联合国：近期将有20万伊拉克人逃离摩苏尔

The United Nations said Tuesday that 200,000 Iraqi civilians could flee an Islamic State-controlled part of Mosul in the coming days.

The Iraqi government on Thursday urged civilians in the Old City of Mosul to flee their homes and cross to safety on the other side of government lines.

"When they issued this new instruction it represented a dramatic change and shift from the guidance that they had been previously providing," said Lise Grande, the U.N.'s top humanitarian official in Iraq.

She said there are three neighborhoods to the north of the Old City, as well as the Old City itself, where the civilians are trapped.

"We are deeply concerned about the safety of these civilians," Grande told reporters by video link from Baghdad. "We feel those civilians are probably at greater risk now than at any stage of the entire campaign."

She noted that the evacuation notice is not compulsory, and the Iraqi Security Forces would protect civilians who remain in the Old City.

When the military offensive to re-take Mosul began in the eastern part of the city last October, the U.N. feared a mass exodus of as many as 700,000 civilians. It did not happen, as a half-million residents stayed in their homes and rode out the fighting.

But when the army began liberating the western part of the city, residents fled at a much higher rate. Grande says 774,000 Iraqis have left Iraq's second largest city, which has been under IS control since 2017. The U.N. is providing assistance to all of them, as well as the half-million east Mosul residents who remained in their homes.

联合国星期二表示，在接下来数天里，可能会有20万伊拉克平民逃离摩苏尔由伊斯兰国组织控制的地区。

伊拉克政府星期四敦促摩苏尔老城的平民逃离自己的家园，越过界限进入另外一侧的政府控制区寻求安全保护。

联合国驻伊拉克最高人道救援官员格兰德表示，“当他们发出这项新的指令时，与他们以前发布的指导意见相比，代表着重大调整。”

她说，摩苏尔老城及其北部的三个社区，都有平民被困。

格兰德从巴格达通过视频连线说，“我们对那些平民的安全深感忧虑。我们感到眼下那些平民可能比整个战役的任何阶段都要危险。”

她指出，疏散通知不是强制性的，伊拉克安全部队将保护仍然留在老城内的平民。

重新夺回摩苏尔的军事行动去年10月在该城东部展开时，联合国担心会有70万平民逃难，但是这种情况并没有发生，50万居民待在家里，安然度过了战斗。

但当军队开始解放摩苏尔西城时，居民却大批逃离。格兰德表示，有77万4千人逃离了这座伊拉克第二大城市。摩苏尔自从2017年以来处于伊斯兰国的控制之下。联合国正在对逃难的所有人以及摩苏尔东城留在家中的居民提供援助。