Civilians flee town near Mosul

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Thousands of Iraqi civilians have fled Tal Afar as Shi'ite paramilitary groups close in around the Islamic State-held town on the road between Mosul and Raqqa, the main cities of the militant group's self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The exodus from Tal Afar, 60 km (40 miles) west of Mosul, is worrying humanitarian organizations as some of the civilians are heading into insurgent territory, where aid cannot be sent to them, provincial officials said.
Popular Mobilisation units, a coalition of mostly Iranian-backed militias, are trying to encircle Tal Afar, a largely ethnic Turkmen town, as part of the offensive to capture Mosul, Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq.
Members of the Shia-dominated Popular Mobilisation force near the IS stronghold of Tal Afar (20 November 2016)
About 3,000 families have left the town, with about half heading southwest, towards Syria, and half northward, close to Kurdish-held territory, said Nuraldin Qablan, a Tal Afar representative on the Nineveh provincial council, now based in the Kurdish capital Erbil.


The offensive started on Oct. 17 with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition. It is turning into the most complex campaign in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and empowered the nation's Shi'ite majority.

Those fleeing Tal Afar are Sunnis, who are in a majority in Nineveh province in and around Mosul. Tal Afar also had a Shi'ite community, which fled in 2014 when the Sunnis of Islamic State swept through the region.
Turkey is alarmed that Iran could extend its power through proxy groups to an area close to Turkey and Syria, where Ankara is backing rebels opposed to the Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Citing close ties to Tal Afar's Turkmen population, Turkey has threatened to intervene to prevent revenge killings should Popular Mobilisation forces, known as Hashid Shaabi, storm the town.

Read More:Reuters


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