100,000 ON MOVE AS FORCES POISE FOR MOSUL BATTLE

The UN refugee agency says more than 100,000 people have been displaced as Iraqi forces clear territory ahead of the critical battle for Islamic State-held Mosul — raising concerns that a million more could be displaced from in and around Iraq’s second-largest city as the operation moves forward.

Iraq’s leaders have repeatedly promised that Mosul — which has been in the hands of ISIL militants for more than two years — will be retaken this year, though U.S. officials have said that timeline is unrealistic.

About 43,000 people have been displaced from the Mosul area since March and 66,600 people from the nearby Shirgat area since June, according to UNHCR statements.

Clearing operations in Shirgat, south of Mosul, are seeking to cut ISIL supply lines used to move fighters, equipment and provisions in and out of the Mosul area. Iraqi forces are also clearing villages south of Mosul under air support from the U.S.-led coalition.

“Some days we receive 500, other days we receive 1,000 (displaced) people,” said Brig. Mahdi Younis, with Iraq’s Kurdish peshmerga forces. “With every small movement of the Iraqi army, there are 1,000 more displaced.”