Aid agency seeks safe passage for Mosul residents

Iraqi forces should create safe exits for Mosul residents because they cannot protect civilians and wage fierce battles with militants at the same time, an aid group said on Friday.
The International Rescue Committee also predicted that the fighting to retake the Daesh group’s northern stronghold would last until the spring of 2017 and worried that the trapped population would run out of supplies or take huge risks to flee.
“Even with the best efforts of the Iraqi forces to keep residents out of harm’s way, the fighting is just too intense,” IRC’s Iraq director Alex Milutinovic said. 
Around 70,000 people have fled their homes in the region since the start on Oct. 17 of a huge offensive against Mosul, only about 30,000 of them from inside the city itself.
The number of displaced is significantly lower than what the United Nations and other aid organizations had forecast before the operation began.
IRC said that was due at least in part to the intensity of the fighting making it too dangerous for civilians to flee and reach the safety of the camps being set up around Mosul.
“Which is why Iraqi forces need to do everything they can to ensure there are safe routes of escape,” Milutinovic said.
“The fighting in Mosul also makes it very difficult to deliver aid and with supplies already running low there are also fears that families will soon be without any food or medicine,” he said.
Iraqi forces have been advancing slowly across eastern Mosul neighborhoods in recent weeks, encouraging residents to hunker down in their homes.
No official tally has been divulged by the Iraqi authorities but civilians attempting to cross the battle lines to flee Mosul have paid a heavy price.
Those who have decided to stay at home also get routinely caught in the crossfire.

Far from normal
Daesh still holds other parts of the northern city, carries out suicide bombings and fires rockets from positions nearby. With food and water in short supply, life remains far from normal in Zahra, even if Daesh is on the back foot in Mosul after more than two years of brutal rule.
“The (Iraqi) army is advancing, but (Daesh) rockets land every day in our district. It’s non-stop,” said Abdulnabi, who worked for a Turkish food firm before Daesh made Mosul their biggest urban stronghold in Iraq.
“I decided to move my children to my brother’s house after a suicide bombing struck close to my house,” he said.
Abdulnabi has packed a bag with clothing for his children, aged between three and 10. His brother lives in another part of Zahra which Abdulnabi says is quieter.
Minutes after he spoke, a group of people chatting in front of their houses ducked when they heard a gun being fired, apparently by a sniper. No one was hurt though many people on the streets already have bandaged wounds.
Many houses are packed with 20 to 30 people because families are sheltering relatives or other people who have fled from other parts of Mosul. Some homes still fly the white flags they raised to signal surrender to the advancing Iraqi forces.
Black Humvees bring in reinforcements and pickup trucks head in the opposite direction, carrying elderly people or families who are leaving. One family goes through the district on foot, with a small girl carrying a white flag.
“We haven’t had water for one week, no electricity,” said Ahmed Youssef, a baker. “I am not going to open my bakery unless there is security ... I have some flour left but it makes no sense to resume work now.”
Trucks deliver basic food items every day at a square next to a military headquarters. Soldiers fired in the air to keep order.

Source: Arab News