While thousands flee west Mosul, some Iraqi families vow to hang on
Despite the dangerous situation in Mosul, many residents are choosing to stay in their homes as the fighting to retake the rest of the city continues.
MOSUL, Iraq — Southwestern sections of Mosul retaken weeks ago from the Islamic State are now filling with various Iraqi security forces heading to and from the front and civilians fleeing newly liberated areas of the city.
Fighting continues less than a kilometer away, where streets are safe to use one day and riddled with sniper fire the next. Though the heavily damaged areas initially appear to be empty of civilians, some residents are still in their homes, where traditional outer walls protect them from the eyes of the street.
The federal police facilitated Al-Monitor’s mid-March visit to the home of one family.
A father of four in his early 50s living with his two youngest children, wife and mother-in-law told Al-Monitor that the family had not left the city throughout the over 2½ years under IS.
