UN: Civilians trapped in Mosul could face worst catastrophe in Iraq conflict
ERBIL -- The fighting in the Islamic State-held Old City of Mosul, where hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians are trapped, could turn into the worst humanitarian "catastrophe" in the war against the militants, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.
"If there is a siege and hundreds of thousands of people don’t have water and don’t have food, they will be at enormous risk," UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"We could be facing a humanitarian catastrophe, perhaps the worst in the entire conflict," she added.
