UN asks Abadi to guarantee protection for civilians in Mosul

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has called on Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to adopt effective measures to protect civilians in Mosul as Iraqi forces battle to retake the northern city from Daesh terrorists.

The UNAMI Human Rights Office said on Saturday that it has documented serious crimes and atrocities being perpetrated by Daesh terrorists against Mosul residents in the form of disappearance, murder, restrictions on the free movement of people, rape and sexual slavery in addition to the use of boys as young as 11 in the armed conflict, Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported.

The UN mission noted that the Baghdad government must take procedures and measures, which are meant to defend civilians and place humanitarian interests on a higher priority than military ones.

The UN mission also praised orders by Abadi and President of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Masoud Barzani concerning the protection of civilians during the Mosul operation.

Earlier on October 21, Iraq's most prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali al-Sistani urged army soldiers and volunteer fighters to protect civilians trapped in Daesh-held Mosul, located 400 kilometers north of the capital, Baghdad.

Meanwhile, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, the spokesman for the Iraqi Joint Military Command (JOC), said soldiers from the 9th Armored Division plus the Third Brigade of the First Division have killed and wounded 30 Daesh terrorist during Saturday’s offensive to liberate Mosul’s eastern neighborhood of Salam. 

ME