Battle for Mosul: Iraqi Forces Retake 2 Districts, 800000+ Trapped
Local Editor
Iraqi commandos had liberated two neighborhoods in west Mosul on Sunday amid fierce clashes with Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] militants. The advance is ongoing amid UN concerns that the assault could force up to 400,000 civilians to flee, if they manage it.
New footage from Mosul shows displaced residents from the western Maamoun district arriving at the government-liberated al-Jadaa camp in Mosul, Sunday, as Iraqi forces push deeper into the city.
About 1,000 civilians, predominantly women and children, left Mosul on Saturday and were taken to humanitarian camps located to the south of the city, according to Reuters.
The Tayaran neighborhood is now under the "full control" of Iraqi forces, Maj-Gen. Haider al-Maturi said Sunday, according to AP.
Daesh militants deployed at least 10 suicide car bombs, but only one of them reached its target. Two policeman were martyred and five were wounded, al-Maturi said.
Two militants, one of Iraqi decent and one foreigner who speaks Russian, were arrested.
The other neighborhood, Mamun, was "fully liberated" as well, Brig-Gen. Haider Fadhil said, adding that 15 suicide car bombs were deployed, but none of them hit the troops.
"We are clearing [the neighborhood] up and beefing up fortifications," he added. Nearly 3,000 people fled Maamoun on Sunday, Iraqi Special Forces Brig-Gen. Salam Hashed said. Some 2,500 civilians fled the previous day.
For their part, the UN Children's Fund [UNICEF] and the UN World Food Program [WFP] reported that families in Mosul are struggling with a critical shortage of food and drinking water, with three out of five people using untreated water from wells for drinking and cooking.
"Food prices in western Mosul are almost double those in eastern Mosul," said Sally Haydock, WFP representative in the country, according to the UN News Centre.
By UN estimates, between 750,000 and 800,000 civilians are in Mosul's western districts. The UN said up to 400,000 people may have to leave their homes during the new offensive as food and fuel runs out in western Mosul.
If so, the number of the displaced people would be twice as big as it was in eastern Mosul.
In a related development, the Iraqi army and allied forces are aiming to win back a bridge across the River Tigris that would link the west bank with the already retaken eastern part of the city, Reuters reported.
The move would shift the operation to its most active and, as aid and human rights organizations warned, most dangerous phase.
The bridge along with four others was damaged both in US-led airstrikes and by Daesh militants. It is to be mended by army engineers that would allow to bring in reinforcements and supplies, Colonel Falah al-Wabdan of the Interior Ministry's Rapid Response unit said, Reuters reported Sunday.
The combat operation in heavily populated west Mosul, containing the old city with its narrow alleyways, is expected to be a tough challenge for Iraqi forces.
The narrow streets won't allow armored vehicles and tanks to go through, so the fighting is likely to turn into hand-to-hand combat, which puts civilians in much greater danger.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
