ISIS Shoots Civilians Fleeing an Area in Mosul

Reuters reports that in the past two days, "dozens of civilians" attempting to flee from an area in Mosul, which is the site of clashes between Iraqi security forces and members of the group known as the "Islamic State," have been killed. A Reuters television reporter stated on June 13 that he saw the bodies of men, women, and children on the ground in a street in the Zanjali area, one of the main conflict zones for the current efforts to reclaim Mosul. The Iraqi army announced on June 6 that during operations to liberate the last neighborhoods of Mosul, army forces attacked the Shifa neighborhood and the Republic Hospital, federal police targeted the Zanjali area, and special anti-terrorism forces raided the Al-Sahi Al-Wali neighborhood. Four days later, while international monitoring organizations once again expressed concern about the situation of civilians, several local residents reported that ISIS members had blocked and fortified the streets around the Al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, apparently as part of their preparation for a "final battle" over control of the last significant area under their control in Iraq. On June 11, Iraqi military forces stated that they had taken control of the Al-Sahi Al-Wali neighborhood. According to reports, the presence of members of the so-called Islamic State has been limited to the old city, the Shifa area, and Zanjali. Reuters now quotes a member of the "Free Burma Rangers" aid group, who observed from a building overlooking the Zanjali area that ISIS members "have shot at people fleeing over the past two days." According to Dave Oubank from the "Free Burma Rangers," the bodies of more than 50 victims are in the street: "With the help of the smoke created by the Americans and behind an Iraqi tank, we managed to rescue a little girl and a man." A coalition led by the United States is assisting Iraqi forces during the battle in Mosul. Mosul fell to ISIS in 2014 at the height of the group's advances. In the Al-Nuri Mosque in this city, Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri, known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate over the "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria." Nevertheless, in recent months, military forces and militias allied with the Iraqi government, as well as predominantly Kurdish militias, both of which receive support from the coalition, have made significant advances in Mosul and towards Raqqa in Syria.