and oil purchases.

卡尼特说，他承认时间很短，需要欧洲采取明确的措施保护投资和石油采购。

Iran has threatened to resume industrial uranium enrichment "without limit" if its interests are not protected.

伊朗威胁说，如果其利益得不到保护，伊朗就"无限制"恢复工业铀浓缩。