A Ninawa official on Friday (August 11th) confirmed the province is prepared to handle the anticipated wave of displacement from Tal Afar when Iraqi forces begin an operation to oust the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS).

"Our department is fully ready and prepared to receive and provide shelter for families expected to be displaced from Tal Afar with the start of battle," Ninawa Migration and Displacement Department head Mohammed Ehsan told Diyaruna.

"We have opened a centre in Badoosh on the Mosul-Tal Afar highway," he said. "The centre is the nearest safe station to receive the fleeing citizens."

A relief team from the department is in place and ready to prepare food and medical aid for residents fleeing the city, located 70 kilometres north-west of Mosul, he said.

"Sufficient numbers of shelter tents have been provided at camps located near Mosul -- al-Salamiya, Hasan Sham, al-Khazer and Debaga," he said, adding that camps also have been provided with emergency food rations and other supplies.

"In co-operation with UN relief agencies, we have prepared food baskets, water, mattresses and bedding, as well as provided cooking tools," he said.

The department will be able to absorb all displaced people and provide emergency and necessary services to them, he confirmed.

Residents return to other areas

Tal Afar had a population of about 200,000 before ISIS overran the town in the summer of 2014. It is not clear how many civilians remain in the town.

Hundreds of Mosul residents left displacement camps over the past months and voluntarily returned to their original areas after security was established and necessary services were provided, Ehsan said.

"We can say that more than 90% of eastern Mosul residents have returned home and have now resumed their normal life," he added.

The number of residents returning to western Mosul is still limited, however, "as many houses and infrastructure in residential neighbourhoods, especially the Old City area, have been damaged", he said.

So far, only residents of the less damaged neighbourhoods have been able to return, he said.

Official statistics indicate that so far this year, more than 250,000 displaced people have returned to their areas in Mosul and Ninawa.