Amnesty has declared a humanitarian disaster because of the battle for Mosul
The battle for Mosul between the Iraqi troops and international coalition forces from the United States, on the one hand, and militants of the banned terrorist organization “Islamic state”, on the other, has led to a humanitarian catastrophe.
The militants used the city’s population as a human shield, they are also subjected to “relentless and illegal” attacks by government forces of Iraq and the Western coalition forces. This is stated in the report “at all costs: a civil disaster in Western Mosul, Iraq” (At Any Cost: The Civilian Catastrophe in West Mosul, Iraq), published by the international human rights organization Amnesty International.
Employees of the organization interviewed 151 resident of the Western part of Mosul in March and may 2017. Among them was like living in the city, and who were in the camps for displaced persons in the provinces of Nineveh (where Mosul), and Arbela (a neighboring governorate). Amnesty staff also interviewed doctors, Iraqi and international staff of humanitarian missions, journalists, experts on military Affairs and arms, UN staff.
Human rights activists received information about 45 attacks, which killed at least 426 of the civil, more than a hundred were injured.