Iraqi troops free civilians amid house-to-house fighting in Mosul’s Old City

YemenExtra

At least 100 civilians reached the safety of a government-held area west of the Old City in one 20-minute period, tired, scared and hungry. Soldiers gave them food and water.

More than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are believed to be children, remain trapped in the crumbling houses of the Old City with little food, water or medical treatment.

Iraqi urban-warfare forces were leading the campaign to clear the Islamic State (IS) group militants from the maze of Old City alleyways, moving on foot from house-to-house in locations too cramped for the use of armoured combat vehicles.

Aid organisations and Iraqi authorities say IS is trying to prevent civilians from leaving so as to use them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.

Military analysts said Baghdad’s campaign to recover Mosul gathered pace after IS blew up the 850-year-old al-Nuri mosque with its famous leaning minaret on 21 June.

The mosque’s destruction, while condemned by Iraqi and UN authorities as another cultural crime by IS, gave troops more freedom to press their onslaught as they no longer had to worry about damaging the ancient site.