Mosul civilian face ‘stark choices’

GENEVA: As many as 450,000  civilians are trapped in Mosul’s  Old City, caught up in houseto-  house fighting between Islamic  State and Iraqi government  forces and cut off from  aid, the International Committee  of the Red Cross (ICRC)  said on Wednesday.  The Iraqi army says it is in  the final stages of its campaign  to rout the Islamist militants  from their last major urban redoubt  in Iraq, seven months  after the US-backed operation  to recapture the city began.  Patrick Hamilton, ICRC  deputy director for the Middle  East, said civilians were facing  "very stark choices" as food  and water run out.  "This population is not only  exposed to the immediate dangers  of the conflict itself and  being either targeted or hit as  collateral damage, but is also  facing the effects of just no  longer really having much access  to the basic essentials  that they need to live," Hamilton  said after a trip to Iraq.  Thousands have fled every  day since the US-backed  forces opened up a new front  last week in the northwestern  corner of the city, which includes  the historic Old City  centre, where the militants are  besieged.  The ICRC said Iraqi authorities  were already overwhelmed  by the exodus of  600,000 people from the city,  Iraq’s second largest, since October.  Another 100,000 to 200,000  could flee the final battle for  the Old City, it said, citing UN  figures.  The agency has deployed  mobile surgical teams close to  the frontline but has not been  able to access the Old City. —  AFP