Islamic State targets civilians as Iraqi attack in Mosul nears

Thousands suffer as militants hoard fuel, food.

IRBIL, IRAQ — Several hundred thousand civilians are enduring desperate conditions and facing retribution by Islamic State fighters in western Mosul as Iraqi forces prepare to attack militants who control the city’s western half, according to residents and humanitarian groups.

In telephone interviews, residents said the Islamic State was using food as a weapon, doling out small amounts to hungry families in return for information gained by spying on neighbors suspected of aiding Iraqi security forces. They said several residents accused of phoning security forces with information about Islamic State activities had been killed in recent weeks.

Food, water and fuel for cooking and heating are unavailable or are being sold at prohibitive prices in the area’s densely packed neighborhoods. Militants have begun hoarding food and supplies while restricting the movements of civilians in anticipation of a government assault, residents said.

“We’re no longer afraid of the rockets and the buzzing of bullets — we fear hunger more,” said Abu Marwan, a government employee from western Mosul. “Anyone who owns a bag of flour or rice is rich.”

Like others interviewed, Abu Marwan, citing concerns about safety, agreed to speak on the condition that his full name not be published. Residents said anyone caught using a cellphone risked being beaten or killed by militants.

The United Nations in Iraq said Saturday that most of the 750,000 to 800,000 residents of western Mosul had been living under extreme duress for weeks, creating a humanitarian crisis even before the start of military operations.

Once the battle for western Mosul begins, a top U.N. official said, 250,000 to 400,000 people may try to flee. Emergency sites are being built south of Mosul, where food and other supplies are being gathered to accommodate a rush of displaced people.

“Tens of thousands of people may flee or be forced to leave the city,” Lise Grande, United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement Saturday. “Hundreds of thousands of civilians might be trapped — maybe for weeks, maybe for months.”

Grande added: “People, right now, are in trouble. We are hearing reports of parents struggling to feed their children and to heat their homes.”

Few, if any, commercial supplies have reached western Mosul in the three months since the main road to Syria was cut, the U.N. said recently. With cooking gas and kerosene scarce, families are burning wood, plastic, furniture and garbage to heat their homes and cook their food.

The United Nations said that most essential food items were virtually unattainable. Half of all food shops have closed, and others have little for sale. Staples like rice, flour, legumes, date syrup, baby formula and sugar have almost disappeared. There is enough cooking oil to supply only 10 percent of the population.

Umm Aisha, a widow with three children, said her two sons, ages 7 and 5, were weak and listless from hunger. She said her 10-year-old daughter’s face had turned yellow and sunken.

“I can’t provide enough food to keep them alive,” she said, weeping.

AP Mosul residents wait at a checkpoint outside the city to register their names for security reasons, Friday. Hundreds are fleeing the ongoing violence.