400,000 Mosul residents have fled since the beginning of the Mosul rescue mission. This data is taken from the Iraqi Observatory For Human Rights. The city faces a humanitarian disaster, there is a lack of living essentials and water. The artillery of the attacking forces basically destroys the residential areas to the ground. Our very own correspondent Anton Stepanenko reports from the Mosul suburbs.





You can't see Mosul just yet, but it's very clear where it is. The landmark is pillars of black smoke, the closer the thicker. Smoke is now the city's mark. We're approaching Mosul from the south, driving by the airport. You can tell it's an airport only by a runway. All the other buildings are gone, the Iraqi army destroyed everything. ISIS militants fought hard here. After weeding out the resistance, the army didn't go to the city. The Iraqi police and anti-terrorist squads are fighting inside Mosul. Our divisions are moving along Tigris river, south to north. We're recapturing the western part of the city. The bridges are blown up, so the only help we get from the free eastern part is the artillery. The artillery, both Iraqi and that of the western coalition, is generous with ammo. The militants' fortifications in residential areas are being blown apart into pieces, and afterward cleared by the police.

In case of resistance, the police retreats and the artillery comes in again, including rocket artillery. Basically, that's why the city is in such ruins. We were doing well moving forward, the militants were pretty tired by then. It's been days since we went into defense. They lured us in and are now trying to throw us back. Restrained urban conditions, underground passages, and passages broken through walls. allow militants to get really close to the police. That's why the rear area is not entirely safe. The frontline of the Iraqi police in Mosul. They have recently retook the train station. They can't make it further for now due to the vicious resistance of the militants.

According to the police, the militants are about 50 m away. Both sides open fire at any movement. This time the police opened fire to cover the civilians' retreat. A whole family made it through — a man with his wife and their 2 kids. We've been on the run for a almost 24 hours now. If they'd caught us, they'd have killed us. My brother was behind us, but he hasn't made it through yet. The police say that there haven't been many refugees recently. The fate of other civilians is only known from the words of those who got away. This family said they'd decided to run because of the brutal gunfire of the attacking authorities. A lot of their neighbors weren't so lucky. The houses are ruined, so families die all together.

The militants' mortars are shooting less frequently now, probably to save ammo. But they started using car bombs. They go our way and blow up, then the attack begins. Almost every street here is barricaded. That's both for cover and protection. The advancing troops storm and destroy the barricades and then build up new ones hiding from suicide bombers. That's how they move forward block by block.

Another sign of Mosul — checkpoints on adjacent roads. There are so many of them that cars can barely accelerate, when they already have to stop again. Army checkpoints, police checkpoints, checkpoints by local defense of Iraqi Christians. Also Shia Muslim militia's checkpoints, which weren't even supposed to be in Mosul, populated mostly by Sunnite Muslims. Everybody's looking for militants disguised as civilians in an attempt to leave the city.

According to the official UN data, about 210,000 Mosul residents are now refugees. Those are the ones now residing in refugee camps. The fight for the city goes on, so new camps are built. There are 1500 tents here, one per family. Each family is usually 8-10 people, so about 10,000 refugees should fit here. They build them fast and put people in even faster. But just how long will they have to stay here after losing everything in Mosul?