Hostilities in West of Iraq's Mosul Could Lead to Humanitarian Catastrophe

Nofal Akub, the governor of the Nineveh province, said that 150,000 people have left Mosul since the start of the military operation to retake the Daesh-held city.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The shift of military operations to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from militants to its western part could lead to an increase in refugee numbers and a humanitarian catastrophe, the governor of the Nineveh province, Nofal Akub, said on Wednesday.

"With the onset of action for the liberation of the right bank there will be a new wave of refugees, and if there is no action plan developed, there will be a humanitarian disaster," the Iraqi governor said on television channel Alsumaria.

According to the governor, nearly 150,000 people have left the city since the start of the operation. Akub noted that there were not enough camps, despite the fact that some people were able to return to the liberated areas of Mosul, and the operation in the western part of the city had not yet begun.

"Most of the camps are full, and we were asked several times to organize more of them to take internally displaced persons," he added.

Iraqi military on Wednesday continued their operation in the eastern part of the city. According to a spokesman of the US-led coalition, airstrikes in the area around Mosul have recently killed three Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia and other states) leaders.

The operation to liberate Mosul, in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh, from Islamic State began on October 17, 2016. Iraqi troops managed to advance in the eastern part of the city, but the western part — on the right bank of the Tigris River — remains entirely under militant control.