By Aminaya Sy, Special Contributor for Refugee-related Issues
Since 2014, Mosul, a northern Iraqi city, has been under the control of the Islamic State (IS) group, but on February 9, 2017, a U.S.- backed coalition launched an offensive operation to retake the city. The International Organization for Migration reported that, as of March 30, about 287,000 civilians have been displaced from the city of more than 600,000 residents, and thousands of others remain trapped between IS and U.S.-backed forces. The coalition airstrikes have killed about 200 civilians, and the U.S. has officially launched an investigation into these deaths.
It is easy to forget that every single number in these statistics represents someone’s mother, father, child, relative, friend, or neighbor. These numbers represent the loss of individuals’ hopes, dreams, and aspirations and that of their loved ones. These Iraqis have found themselves stripped of dignity and humanity and instead have become numbers. They have become people who crowd around aid distribution trucks to desperately beg for food and water, as gunshots and bombs rage around them. The estimated 180,000 of these Iraqis who have survived this traumatic experience land in overcrowded camps. “I am crying because my children don’t understand why we have no food,” an Iraqi woman said to a BBC reporter. Parents are left forever shattered by the murders of their sons and daughters. Many of them wonder what is the difference between IS and the U.S.-backed coalition. “The IS police beat us, and they beat us just because of food,” an Iraqi man told a BBC reporter. “Is this the liberation they brought us?” The word “liberation” is casually tossed around when discussing this latest Mosul operation, but deserves close attention. What will success mean for this latest U.S.-backed operation?
With homes turned into rubble, and civilians facing a dire lack of food, water, electricity, and medical supplies, the people of Mosul are barely clinging to life. They are stuck between the weapons of IS and those of coalition forces. Once the battle slows down, can the residents of Mosul trust either U.S.-backed forces or IS as protectors? Thousands of children have witnessed deaths and will remain scarred by the agonizing ordeal. Both Iraqi and U.S. soldiers need Iraqi civilians in the fight against IS, not just in Mosul but in the whole country and the Middle East in general; yet so far the coalition forces have uprooted the residents’ lives almost as deeply and painfully as the IS fighters.
If success simply means driving IS out of Mosul without careful consideration of civilian lives, it may be short-lived. Success should mean fighting IS while avoiding civilian casualties and providing basic necessities for survival, rebuilding the city of Mosul, restoring its economy, and helping residents not just with emergency medical needs but also with long-term psychological trauma. Only when this kind of civilian-centered approach is achieved can the city began to take its first steps toward recovery. The residents of Mosul are put in a confusing position: choosing a “good guy” from two opposing groups both of which are inflicting profound pain.
Aminata Sy is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies International Relations with a minor in English and is a Perry World House Student Fellow.
Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/world/middleeast/us-iraq-mosul-investigation-airstrike-civilian-deaths.html?_r=0
https://www.iom.int/news/mosul-tops-ioms-2017-funding-appeal-iraq
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37702442 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39329957
