Speaking via video-link from Iraq, Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, says that in the worst case scenario, some 1 million civilians could flee the city with 700,000 of them requiring shelter overwhelming emergency sites that currently only have the capacity to hold 60,000 people.
“Our capacity to support 700,000 people in the short—term we couldn’t do it. And certainly if we had to mount a response over the intermediate-term, if they couldn’t go back to Mosul quickly, if there was too much damage in the city, then it would test us to the breaking point,” Ms. Grande says.
Australian soldiers will join Iraqi security forces and the international coalition in an operation to recapton ure Mosul city from the the Islamic State (IS) terror group, Defence Minister Marise Payne said Tuesday.
“We are continuing our work providing support to the Iraqi security forces throughout the Mosul offensive,” Payne said.
“I’m not going to give those sorts of specific details in operational terms for security reasons,” she said in response to a question about the proximity of Australian troops to the current military action in Mosul.
New Zealand has announced that it will give 1 million New Zealand dollars ($718,000) to help meet the humanitarian needs of those people affected by the military campaign. New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the funding will be provided through the International Organization for Migration. He said New Zealand has now provided a total of NZ$25 million to assist people in Syria and Iraq.
Iraq’s Kurdish forces say they are pausing in their advance on Mosul after capturing a handful of villages to the east from the Islamic State group as the Iraqi army presses ahead with the next stage of the operation to retake the IS-held city.
Col. Khathar Sheikhan of the Kurdish forces, known as peshmerga, says his troops achieved their objectives and “are just holding our positions” in the Khazer area on Tuesday.
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