MOSUL, Iraq — The Ministry of Displacement and Migration announced March 20 that the number of residents displaced from Mosul has risen to 355,000 since the start of the liberation in October 2016, with the number set to increase. Meanwhile, only 81,000 displaced residents have returned to liberated areas.

People are increasingly flocking to the Directorate of the National Security Service in the Bartala area in eastern Mosul to obtain security permits to travel or flee to other Iraqi provinces. Such permits prove to a certain point that their holders are not members of the Islamic State (IS) and do not work with it.

“Between 1,000 and 1,500 permits were being issued on a daily basis in January 2017 to citizens of the [eastern Mosul] areas, including large numbers of employees,” a security source from the Mosul Security Directorate told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

During the years of IS control, most of the Mosul population opted to stay in their homes to show resistance against IS. Some residents even described those who left the city as “weak.” However, they now seek to escape as soon as the chance arises.