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Security concerns force UN to pause aid operation in east Mosul

February 16, 2017 at 5:31 pm

Security concerns have forced the United Nations to temporarily pause aid operations in eastern Mosul, which Iraqi forces largely recaptured from Daesh last month.

“Based on reports of insecurity, the UN decided that we would not send missions into eastern parts of Mosul until we reassess security conditions,” said Lise Grande, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.

The humanitarian official who was speaking during a visit to a camp for displaced Iraqi’s also added that the agency “expects to reengage as soon as possible, hopefully within the next day or so.”

While Mosul’s eastern half was declared “fully liberated” last month, and a semblance of normalcy returned to several areas with schools, shops and restaurants reopening, some neighbourhoods continued to be hit by insurgent and counterattacks claimed by Daesh.

Daesh is still firmly and completely in control of the western half of the city, across the Tigris River that roughly splits Iraq’s second-largest city into two halves.

The pause in UN aid comes as Iraqi forces are moving into positions ahead of an anticipated assault on Mosul’s western half, though their inability to secure their rear areas has raised concerns about their ability to push into western Mosul.

“We have every confidence that the authorities will provide security. As soon as it improves, the United Nations agencies will be there to deliver assistance,” Grande added.

A recently reopened restaurant in an eastern Mosul neighbourhood was hit by a suicide bombing claimed by Daesh last Friday that killed four people. A clinic in Mosul’s Zahra neighbourhood, formerly known as the Saddam neighbourhood before the US invasion in 2003, said it continues to receive dozens of injured civilians every day from mortar and Daesh drone attacks.

Iraqi forces launched the US and Iran-backed battle for Mosul on 17 October, mustering 100,000 men, including Kurdish Peshmerga and Shia jihadists, against an estimated 5,000 Daesh fighters. In four months of fighting, Iraq has failed to penetrate western Mosul, and has lost thousands of men.