Mosul residents seek refuge from ongoing fighting

Record ID: 80241

  • Title: Mosul residents seek refuge from ongoing fighting
  • Date: 5th November 2016
  • Summary: KOKJALI, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 05, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WHO FLED SAMAH DISTRICT OF EASTERN MOSUL WALKING TOWARDS KOKJALI MORE OF DISPLACED PEOPLE WALKING, SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIERS NEARBY VARIOUS OF DISPLACED MEN SITTING ON THE GROUND, SURROUNDED BY SOLDIERS DISPLACED PEOPLE WALKING TOWARDS SOLDIERS SOLDIERS DIRECTING DISPLACED PEOPLE DISPLACED MAN, SABAH SALEH, CARRYING WHITE FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FORMER MOSUL RESIDENT, SABAH SALEH, SAYING: "No, no, we left at our own will. Because Daesh started retaliating, they fired mortars randomly at the city, so we left. Thank God." VARIOUS OF FAMILY GETTING OUT OF TRUCK WITH BELONGINGS SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER STANDING NEAR DISPLACED PEOPLE PEOPLE WALKING TOWARDS BUS MAN CLOSING TRUNK UNDER BUS DISPLACED PEOPLE ON BUS GOING TO REFUGEE CAMPS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FORMER MOSUL RESIDENT, AYAD AMER, SAYING: "Don't ask about the clashes. They destroyed my home, my brother's house was torn apart, there is nothing left. My house was hit by mortars. We suffered a lot, we have nothing to eat, we cannot even find a piece of bread." VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN CLIMBING ONTO BACK OF TRUCKS GOING TO REFUGEE CAMPS WOMAN BEING HELPED ONTO BACK OF TRUCK BY SOLDIER SOLDIER CLOSING TRUCK DOOR WITH PEOPLE INSIDE ERBIL, IRAQ (NOVEMBER, 05, 2016) (REUTERS) DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION, WILLIAM LACY SWING, LISTENING TO MAN GIVING AN UPDATE ON MOSUL OFF CAMERA INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION, WILLIAM LACY SWING, SAYING: "The numbers are not as large, so far, as had been expected. We've heard figures all the way up to 500,000 or 700,000. We are trying to prepare accordingly, but it's very difficult to do contingency planning with any level of accuracy at all, because we don't know what they're going to find when they get inside, what the reaction will be, how much people will be allowed to leave." SWING AT HIS DESK SPEAKING TO REUTERS JOURNALIST
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2016 16:59
  • Keywords: Iraq Mosul displaced
  • Location: KOKJALI, ERBIL, IRAQ
  • City: KOKJALI, ERBIL, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015763EX3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Dozens of refugees fled from the Samah district of eastern Mosul on Saturday (November 5) trying to avoid clashes during the ongoing battle to recapture the city from Islamic State militants.
    Men, women and children carrying their most valuable belongings, walked to the recently recaptured village of Kokjali, where they were met by Iraqi special forces and boarded buses and trucks for refugee camps.
    One man said he left his home to avoid retaliation by Islamic State militants.
    "No, no, we left at our own will. Because Daesh started retaliating, they fired mortars randomly at the city, so we left. Thank God," said Sabah Saleh.
    Another man said he fled after his home was reduced to rubble.
    "Don't ask about the clashes. They destroyed my home, my brother's house was torn apart, there is nothing left. My house was hit by mortars. We suffered a lot, we have nothing to eat, we cannot even find a piece of bread," said Ayad Amer.
    Thousands of people have left Mosul since Iraq's regular troops and special forces - along with Shi'ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by U.S.-led air strikes - launched their campaign to retake the city nearly three weeks ago.
    So far 31,000 people have been displaced, of which more than 3,000 have already returned to their homes according to the Director General of the International Organization for Migration, William Lacy Swing.
    But he said the numbers of displaced were not as high as initially expected.
    "The numbers are not as large, so far, as had been expected. We've heard figures all the way up to 500,000 or 700,000. We are trying to prepare accordingly, but it's very difficult to do contingency planning with any level of accuracy at all, because we don't know what they're going to find when they get inside, what the reaction will be, how much people will be allowed to leave," said Swing.
    Recapturing Mosul would effectively crush the Iraqi half of a self-proclaimed caliphate declared by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque two years ago.
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