Fleeing starvation, terror and constant air strikes in the battle for Mosul
IN A CEMETERY in west Mosul, fleeing civilians walked past shattered headstones and the bodies of Islamic State fighters killed in fighting the day before.
Overhead a thunderstorm brewed and Iraqi helicopter gunships fired relentless rocket barrages into Isil-held neighbourhoods.
The civilians came with tales of starvation and terror, and carried with them traumatised children, wounded relatives and in one case, a severely ill 15-day-old baby. They said they were the lucky ones.
“We are so happy,” said housewife Ruwayda Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, arriving at a muddy muster point on the Syria highway where authorities expect to receive thousands of civilians in the coming days. “There were too many air strikes.”
The Iraqi military opened a new front in west Mosul on Thursday in the hope of speeding progress of an operation which has slowed to a crawl since troops began fighting their way into the western half of the city in March.
With up to 400,000 civilians still living under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in siege-like conditions, there is a pressing urgency.
Iraqi officials say they hope to liberate the city completely within three weeks. But civilians fleeing on Friday report that the renewed push has been accompanied by mounting civilian deaths. “My uncle died yesterday,” said Mrs Ibrahim. “His house collapsed in a strike.” The housewife had fled her own home earlier that day with her husband and their two young children and newborn baby.
Life under Isil had grown increasingly difficult in recent months, she said, but it was only when soldiers approached that they deemed it safe enough to flee. When she gave birth at home two weeks ago, there was no doctor available to assist the delivery or prescribe medicine when her baby became ill. “Look, my baby’s face is blue,” she said.
The family hoped to receive medical care but no medics were immediately available at the muster point, which was being managed by the Iraqi army. Over 1,500 civilians arrived at the site on Friday and there were chaotic scenes as soldiers distributed food from the back of trucks.
As civilians scrambled among rain-soaked cardboard boxes for cans of food and bottles of fruit drink, many reported it was their first food other than bread that they had eaten in weeks.
“The first thing we ate was biscuits and oranges,” said Sufyan Mohamed Ahmed. “We haven’t seen this kind of food in six months.”
His family had tried to escape a month earlier, he said, but had been caught in crossfire. His daughters both had unhealed injuries to their legs and he displayed a long scar on his shoulder. His youngest daughter, Janet Faiz Mohamed, lay catatonic by her mother’s side. “She is traumatised by the explosions,” said Mr Ahmed. “She’s been like this for two weeks. She won’t eat.”
With no supplies entering remaining Isil-held territory, civilians say food prices have reached astronomical prices. “For six weeks we’ve been eating boiled wheat and dry bread,” said Amal Younes Hassan, a 57-year-old woman drinking from a bottle of fruit juice. “There’s been no clean drinking water for three months.”
Meanwhile, the offensive is making good progress, according to Col Abdel Amir Mohamaudi, of the interior ministry’s rapid response division. “We took six small villages on the outskirts of the city yesterday and today we are fighting in the 17 July neighbourhood.”
The rapid response division is advancing alongside elements of the Iraqi army, aiming to squeeze Isil defences toward federal police and special forces positions to the south. With Isil facing attacks on several fronts, Iraqi officials hope to have west Mosul completely liberated within three weeks.
But coalition spokesmen warned that difficult fighting lies ahead, and that further civilian casualties were likely. With the final battle expected to take place in Mosul’s Old City, the offensive may yet drag on for longer than anticipated.
Michael Knights, an Iraq analyst at the US think tank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said three weeks was likely to be an overly optimistic target. “I’m feeling like the main combat operations are going to last a lot longer than people think,” he said. “The worst-case scenario, it happens in three months.”
‘My uncle died yesterday. His house collapsed in a strike’