- Title: Civilians flee Mosul areas as operation to retake the city resumes
- Date: 29th December 2016
- Summary: NORTH OF MOSUL, IRAQ (DECEMBER 29, 2016) (REUTERS) DISPLACED PEOPLE WAITING TO BOARD A BUS THAT WILL TAKE THEM TO A NEWLY SET UP CAMP VARIOUS OF WOMEN, SOME CARRYING THEIR CHILDREN, WALKING TOWARDS THE BUS WOMEN AND CHILDREN BOARDING THE BUS VARIOUS OF MEN QUEUING TO BOARD THE BUS MEN WAITING NEAR THE BUS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI MAN WHO FLED FROM A VILLAGE NORTH OF MOSUL, HAZEM HAMED, SAYING: "We fled with our families; we barely escaped with our lives. We walked to Mosul, and from Mosul we got here. From Qawsiyat and Tal Kayf and we left at night." MEN WAITING TO BOARD THE BUS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI MAN DISPLACED FROM TAL KAYF, YOUNIS, SAYING: "Our situation there was tragic, it was not good. Civilians were getting hurt; Daesh militants destroyed our lives. There is no life in Mosul, no fuel, no gasoline, no food, there is nothing." VARIOUS OF MEN BOARDING THE BUS VARIOUS OF MEN ON THE BUS BUS LEAVING TOWARDS THE CAMPS
- Embargoed: 13th January 2017 14:58
- Keywords: Iraq Mosul displaced Islamic State militants conflict
- Location: NORTH OF MOSUL, IRAQ
- City: NORTH OF MOSUL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA0015EXSJ0N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Approximately 200 residents fled villages north of Mosul on Thursday (December 29), as the second phase of the army offensive against Islamic State militants kicked off.
Families from the villages of Tel Kayf, Qawsiyat and Sada, boarded a bus expected to take them to a new camp in Nargizliya.
One man, Younis, heading to the camp, said the situation in Mosul was miserable.
"Civilians were getting hurt; Daesh militants destroyed our lives. There is no life in Mosul, no fuel, no gasoline, no food, there is nothing."
Since the offensive to capture Mosul began 10 weeks ago, counter-terrorism forces have retaken a quarter of the city, the jihadists' last major stronghold in Iraq, but their advance has been slow and troops on other fronts have made little progress.
The campaign, the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein, entered its first significant pause earlier this month for a planned "operational refit".
But on Thursday, more than 5,000 soldiers and militarised federal police troops who had redeployed from Mosul's southern outskirts entered half a dozen southeastern neighbourhoods, while counter-terrorism forces advanced in al-Quds and Karama districts after receiving reinforcements.
Army forces pushed simultaneously towards the northern city limits. U.S. military advisers were seen watching operations.
The fall of Mosul would probably spell the end for Islamic State's ambition to rule over millions of people in a self-styled caliphate, but fighters could still mount a traditional insurgency in Iraq, and plot or inspire attacks on the West. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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