Irbil, Iraq (CNN) At least half a million people caught in the crossfire inside the Iraqi city of Mosul now have no access to running water, the United Nations told CNN on Wednesday.

One of three major water pipelines was struck as Iraqi troops fought back ISIS militants in parts of eastern Mosul.

The damaged conduit remains inside the group's territory, making it inaccessible for repairs, according to a UNICEF statement released Wednesday

An Iraqi-led offensive began in October to liberate Mosul after more than two years under ISIS control. Mosul is the terror group's last major power base in Iraq.

Officials and witnesses admit a pipeline break has occurred but said ISIS' more sinister agenda has escalated the problem. The group has intentionally cut off water supplies to neighborhoods near the front line, according to Zuhair Hazem al-Jabouri, a Mosul City Council official responsible for supervising the city's water and energy services.

"They (ISIS) cut the electricity to the water stations that feed several neighborhoods where Iraqi troops are advancing," Jabouri said. "They are depriving people of drinking water in eastern Mosul. They want to force people to retreat with them in order to use them as human shields."

The United Nations could not verify the reports but said that the group's policy of indifference has spelled suffering for more than 1 million civilians still inside Mosul.

"There is a clear pattern that we have seen in many of the cities and towns ISIS has occupied: that they will use water, food, anything to coerce the population," Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, told CNN.

"The way the Iraqi forces are fighting the battle they are doing anything they can to protect the civilians. On the other side, ISIS is doing anything it can to hurt them."

The terror group maintains control of critical water and electricity plants that service thousands of homes in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

"We have information that ISIS shuts and opens water access as they please," Sabah al-Numan, a spokesman for Iraq's counterterror forces, told CNN.

The advance created a chokehold on the terror group by cutting off all supply lines to militants.

But for civilians trapped behind enemy lines this development effectively places a siege on the city and leaves them at the mercy of ISIS for the most basic necessities.

"Hundreds of thousands of civilians are living a tragic situation due to the lack of access to water, food, electricity and health care," Izzeddin Aldola, a member of the Iraqi parliament, told CNN.

"I am calling on all international organizations to put more efforts to end the tragedy in Mosul. We need more help and support."

More than 1,200 people, including children as young as 2 months old, have been treated for trauma-related injuries, including from shrapnel, gunfire and mortar rounds, according to the World Health Organization.

For about 10 days, Mosul residents have been without clean drinking water. Some communities had pooled together to build makeshift wells when ISIS first took control of the city in 2014. These rudimentary wells are now being re-opened.

A father, who gave the nickname Abu Ahmed for security reasons, told CNN it is a complicated and resource-intensive process to extract water from their wells.

A small power generator and fuel, a rare and expensive commodity, is needed to pull the water via a vacuum.

The water is often soiled, leaving residents exposed to waterborne illnesses.

Each household must wait days for a turn to extricate just a couple of jugs of unclean water, Abu Ahmed said.

"My children don't understand that we are struggling to obtain water and food," he said. "They don't know we are living day by day."

His sister, Om Nayem, said she never expected to use the makeshift well for such a prolonged period. She and her five children have been pinned down in the fighting for weeks.

"We thought we would be the first to be liberated, but we are still waiting. We are all feeling very depressed."

She said she has not ventured outside her home for nearly two months and rarely lets her children past the front door. Playing must be done inside.

Her 16-year-old son seems most affected by the fighting. "He won't sleep, and he is constantly complaining: 'When will we be free?' "

She added, "My hope of all hopes is for security. This is the most important thing for me. We want the world to know we are all really suffering, and we just want a normal life."

Abu Ibrahim, another Mosul father, said if Iraqi forces don't liberate his neighborhood soon he may be forced to retreat to ISIS strongholds in the west of the city.

"I don't want to see my children dying front of me," he told CNN over a crackly cell phone. "I will have no choice if the situation continues like this but to leave my house with my family and head to the west."</s>Irbil, Iraq (CNN) At least half a million people caught in the crossfire inside the Iraqi city of Mosul now have no access to running water, the United Nations told CNN on Wednesday.

One of three major water pipelines was struck as Iraqi troops fought back ISIS militants in parts of eastern Mosul.

The damaged conduit remains inside the group's territory, making it inaccessible for repairs, according to a UNICEF statement released Wednesday

An Iraqi-led offensive began in October to liberate Mosul after more than two years under ISIS control. Mosul is the terror group's last major power base in Iraq.

Officials and witnesses admit a pipeline break has occurred but said ISIS' more sinister agenda has escalated the problem. The group has intentionally cut off water supplies to neighborhoods near the front line, according to Zuhair Hazem al-Jabouri, a Mosul City Council official responsible for supervising the city's water and energy services.

"They (ISIS) cut the electricity to the water stations that feed several neighborhoods where Iraqi troops are advancing," Jabouri said. "They are depriving people of drinking water in eastern Mosul. They want to force people to retreat with them in order to use them as human shields."

The United Nations could not verify the reports but said that the group's policy of indifference has spelled suffering for more than 1 million civilians still inside Mosul.

"There is a clear pattern that we have seen in many of the cities and towns ISIS has occupied: that they will use water, food, anything to coerce the population," Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, told CNN.

"The way the Iraqi forces are fighting the battle they are doing anything they can to protect the civilians. On the other side, ISIS is doing anything it can to hurt them."

The terror group maintains control of critical water and electricity plants that service thousands of homes in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

"We have information that ISIS shuts and opens water access as they please," Sabah al-Numan, a spokesman for Iraq's counterterror forces, told CNN.

The advance created a chokehold on the terror group by cutting off all supply lines to militants.

But for civilians trapped behind enemy lines this development effectively places a siege on the city and leaves them at the mercy of ISIS for the most basic necessities.

"Hundreds of thousands of civilians are living a tragic situation due to the lack of access to water, food, electricity and health care," Izzeddin Aldola, a member of the Iraqi parliament, told CNN.

"I am calling on all international organizations to put more efforts to end the tragedy in Mosul. We need more help and support."

More than 1,200 people, including children as young as 2 months old, have been treated for trauma-related injuries, including from shrapnel, gunfire and mortar rounds, according to the World Health Organization.

For about 10 days, Mosul residents have been without clean drinking water. Some communities had pooled together to build makeshift wells when ISIS first took control of the city in 2014. These rudimentary wells are now being re-opened.

A father, who gave the nickname Abu Ahmed for security reasons, told CNN it is a complicated and resource-intensive process to extract water from their wells.

A small power generator and fuel, a rare and expensive commodity, is needed to pull the water via a vacuum.

The water is often soiled, leaving residents exposed to waterborne illnesses.

Each household must wait days for a turn to extricate just a couple of jugs of unclean water, Abu Ahmed said.

"My children don't understand that we are struggling to obtain water and food," he said. "They don't know we are living day by day."

His sister, Om Nayem, said she never expected to use the makeshift well for such a prolonged period. She and her five children have been pinned down in the fighting for weeks.

"We thought we would be the first to be liberated, but we are still waiting. We are all feeling very depressed."

She said she has not ventured outside her home for nearly two months and rarely lets her children past the front door. Playing must be done inside.

Her 16-year-old son seems most affected by the fighting. "He won't sleep, and he is constantly complaining: 'When will we be free?' "

She added, "My hope of all hopes is for security. This is the most important thing for me. We want the world to know we are all really suffering, and we just want a normal life."

Abu Ibrahim, another Mosul father, said if Iraqi forces don't liberate his neighborhood soon he may be forced to retreat to ISIS strongholds in the west of the city.

"I don't want to see my children dying front of me," he told CNN over a crackly cell phone. "I will have no choice if the situation continues like this but to leave my house with my family and head to the west."</s>Irbil, Iraq (CNN) At least half a million people caught in the crossfire inside the Iraqi city of Mosul now have no access to running water, the United Nations told CNN on Wednesday.

One of three major water pipelines was struck as Iraqi troops fought back ISIS militants in parts of eastern Mosul.

The damaged conduit remains inside the group's territory, making it inaccessible for repairs, according to a UNICEF statement released Wednesday

An Iraqi-led offensive began in October to liberate Mosul after more than two years under ISIS control. Mosul is the terror group's last major power base in Iraq.

Officials and witnesses admit a pipeline break has occurred but said ISIS' more sinister agenda has escalated the problem. The group has intentionally cut off water supplies to neighborhoods near the front line, according to Zuhair Hazem al-Jabouri, a Mosul City Council official responsible for supervising the city's water and energy services.

"They (ISIS) cut the electricity to the water stations that feed several neighborhoods where Iraqi troops are advancing," Jabouri said. "They are depriving people of drinking water in eastern Mosul. They want to force people to retreat with them in order to use them as human shields."

The United Nations could not verify the reports but said that the group's policy of indifference has spelled suffering for more than 1 million civilians still inside Mosul.

"There is a clear pattern that we have seen in many of the cities and towns ISIL has occupied: they will use water, food anything to coerce the population. They use people as human shields. They force people into the line of fire," Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, told CNN using an alternative acronym for ISIS.

"Iraqi forces are committed to protecting civilians. They are fighting to rid Mosul of ISIL and trying to protect families at the same time. ISIL forces are intentionally hurting people. One side is trying to protect civilians--the other side isn't," Grande said.

The terror group maintains control of critical water and electricity plants that service thousands of homes in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

"We have information that ISIS shuts and opens water access as they please," Sabah al-Numan, a spokesman for Iraq's counterterror forces, told CNN.

The advance created a chokehold on the terror group by cutting off all supply lines to militants.

But for civilians trapped behind enemy lines this development effectively places a siege on the city and leaves them at the mercy of ISIS for the most basic necessities.

"Hundreds of thousands of civilians are living a tragic situation due to the lack of access to water, food, electricity and health care," Izzeddin Aldola, a member of the Iraqi parliament, told CNN.

"I am calling on all international organizations to put more efforts to end the tragedy in Mosul. We need more help and support."

More than 1,200 people, including children as young as 2 months old, have been treated for trauma-related injuries, including from shrapnel, gunfire and mortar rounds, according to the World Health Organization.

For about 10 days, Mosul residents have been without clean drinking water. Some communities had pooled together to build makeshift wells when ISIS first took control of the city in 2014. These rudimentary wells are now being re-opened.

A father, who gave the nickname Abu Ahmed for security reasons, told CNN it is a complicated and resource-intensive process to extract water from their wells.

A small power generator and fuel, a rare and expensive commodity, is needed to pull the water via a vacuum.

The water is often soiled, leaving residents exposed to waterborne illnesses.

Each household must wait days for a turn to extricate just a couple of jugs of unclean water, Abu Ahmed said.

"My children don't understand that we are struggling to obtain water and food," he said. "They don't know we are living day by day."

His sister, Om Nayem, said she never expected to use the makeshift well for such a prolonged period. She and her five children have been pinned down in the fighting for weeks.

"We thought we would be the first to be liberated, but we are still waiting. We are all feeling very depressed."

She said she has not ventured outside her home for nearly two months and rarely lets her children past the front door. Playing must be done inside.

Her 16-year-old son seems most affected by the fighting. "He won't sleep, and he is constantly complaining: 'When will we be free?' "

She added, "My hope of all hopes is for security. This is the most important thing for me. We want the world to know we are all really suffering, and we just want a normal life."

Abu Ibrahim, another Mosul father, said if Iraqi forces don't liberate his neighborhood soon he may be forced to retreat to ISIS strongholds in the west of the city.

"I don't want to see my children dying front of me," he told CNN over a crackly cell phone. "I will have no choice if the situation continues like this but to leave my house with my family and head to the west."</s>Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State snipers killed 15 children while they were attempting to flee towards locations taken over by Iraqi security forces in Mosul, according to a security source.

“ISIS snipers killed 15 kids belonging to Mosul refugees who were heading to security forces,” the source told Alsumaria News, but did not clarify the time frame for the alleged killings.

“ISIS gangs have used the most horrific means of killing with the migrating people of Mosul, targeting them with IEDs, sniping their children to prevent them from leaving town and using them as human shields,” the source said.

Iraqi government forces, backed by tribal militias and US-led aircrafts, have been successfully liberating several villages around Mosul as part of a wide-scale operation that launched mid October to retake the city from ISIS. The forces commanders, while claiming daily victories, admit that the existence of civilians in the city, many of whom are reportedly used as human shields, have slowed down the pace of operations.







</s>Irbil, Iraq (CNN) At least half a million people caught in the crossfire inside the Iraqi city of Mosul now have no access to running water, the United Nations told CNN on Wednesday.

One of three major water pipelines was struck as Iraqi troops fought back ISIS militants in parts of eastern Mosul.

The damaged conduit remains inside the group's territory, making it inaccessible for repairs, according to a UNICEF statement released Wednesday

An Iraqi-led offensive began in October to liberate Mosul after more than two years under ISIS control. Mosul is the terror group's last major power base in Iraq.

Officials and witnesses admit a pipeline break has occurred but said ISIS' more sinister agenda has escalated the problem. The group has intentionally cut off water supplies to neighborhoods near the front line, according to Zuhair Hazem al-Jabouri, a Mosul City Council official responsible for supervising the city's water and energy services.

"They (ISIS) cut the electricity to the water stations that feed several neighborhoods where Iraqi troops are advancing," Jabouri said. "They are depriving people of drinking water in eastern Mosul. They want to force people to retreat with them in order to use them as human shields."

The United Nations could not verify the reports but said that the group's policy of indifference has spelled suffering for more than 1 million civilians still inside Mosul.

"There is a clear pattern that we have seen in many of the cities and towns ISIS has occupied: that they will use water, food, anything to coerce the population," Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, told CNN.

"The way the Iraqi forces are fighting the battle they are doing anything they can to protect the civilians. On the other side, ISIS is doing anything it can to hurt them."

The terror group maintains control of critical water and electricity plants that service thousands of homes in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

"We have information that ISIS shuts and opens water access as they please," Sabah al-Numan, a spokesman for Iraq's counterterror forces, told CNN.

The advance created a chokehold on the terror group by cutting off all supply lines to militants.

But for civilians trapped behind enemy lines this development effectively places a siege on the city and leaves them at the mercy of ISIS for the most basic necessities.

"Hundreds of thousands of civilians are living a tragic situation due to the lack of access to water, food, electricity and health care," Izzeddin Aldola, a member of the Iraqi parliament, told CNN.

"I am calling on all international organizations to put more efforts to end the tragedy in Mosul. We need more help and support."

More than 1,200 people, including children as young as 2 months old, have been treated for trauma-related injuries, including from shrapnel, gunfire and mortar rounds, according to the World Health Organization.

For about 10 days, Mosul residents have been without clean drinking water. Some communities had pooled together to build makeshift wells when ISIS first took control of the city in 2014. These rudimentary wells are now being re-opened.

A father, who gave the nickname Abu Ahmed for security reasons, told CNN it is a complicated and resource-intensive process to extract water from their wells.

A small power generator and fuel, a rare and expensive commodity, is needed to pull the water via a vacuum.

The water is often soiled, leaving residents exposed to waterborne illnesses.

Each household must wait days for a turn to extricate just a couple of jugs of unclean water, Abu Ahmed said.

"My children don't understand that we are struggling to obtain water and food," he said. "They don't know we are living day by day."

His sister, Om Nayem, said she never expected to use the makeshift well for such a prolonged period. She and her five children have been pinned down in the fighting for weeks.

"We thought we would be the first to be liberated, but we are still waiting. We are all feeling very depressed."

She said she has not ventured outside her home for nearly two months and rarely lets her children past the front door. Playing must be done inside.

Her 16-year-old son seems most affected by the fighting. "He won't sleep, and he is constantly complaining: 'When will we be free?' "

She added, "My hope of all hopes is for security. This is the most important thing for me. We want the world to know we are all really suffering, and we just want a normal life."

Abu Ibrahim, another Mosul father, said if Iraqi forces don't liberate his neighborhood soon he may be forced to retreat to ISIS strongholds in the west of the city.

"I don't want to see my children dying front of me," he told CNN over a crackly cell phone. "I will have no choice if the situation continues like this but to leave my house with my family and head to the west."</s>Irbil, Iraq (CNN) Nearly 2,000 Iraqi troops were killed across Iraq in November as they battled to force ISIS extremists from the country, according to newly released UN figures.

That's nearly triple the number of military casualties reported in October, when an offensive to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS first began.

The toll for November includes Iraqi army, police in combat, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and allied militias.

The Iraqi-led coalition forces' advance slowed after Iraqi Security Forces entered Mosul last month, a densely populated urban environment where troops have had to fight street-to-street battles against deeply entrenched militants.

Civilians in the city also are paying a heavy price.

Mosul residents were encouraged by the central government in Baghdad to stay in their homes, forcing a softening of tactics to prevent civilian casualties. The policy, which is meant to avert the potential humanitarian crisis that could be created by a mass exodus, could itself be costing lives.

"In its desperate attempt to cling on to territory it controls in Mosul and Ninevah areas, Daesh has been employing the most vicious tactics, using civilian homes as firing positions as well as abducting and forcibly moving civilians, effectively using them as human shields," the UN secretary-general's special representative for Iraq, Ján Kubiš, said in a statement. Daesh is an alternative name for ISIS.

More than 900 civilians were killed and another 930 wounded in November by terrorism, violence or armed conflict across Iraq, according to the UN report released Thursday.

Another 76,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Iraqi forces have entirely surrounded Mosul and now, 45 days into the battle, their focus is on consolidating recent gains before pressing forward with the offensive.

Seven axes of coalition forces are approaching Mosul from different sides. Some fronts are holding their position while other fronts catch up, to allow the nearly 100,000 troops to converge more or less simultaneously on the city, military officials told CNN.

Some 632 ISIS car bombs, some guided by drones, have been used to attack Iraqi troops, according to Iraq's Joint Operations Command.

ISIS has also used booby traps, homemade bombs and snipers to slow the sweeping gains made by Iraqi forces in the open fields surrounding Mosul into grinding urban warfare.

The grueling house-to-house battles are expected to take months and cost hundreds, if not thousands, of lives, but commanders say they are up to the challenge.

"The morale of Iraqi Security Forces is high, we will continue fighting those terrorists to the end until we liberate Mosul from ISIS dirt," counter terrorism Lt. Gen. Abdulwahab al Saidi told CNN on Friday from Mosul.

A sliver of 23 neighborhoods on Mosul's eastern side has been recaptured but Iraqi forces must still wrest many more areas from ISIS' control before troops reach the Tigris River, which divides the city.

Mosul's western side is more heavily populated, with smaller streets and older infrastructure, making it an even more difficult battlefield.

To the south, Iraqi federal police have reached the outskirts of the city and are awaiting orders to storm the strategic al Ghazlani military base and Mosul airport, according to a statement from the police.

About 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of Mosul, a battle to recapture the ISIS-controlled city of Tal Afar has reignited simmering sectarian tensions.

The Shiite-led Popular Mobilization Units have taken 130 towns and villages and the Tal Afar air base, and are now fighting to clear and secure the area.

With the Shiite militia on the doorstep of Tal Afar, its 50,000 predominantly Sunni residents say they fear retribution attacks.

Human rights groups have accused the Popular Mobilization Units of extrajudicial killings, torture, and other abuses against the local Sunni population in recent months.

In October, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi promised that the PMU would not enter Tal Afar, but recent statements by officials have made the matter unclear and opened the door for possible involvement.

To the north of Mosul, the Iraqi army is clashing with ISIS militants near the town of Tal Kayf, the terror group's last stronghold before reaching the northern outskirts of Mosul.

According to Iraq's Joint Operation Command, 23 car bombs have been destroyed by US-led air support and an area of about 100 square kilometers has been liberated in an operation that began November 1.

Northeast of Mosul, the Peshmerga are holding a defensive line against ISIS. The Kurdish fighters will not have a role in retaking Mosul itself, but have been fighting back the terror group in northern Iraq for two years.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of Peshmerga killed in the battle for Mosul. There have been 1,600 Peshmerga deaths.</s>Tthe children can be seen lying on a mattress with their skin wrapped around their bones, knee joints protruding and their ribs clearly visible. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab)

Mosul: At a time when civilians in Mosul are facing severe lack of food, water and electricity, a mother described the horror of watching her two young sons starving to death.

In an interview to BBC, a woman who arrived at Hasansham refugee camp with her two malnourished children, said that her sons were 'dead already'. "It's so difficult for me, for my husband, for them. I can see that they are dead already. I cannot believe that they are alive, " she said.

In the video footage captured by BBC, the children can be seen lying on a mattress with their skin wrapped around their bones, knee joints protruding and their ribs clearly visible.

The woman also said that she had pleaded to ISIS militants to let her take her children out of the city, but was prevented from doing so. Later when Iraqi troops advanced Mosul and took charge of the city, she fled the region with her husband and children.

Although she managed to escape from the clutches of ISIS and arrive at the refugee camp, she had to struggle with food scarcity everyday. "I've been here for four days and we have no food, we have not received clothes, as you can see they're wearing girl's dresses," she said.

United Nations' Hasansham refugee camp is currently home to 10,860 displaced Iraqis.</s>ALI RASH, Iraq — Abdullah Hardi thought of his family, his destiny, and Iraq’s future as the truck carrying him to the frontlines bounced along dirt roads toward Mosul on Sunday. On Nov. 9, after a week of home leave, Hardi, a soldier in the Iraqi Army’s 9th Division, was on his way to rejoin the effort to wrest the city’s eastern districts from the Islamic State.

It would be his first time in Iraq’s second-largest city, which has been held by the extremist group since June 2014. “I don’t know what my fate will be, but I came here of my own free will,” the 33-year-old said.

There was none of the bellicose posturing evident in his comrades back at base, nor did he insist — as many Iraqi officials have — that the result of the battle was a foregone conclusion. Since the operation to retake Mosul began on Oct. 17, Iraqi and Kurdish forces have retaken a score of villages on the Nineveh Plains and have now entered the eastern suburbs of the city. Recent reports indicate that Iraqi forces advancing from the south are still at least 10 miles from the city.

“When I left home … I didn’t tell my children what I was doing because I didn’t want them to worry,” Hardi said. “But this is history being written now and when my son grows up I will tell him the part I played.”

The 9th Division gained a foothold in Mosul’s eastern district of Intisar on Nov. 3, making it the first army unit in the city after elite counterterrorism forces breached the outer neighborhoods last week. Officers say the military operation is progressing ahead of schedule, but political pressure to achieve a quick victory contributed to Iraqi forces advancing in the city without fully clearing areas, leaving them increasingly vulnerable to counterattack.

After facing brutal street fighting against a suicidal enemy, some soldiers admit privately that Islamic State resistance is heavier than they were led to expect. At the 9th Division’s rear base in Qaraqosh, 10 miles from Mosul, one soldier, Mohamed Hamudi, played a video on his phone of the fighting a week earlier to retake the historically Christian town.

“We saw two fighters running away, so we followed them,” he said, handing over the phone.

Abdullah Hardi, a 33-year old soldier with the Iraqi Army’s 9th Division, heads into Mosul after a week-long leave.

An Iraqi Army Humvee drives through the town of Hamdaniya on its way back from the frontlines on the outskirts of Mosul.

Jameel, a fighter with the Nineveh Plain Protection Units, a militia predominantly consisting of Assyrian Christians, clears a house from the Islamic State in the city of Bakhdida.

The interior of a ransacked house in the city of Bakhdida, on October 30.

Soldiers in the Iraqi Army’s 9th division try to flag down a convoy after their vehicle broke down while trying to reach the frontline on the outskirts of Mosul.

Shaky footage showed soldiers moving through empty streets. Then there’s the sound of an enormous explosion erupting, followed by a huge dust cloud — the product of an Islamic State car bomb. Afterward, a soldier emerged from the scene carrying a comrade who had lost a leg.

“Even with a tourniquet we couldn’t stop the bleeding, and he died,” Hamudi said. “The ISIS fighters weren’t running away; they were leading us into their trap.”

The fighting last month to retake Qaraqosh and other towns around Mosul occurred on terrain that largely favored the Iraqi Army and Kurdish Peshmerga. On the open Nineveh Plains, suicide bombers were often visible a mile away, and depopulated villages made calling in coalition air support relatively straightforward. Even so, the Islamic State’s defense of the area offered the soldiers alarming clues about the resistance awaiting them in Mosul: Piles of completed improvised explosive devices (IEDs), homemade rockets, and precursor materials strewn across the jihadi group’s workshops were capable of near-industrial scale production of munitions. Networks of trenches and warrens of tunnels also allowed fighters to maneuver unseen, and garages concealed suicide vehicles until the moment Iraqi forces approached.

As these forces push farther into Mosul, Islamic State fighters are gaining several strategic advantages. The urban environment favors their preferred tactics of hit-and-run attacks, suicide bombings, and use of snipers. And the presence of civilians in densely populated neighborhoods is making the Iraqi Army’s job very difficult. The use of heavy weapons poses a severe risk to innocents who stay in their homes, while escaping civilians risk being shot in the crossfire. Already, hundreds of civilians are believed to have been killed.

“Daesh is trying to draw us into the city,” said Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul, using an Arabic term for the Islamic State. “The presence of civilians and the urban environment suits their strategy.”

Rasoul, the spokesman for the Joint Military Command, which coordinates among the Iraqi Army, Kurdish Peshmerga, and international coalition, was eager to emphasize the importance of protecting civilian life.

“Daesh want to be able to tell the people that the army is killing them,” he said. “For this reason, our use of airstrikes in Mosul has been very restricted. Each one has to be confirmed by a general.”

Despite these precautions, the coalition has struck more targets in and around Mosul than any other location in Iraq. In the operation’s first week alone, it launched 1,776 bombs, artillery rounds, and rockets at targets around Mosul. These strikes have come with a human cost: Chris Woods, the director of the Britain-based organization Airwars, said his organization has tracked 35 separate alleged incidents involving civilian casualties from the Mosul operation, with a fatality range of 84 to 87 deaths.

Newly displaced civilians fleeing the conflict between the Iraqi army and the Islamic State arrive in the village of Gogjali, east of Mosul, on Nov. 4.

Gogjali was the nearest liberated area for civilians fleeing the violence in Mosul, as Iraqi security forces tried to wrest the city from the Islamic State’s grip.

A child looks back as he flees to Gogjali on Nov. 4.

Once displaced civilians exit Islamic State-held territory, they are loaded onto a trucks and transported to an IDP camp on the northern edge of Gogjali.

The brother of Matham Tarek, a 15-year old boy killed in a mortar attack, cries over his body at a field clinic in Gogjali.

Since the beginning of military operations on Oct. 17, more than 72,000 people have been displaced from in and around Mosul, the United Nations says, a figure that is increasing rapidly as Iraqi forces push deeper into the city. More than 10,000 people have arrived at the newly constructed Hasansham Camp, 20 miles east of Mosul. Since opening on Nov. 4, the camp has been the scene of tearful reunions between the fleeing civilians and family members who have been living in exile in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Medics working near the frontlines say they have treated hundreds of civilians injured in the crossfire. Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian chief for Iraq, registered her alarm on Nov. 6, saying she was “deeply disturbed” by reports of civilian casualties.

Senior Iraqi officers have adopted a more optimistic line than some of the men on the frontlines. At the 9th Division base in Qaraqosh, Gen. Sharker Qasim Mohsem, the chief of staff, has followed his soldiers’ progress through radioed updates from the front. “There has been no heavy resistance,” Mohsem insisted Sunday, with the worst threat coming from a half dozen suicide vehicle bombings over the past few days.

Casualties so far have been light, he said, “thanks to God and our armored vehicles.” But if many vehicles were disabled, this could slow their advance. “We only have a few spare Humvees,” he said.

His men have taken control of about 80 percent of the Intisar district on Mosul’s eastern outskirts, he said, killing about 100 Islamic State fighters. Elsewhere in Mosul, Iraqi officials estimate that there may still be up to 5,000 fighters. “We’ve broken through their main line of defense, and there’s not more than a dozen fighters still in Intisar,” Mohsen said.

But even these few remnants have halted the 9th Division’s advance. They now must painstakingly clear the neighborhood house by house before they can advance further. So far, Mohsen said, the soldiers are yet to discover Islamic State tunnels or hidden IEDs, suggesting the real fighting may lie ahead. As he spoke his hand-held radio crackled to life, with one of his officers reporting that another street had been cleared.

Rasoul said the worst is yet to come for the Iraqi forces. There’s intelligence to suggest that the Islamic State may be preparing to make its last stand in Mosul’s west bank, on the other side of the Tigris River. In the narrow streets of its old town, armored vehicles will struggle to operate, and its more conservative population may be more likely to support the jihadi group. “In the next few days we will liberate and control the left bank of Mosul,” Rasoul predicted. “But the heart and core of ISIS in Mosul is on the right bank.”

But for all the Iraqi soldiers’ passion to defeat the Islamic State, the equipment at their disposal could mean that they are in for a long and painful battle. It was midafternoon by the time Hardi’s unarmored vehicle stopped at a hamlet five miles from Qaraqosh. It was still another five miles to Mosul, but they needed an armored convoy to take them into the city. After a few minutes, they received some bad news over the radio: There were no armored vehicles available to take them into the city.

The voice on the radio instructed the soldiers to return to base in Qaraqosh. The driver turned the key, but their truck wouldn’t start. He got out to look under the hood, trying to determine the cause of the breakdown. The soldiers, who were standing around smoking, started looking throughout the hamlet for other vehicles returning from the front to drive them back.

If Hardi was relieved by the reprieve, he didn’t show it. As he put it: “Driving Daesh from Mosul is a duty on all of us.”</s>An Iraqi army soldier from the 9th Division shoots towards Daesh positions during clashes in Al Qasr village, 7km to Mosul, on Wednesday (AP photo)

MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq — The United Nations issued a fresh warning on Wednesday about the humanitarian situation in eastern Mosul where the US-backed Iraqi army is locked in heavy fighting with Daesh militants.

More than six weeks into the offensive against Daesh's last major city stronghold in Iraq, the army is trying to dislodge militants dug in among civilians in the eastern districts, the only side Iraqi troops have been able to breach.

"The situation in eastern Mosul city close to the front lines remains fraught with danger for civilians. Mortar and gunfire continue to claim lives," the UN humanitarian coordinator's office said. "The limited supplies of food and water are running out, amid concerning reports of food insecurity emerging from the city."

Water was cut to 650,000 people — or 40 per cent of total residents in the city — when a pipeline was hit during fighting, a local official said on Tuesday.

With winter setting in, aid workers say a full siege is developing around the city and poor families are struggling to feed themselves as prices rise sharply.

The longer the conflict drags on, the more civilians will suffer as they are also exposed to violence from the militants bent on crushing any opposition to their rule.

Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore said on Wednesday there were reports that Daesh — which has killed residents it suspects of collaborating with the army — shot dead 27 civilians in public in Mosul's Muhandiseen Park last week.

Three weeks ago at least 20 people were killed and their bodies displayed, as if crucified, at road junctions in the city for passing information to "the enemy".

Closing in from the west

The capture of Mosul, the largest city under control of Daesh in both Iraq and Syria, is seen as crucial towards dismantling the caliphate which the militants declared over parts of the two countries, after sweeping through Sunni populated northern and western Iraqi provinces in 2014.

Some 100,000 Iraqi government troops, Kurdish security forces and mainly Shiite militiamen are participating in the assault on Mosul that began on October 17, with air and ground support from a US-led international military coalition.

Iraqi government and Kurdish forces have surrounded the city from the north, east and south, while Popular Mobilisation forces — a coalition of Iranian-backed Shiite groups — are trying to close in from the west.

Last week Popular Mobilisation fighters cut the supply route to Mosul from Daesh-held territory in Syria, driving up food prices in the city.

With the last supply route cut off, basic commodity prices in Mosul could double “in the short term”, said a humanitarian worker, who declined to be identified.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF said the water pipeline that was hit was one of three major water conduits serving eastern Mosul. Iraqi authorities are trucking water in from 35km, but the supply is insufficient, it said.

“Children and their families in Mosul are facing a horrific situation. Not only are they in danger of getting killed or injured in the cross-fire, now potentially more than half a million people do not have safe water to drink,” said UNICEF’s Iraq representative Peter Hawkins.

Iraqi forces moving from the east are trying to advance to the Tigris River that runs through Mosul’s centre, in the biggest battle in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi military estimates there are 5,000-6,000 insurgents in Mosul, resisting the advancing troops with suicide car bombs and sniper and mortar fire that also kill civilians.

Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, believed to be somewhere near the Syrian border, has told his fighters there can be no retreat from the city.

Some 74,000 civilians have fled Mosul and nearby areas so far, and the United Nations is preparing for a worst-case scenario in which more than a million people are made homeless as winter descends and food shortages set in.

The winter’s cloudy skies favour the militants, Iraqi officers told Reuters in eastern Mosul on Wednesday, as they hinder air strikes.</s>The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack at Ohio State University that injured 11 people. The attack was carried out by university student Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a Somalia-born U.S. citizen, who ISIS called its “soldier.”

Since ISIS proclaimed itself a worldwide caliphate in June 2014, the extremist group has carried out several attacks across the world. Although a few attacks have been directly linked to the group in the U.S., several of its sympathizers have carried out assaults in the country, with some leading to fatalities.

In Monday’s incident, it was not immediately clear whether Artan pledged allegiance to ISIS or any other terrorist group. However, the attack bore similarities to past ISIS-related assaults in the country.

Following is the list of attacks by ISIS and its sympathizers in the U.S.

Curtis Culwell Center attack, May 3, 2015: Two men opened fire at officers at the entrance of an exhibition featuring cartoons of Prophet Mohammed at Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. One security officer was wounded in the incident and both the perpetrators — Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi — were killed by members of a SWAT team. This was the first time ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack in the U.S. However, American authorities said that the attack appeared to be inspired, and not directly linked, to ISIS.

University of California, Merced, Nov. 4, 2015: In an ISIS-inspired attack, 18-year-old Faisal Mohammad stabbed and injured four people. He was killed by authorities. The FBI said Mohammad was self-radicalized and was not in direct contact with the Islamist group.

San Bernardino shooting, Dec. 2, 2015: Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik carried out a mass shooting and an attempted bombing in Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. The incident left 14 people dead and injured 22 others. Farook and Malik had pledged allegiance to an ISIS leader on Facebook hours before the shooting. However, authorities do not have any evidence that the two were directly linked to the extremist group.

Shooting of Philadelphia police officer, Jan. 7, 2016: Edward Archer fired multiple shots at Philadelphia police Jesse Hartnett, who survived the attack, in West Philadelphia. Archer later claimed that he pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Orlando nightclub shooting, June 12, 2016: Omar Mateen, 29, carried out a mass shooting inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The shooting claimed lives of 49 people and injured 53 others. Mateen was shot dead by Orlando Police Department following a three-hour-long standoff. Mateen had pledged allegiance to the Sunni hardline group. The attack was the deadliest incident against homosexuals, transgender and bisexual people in the history of the U.S.

Ohio State University attack, Nov. 28, 2016: Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a Somalia-born U.S. citizen, drove his car into pedestrians and attacked people with a butcher's knife. The incident injured 11 people and Artan was killed by authorities. While ISIS called him its “soldier,” there is no evidence yet that the attack was directly related to the group.
• Before Ohio State Attack, Student Shared His Fears About Islamophobia
At least 15 children are killed by ISIS snipers in Mosul.