More than a million civilians in Mosul were in grave danger and aid workers were "bracing for the worst", a relief group said Wednesday (November 2nd), after Iraqi forces reached the city, AFP reported.
Just over two weeks into the offensive to retake Mosul, the last Iraqi city under the control of the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), Iraq's military said on Tuesday its forces had penetrated city limits by entering a south-eastern neighbourhood .
On Wednesday, Iraqi forces retook full control of Gogjali, and recaptured four villages in Hamam al-Alil to the south of Mosul and al-Shallalat neighbourhood to the north, Lt. Gen. Abdul Ameer Rasheed told Diyaruna.
Gunfire echoed across the village of Gogjali, as civilians emerged with tales of brutality under ISIL.
"They confiscated my tractor and then threw me in jail for six days. They beat me and when I got out I could not do my work anymore," said Yusef Fariq.
The 40-year-old farmer, speaking from his home in Gogjali and surrounded by his mother and two sons, still had the long beard ISIL militants forced him to grow.
"They were killing us, always asking for money, we could not go anywhere. We went through hell," his mother said.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the most active relief groups operating in Iraq, warned that a long-feared humanitarian crisis was closer than ever.
"We are now bracing ourselves for the worst. The lives of 1.2 million civilians are in grave danger, and the future of all of Iraq is now in the balance," NRC Iraq director Wolfgang Gressmann said in a statement.
"People in and around Mosul have lived for almost two and a half years in a relentless, terrifying nightmare. We are now all responsible to put an end to it," Gressmann said.
More than 20,000 people have already fled to government-held areas since the offensive was launched on October 17th, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
But civilians inside Mosul -- who according to aid group Save The Children include up to 600,000 children -- are trapped behind ISIL lines and the UN has said thousands are being held for possible use as human shields .
