Iraqi forces slow advance in Mosul as civilian lives at risk

MOSUL, Iraq (Kurdistan24) – The presence of thousands of civilians in the last areas of Mosul held by the Islamic State (IS) continues to slow down the Iraqi forces’ advance, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

Nearly 200,000 people are believed to be trapped in the remaining parts of the city still under the insurgent group’s control.

Seven months into the major offensive to liberate Iraq’s second largest city, security forces' progress has stalled since reaching Mosul’s Old City.

“What is disrupting our advance is the presence of civilians,” the spokesman for Iraq’s Joint Operations Command Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told AFP.

“We received hundreds of families through safe corridors [secured by Iraqi troops],” he added.

Mosul’s Old City is a burrow of narrow streets and closely-spaced buildings which make it challenging for security forces to advance as efficiently as they’d like.

On Thursday, Iraqi Federal Police said civilians came under attack by IS mortars as they were trying to flee the Zanjili neighborhoods in west Mosul—seven people were killed and 23 others wounded.

Since the start of the operation to retake the city in October 2016, over 750,000 people have been displaced according to the UN.

The UN believes that figure could considerably increase as the final stages of the Mosul offensive approaches, with only 150,000 of those displaced returning to their homes since.

Civilians who have fled areas under IS control in Iraq have sought refuge in the Kurdistan Region which has created a tremendous burden for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The KRG has been hosting nearly two million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees from Iraq and neighboring Syria since the emergence of the insurgent group in 2014.

Editing by G. H. Renaud

(Additional reporting by Baxtiyar Goran)