Humanitarian charities are poised for disaster as Iraqi forces close in on ISIS-held western Mosul, which still contains an estimated 750,000 civilians.
US-backed Iraqi forces engaged Islamic State fighters on Monday clearing the way to Mosul's airport, as the ground offensive on the jihadists' remaining stronghold entered its second day.
Islamic State militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with three-quarters of a million civilians, after they were forced out of the eastern part of the city, after 100 days of fighting finished last month.
Ian Dawes, response manager for World Vision Iraq, said: 'We know that conditions in western Mosul are dire with food and water shortages, and that hundreds of thousands may soon flee.
'We're preparing for new arrivals in the camps where we're already supporting thousands of children who have lived through unimaginable violence in the past two years. Many of the arriving children have survived extremely distressing experiences, some even to the point of being unable to speak. Our specialist staff have been providing psychological and emotional support in our child friendly spaces, which is just as important as the immediate physical needs that people have. Many have lost everything they owned after fleeing Mosul,' he added.
Up to 400,000 civilians could be displaced by the offensive as residents of western Mosul suffer food and fuel shortages and markets are closed, United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande told Reuters on Saturday.
About 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the start of the offensive in October, UN officials say. Medical and humanitarian agencies estimate the total number of dead and wounded - both civilian and military - at several thousand.
'This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay – or execution and snipers if they try to run,' Save the Children said, adding that children make up about half the population trapped in the city.
The involvement of many local and foreign players with diverging interests in the war, heightens the risk that they could clash between themselves after Islamic State is defeated.
Influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is openly hostile to Washington's policies in the Middle East, on Monday said US troops should leave as soon as Mosul is captured.
''The Iraqi government has to demand that all occupying and so-called friendly forces leave Iraq in order to preserve the prestige and the sovereignty of the state," he said.
Commanders expect the battle to be more difficult than in the east of the city, which Iraqi forces took control of last month after three months of fighting. Tanks and armored vehicles cannot pass through its narrow alleyways.
The militants have developed a network of passageways and tunnels to enable them to hide and fight among civilians, disappear after hit-and-run operations and track government troop movements, according to residents.
Western Mosul contains the old city center, with its ancient souks, government administrative buildings, and the mosque from which Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his self-styled caliphate over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014.
The city is the largest urban center captured by Islamic State in both countries.
The US commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, has said he believes US-backed forces will recapture both of Islamic State's major strongholds - Mosul and the city of Raqqa in Syria - within the next six months.
Islamic State was thought to have up to 6,000 fighters in Mosul when the government's offensive started in mid-October. Of those, more than 1,000 have been killed, according to Iraqi estimates.
The remainder now face a 100,000-strong force made up of Iraqi armed forces, including elite paratroopers and police, Kurdish forces and Iranian-trained Shi'ite paramilitary groups.
Additional reporting from Reuters.
