UPDATE: Airstrikes Pound Western Mosul in Advance of Massive Operation

"We are preparing to liberate"
By
Editor

As the global community celebrates the liberation of eastern Mosul from the hands of ISIS, health practitioners around the world are raising concerns over the critical trauma civilians in the city have faced.

Air strikes are currently underway in advance of a massive operation designed to liberate western Mosul:

Iraqi and international coalition fighter jets pounded Islamic State locations in western Mosul on the dawn of Friday in preparation for a wide-scale invasion of the region to drive out Islamic State militants.

Artillery forces also shelled the region, according to a report by Dijlah TV, which quoted a security force in Nineveh.

Besides several other pockets in Iraq, Islamic State militants had held Mosul since 2014 and proclaimed it the capital of their self-styled “Islamic State”.

The World Health organization issued a global plea at the beginning of January for medical supplies and medicines for the growing number of casualties being seen in western Mosul hospitals.

The main victims going to these hospitals are from the eastern part of Mosul.

WHO Representative in Iraq Altaf Musani explained the devastating sights and sounds in the local medical facility. He said, “As we walked through the corridors of West Emergency hospital in Erbil and other hospitals receiving wounded patients in Iraq, we witnessed the emotional and physical scars and heard about the unimaginable horrors suffered by men, women, girls and boys targeted and innocently caught in the middle of this tragic crisis as they went about their normal lives.”

Adding that, “this support is especially timely” and is needed to help thousands who have sustained gunshot wounds and shell injuries.

The organization has recorded that more than 3,330 casualties have gone from the east side of the city to west since October of last year to get the help needed.

Travel to the western part of the Middle Eastern city holds many risks because it is still under ISIS control and many civilians are still actively trying to fight for its freedom.

Leaflets were dropped in advance to warn citizens that air strikes were on the way in western Mosul.

The statement was sent out via Twitter just hours after the Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider Al-Abadi said during a routine press conference that,”We are preparing to liberate the west side of #Mosul, hoping it will be easier than the east side, which was larger.”

HOW TO HELP:

The Christian organization, Samaritan’s Purse has a robust staff helping to heal people on the ground in Iraq. As of now, they are asking for prayers to uplift patients and for donations.

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Read More:

16,000 Children in Eastern Mosul Attend School for the First Time Post-ISIS Control

If God Called Your Entire Family to Mosul, Would You Go? This One Did…

Muslim Man Defies ISIS, Creates Iron Cross in Show of Support for Christians in Mosul