As pro-government forces and their allies, earlier this month, advanced on the city, the last major population center held by ISIL in Iraq the civilians were forces to go from outlying villages into Mosul by the retreating militants as an insurance against strikes shelling attacks by Iraqi forces, Middle East Eye reported.
Eventually they got lucky and managed to escape, trekking homewards on foot before the small group he was with managed to attract the attention of interior ministry troops on the other side of the river Tigris.
The troops sent a boat for them and brought them across on a last leg that finally saw them get out of IS territory.
"We saw the security forces and started shouting to them so they came to us," one of the civilians said, shivering in the chilly evening air.
"I swear we are going to die from cold."
What they left behind, he said, was an increasingly desperate situation for civilians in the bulk of the Mosul still controlled by ISIL as Iraqi forces battle fierce resistance while pushing slowly into the Eastern part of the city.
"I swear the situation is not good, shooting everywhere, families sleeping in the streets, people are so tired," he said. "They are in the middle of the fire."
The United Nations has reported that ISIL forced "tens of thousands of people from their homes in some districts around Mosul" as Iraqi forces pushed the militants back.
farsnews.com
21/11/16
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