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Russian General Staff warns humanitarian crisis in Iraq’s Mosul deteriorates

Humanitarian crisis in Mosul, which the US-led coalition has been storming over the past four months, keeps deteriorating, says head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Department

© AP Photo/Mohammed Saad

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Humanitarian crisis in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which the US-led coalition has been storming over the past four months, keeps deteriorating, Head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Department Sergei Rudskoi said on Friday.

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Russian diplomat says Mosul is on verge of humanitarian disaster

"The storm of Mosul continues for four months already, but the task has not been met as of yet," Rudskoi said. "The humanitarian situation in the city keeps deteriorating and its scale is incomparable with the similar situation in (Syria’s) Aleppo late last year."

According to Rudskoi, the Syrian city of Palmyra was liberated of militants on Thursday, despite militants’ reinforcements retreating from Iraq’s Mosul and Raqqa.

"It (the retreatment of militants) did not help the international coalition to implement the tasks, which it had set last year," Rudskoi said. "The international coalition approached Raqqa by 10 kilometers only."

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu reported to President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that the Syrian government troops completed their operation to seize Palmyra with the support of the Russian air task force.

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