‘Worst is yet to come’ with 400,000 trapped in west Mosul, U.N. says
Displaced families from Mosul.
Many civilians fear fleeing because of Islamic State snipers, but some 157,000 have reached a transit center since the Iraqi government offensive on west Mosul began a month ago, it said.
“The worst is yet to come, if I can put it this way. Because 400,000 people trapped in the Old City in that situation of panic and penury may inevitably lead to the cork popping somewhere, sometime, presenting us with a fresh outflow of large-scale proportions,” Bruno Geddo, UNHCR representative in Iraq, speaking from the transit center outside Mosul, told a Geneva news briefing.
Iraqi government forces, which recaptured eastern Mosul late January, launched an offensive in February to retake the western side, having, since then, recaptured major government buildings and the airport besides some districts in central Mosul. Commanders are currently setting eyes on the densely-populated and narrowly-structured Old City, specifically the grand mosque where IS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the group’s inception. Bad weather, anxiety to preserve civilian lives and IS reliance on snipers and suicide attackers have all been factors slowing down security forces’ advances inside the district.
Iraqi government data tell that at least 355.000 have been displaced since operations to recapture Mosul launched in October, with 181.000 having left western Mosul alone. Poor living conditions, food and medicine shortages at both battle hot spots and refugee camps have been routinely reported.