Battle for Iraq's Mosul could take 'months
The Iraqi government’s assault to retake the city of Mosul could take months, prompting more and more civilians to try to flee to avoid being trapped between front lines, an International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday.
A growing number of wounded, more than 100 on some days, are emerging from rural areas surrounding the city of one million that is held by Islamic State group (IS) forces, Dominik Stillhart, director of ICRC operations worldwide, told Reuters.
“What we see now on the ground is indeed that the fight in Mosul is not just going to stop anytime soon because the resistance is very strong,” Stillhart, back from visiting Iraq, said in an interview on Thursday at ICRC's headquarters in Geneva.
“It is likely that we will see long, drawn-out fighting with very serious suffering of a population that will once again be caught between two front lines,” he said. “It is reasonable to expect that this is going to take weeks if not months.”
http://www.france24.com/en/20161202-battle-iraqs-mosul-could-take-months
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