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Mosul’s Refugees Complain from Bad Conditions at Camps | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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People who are fleeing the fighting between ISIS and
Iraqi army in Mosul are pictured in Samah district, eastern Mosul, Iraq November 12, 2016. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra


Mosul’s Refugees Complain from Bad Conditions at Camps

by | Nov 14, 2016 | Middle East |

Mosul’s Refugees Complain from Bad Conditions at Camps

Mosul- Thousands of Mosul refugees have suffered from a total lack of services in the three camps established to shelter them. Asharq Al-Awsat visited the Hassan Shami camp and heard many stories of suffering from people who lost family members, or left all their belongings to escape ISIS and found themselves in this shantytown without any relief aid and amid upcoming hard conditions with the beginning of winter.

Abu Mohammad, 62, is one of the camp’s refugees and has lost his son who was captured by ISIS. He said that he lives with his 15-member family at Hassan Shami and suffer like many other people from a huge lack of services.
He said his family members live in almost empty tents and has nothing to provide to them. The man added that he suffers from chronic diseases and that he had lost all his medicine.

Najat Hussein al-Tai, a legal consultant, said that people’s suffering began when ISIS decided to separate both sides of the city after its militants bombed the third and fifth bridges, which obstructed people from crossing to the left side of Mosul, controlled by the Iraqi security forces.

Even on the left side of Mosul people suffer from a total lack of food and medical supplies, particularly after the influx of thousands of refugees who escaped from ISIS, she added.

Tai revealed that more than one million people live under the fear of getting caught in the crossfire of international coalition and Iraqi forces on the right side of the city, which has been completely controlled by ISIS.

The consultant said that families in that area have been banned from leaving their homes and from hospitalizing the injured.

Minister of Migration and Displaced Jassim Mohammad has warned from a humanitarian crisis that threatens the life of thousands of refugees in the city due to the lack of food, water, and basic services.

He also said that since the launch of Nineveh’s liberation operations on October 17, camps established by the ministry have sheltered 37,184 families.

International organizations have expected the displacement of more than a million people during the ongoing military operations to liberate Mosul from the terrorist organization, which controlled it in June 2014, while more than two million people still besieged in the city.