While it is good that the Iraqi forces are effectively tightening the noose around Daesh militants holed up in Mosul’s Old City, the plight of civilians should not be ignored, said a United Arab Emirates newspaper.
In a commentary published today, 'Gulf Today'said that thousands of civilians have been fleeing Mosul every day since Iraqi troops began their push into the last Daesh-held areas last week, with food and water running out.
Heavy fighting has also claimed the lives of an increasing number of civilians.
As per the International Committee of the Red Cross, as many as 450,000 civilians are trapped in Mosul’s Old City, caught up in house-to-house fighting.
In the past three days alone, more than 11,000 people have passed through a screening site at the Hammam Al Alil camp south of Mosul.
Harrowing tales of Daesh atrocities are also emerging.
Residents say that militants preparing for a desperate last stand in Mosul are booby-trapping homes with civilians inside and welding doors shut on starving families to prevent the population from fleeing.
According to Umm Abdul Rahman, 40, who fled the Musherfa district, Daesh militants are shooting at people who try to escape, although some men have been allowed to go in exchange for taking militants’ families with them.
One man waiting to be checked by security at Hammam Al Alil had streaks of blood on his clothes from carrying a woman hit by a Daesh sniper.
The United Nations says more than 12,000 Mosul civilians have been wounded, a count that only includes those who have made it to hospitals outside the city to receive treatment.
In the first three months of this year, a small orthopaedic facility run by the ICRC has treated 148 people from Mosul who lost limbs.
Some families walk several kilometres to markets that have sprung up in neighbourhoods that have been under Iraqi military control longer. But prices there are high. Most families have exhausted their savings and work is almost non-existent in Mosul.
The operation to retake Mosul began nearly seven months ago, and the eastern half of the city was retaken earlier this year. However, the battle for the more densely populated western half, including the Old City, has been slower.
It is true that humanitarian agencies are scaling up their response, preparing emergency sites and camps to shelter thousands of civilians, but they are under increasing strain.
Protecting civilians should be the topmost priority and there can be no compromise on that count.

Source: WAM