Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Besieged Citizens in Mosul Suffer from Difficult Humanitarian Conditions | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55372423
Caption:

Displaced Iraqi men wait in a truck to be transported to a camp as the battle between the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service and Islamic State militants continues nearby, in western Mosul, Iraq, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Marko Djurica


Mosul – Civilians besieged in Mosul are reporting the city reeking of smell of corpses of citizens who died out of hunger, while the Security and Defense Committee of Nineveh Council announced that the battle to liberate Tal Afar, al-Hadar, al-Bajaaj, and other cities will begin as soon as the liberation of the right side of Mosul is finished.

Citizen Sabri al-Mosuli of al-Zanjili neighborhood reported the difficult humanitarian situation citizens are suffering from especially that temperatures are increasing and the smell of dead bodies is all over the place.

Zanjili told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper over the phone that they don’t know where the smells are coming from because citizens hide in the dungeons of their houses and they are only left with a little amount of flour and water from wells.

He said that it is likely that the dead bodies are of citizens who died of hunger and thirst. He also reported that over the past few weeks several elderly and children died because of hunger and lack of medications.

Safaa al-Obeidi, a citizen who arrived from al-Tanak neighborhood to the displaced camps, said that ISIS militants used to take dozens of families with them after every retreat from the western neighborhoods in the west of Mosul.

She explained that they escaped during the night benefiting from fewer numbers of militants on the streets. Obeidi stated that in areas under ISIS control over five families reside in one house, adding that the militants had now opened the houses for easy access between them and are wandering freely.

Security forces continued to bomb ISIS clusters in the remainder of the unliberated western neighborhoods of the city.

Member of Security and Defense Committee of Nineveh Council Hashim al-Brifkani told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the liberation of Tal Afar, al-Hadar, and Baaj won’t begin until the liberation of the west side of Mosul is completely over. He explained that the new plans for the security forces were fruitful and resulted in the liberation of several new neighborhoods and areas, adding that the security forces are heading towards the republican hospital now. Only seven neighborhoods remain until the whole right side of Mosul is completely liberated, he added.