Deputy humanitarian affairs chief warns families could be caught in crossfire during push to reclaim Iraq’s second city from IS

Members of the Islamic State group distribute niqabs and veils to Iraqi women in Mosul, northern Iraq, January 31, 2014. (Militant website via AP, File)
Members of the Islamic State group distribute niqabs and veils to Iraqi women in Mosul, northern Iraq, January 31, 2014. (Militant website via AP, File)

 

UNIITED NATIONS, United States — The UN deputy Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief voiced grave concern Sunday at risks faced by civilians as operations to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul began.

“I am extremely concerned for the safety of up to 1.5 million people living in Mosul who may be impacted by military operations to retake the city from ISIL,” Stephen O’Brien said, referring to the Islamic State jihadist group.

He warned that “families are at extreme risk of being caught in cross-fire or targeted by snipers.”

The northern city was where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi publicly proclaimed a “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria in June 2014.

With the support of Iran and a US-led coalition, Iraqi forces have since regained much of the ground lost to IS. Mosul is the extremist group’s last major stronghold in Iraq.

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters hold a position on the top of Mount Zardak, about 25 kilometers east of Mosul, on October 17, 2016, as part of a broad operation to retake the city from the Islamic State group. (AFP PHOTO/SAFIN HAMED)
Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters hold a position on the top of Mount Zardak, about 25 kilometers east of Mosul, on October 17, 2016, as part of a broad operation to retake the city from the Islamic State group. (AFP PHOTO/SAFIN HAMED)

 

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said only government forces will enter Mosul, a Sunni-majority city that IS seized with relative ease partly amid local resentment towards the Shiite-dominated security forces.

“Depending on the intensity and scope of the fighting, as many as one million people may be forced to flee their homes in a worst-case scenario,” O’Brien said in a UN statement.

An Iraqi policeman unloads ammunition at the Qayyarah military base, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of Mosul, on October 16, 2016, as they prepare for an offensive to retake Mosul, the last IS-held city in the country. (AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)
An Iraqi policeman unloads ammunition at the Qayyarah military base, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of Mosul, on October 16, 2016, as they prepare for an offensive to retake Mosul, the last IS-held city in the country. (AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

Indeed, children and elderly are among those at greatest risk, he said.

“Tens of thousands of Iraqi girls, boys, women and men may be under siege or held as human shields. Thousands may be forcibly expelled or trapped between the fighting lines,” O’Brien added.

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the operation was key to defeating the jihadist group.

“This is a decisive moment in the campaign to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat,” Carter said in a statement.

“We are confident our Iraqi partners will prevail against our common enemy and free Mosul and the rest of Iraq from ISIL’s hatred and brutality.”