Russian diplomat says humanitarian crisis in Mosul is deteriorating

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. The humanitarian crisis in Mosul has been deteriorating, people are trying to escape not only from atrocities of the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) but also from coalition bombardments, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"People are trying to escape not only form the atrocities committed by the IS members but also from the bombardments by the US-led coalition," she said. "Reports on civilianas killed by coalition airstrikes are coming with alarming regularity. There is no sense in denying or hiding these facts. However, our Western, namely American counterparts have been turning a blind eye to the consequences of such actions that could sour the atmosphere in the information field they have been scrupulously creating lately, focusing mainly on Aleppo."

Zakharova pointed out that the situation remained extremely tense in the Mosul area. "The large-scale operation by the Iraqi military, involving heavy weapons, with the support of the Kurdish militia and the US-led coalition has been going on there, a mop-up operation is being conducted on the approaches to Mosul."

"The IS members have been fiercely resisting the advancing troops taking advantage of the urban terrain and using the locals as human shield," the Russian diplomat noted. "Their situation has been getting worse and worse, even unbearable, so the humanitarian crisis in Mosul has been deteriorating from day to day."

"We believe that this operation was launched as "a small-scale victorious war" aimed to give the upper hand to some political forces, particularly in Washington, ahead of a well-known event, but we hope that it will take an acceptable form of a counter-terrorist operation," Zakharova concluded.