UNITED NATIONS — Military operations to liberate Iraq from the Islamic State extremist group will be coming to an end “in the rather short foreseeable future,” the U.N. envoy for Iraq said Thursday.

Jan Kubis told the U.N. Security Council that the days of the Islamic State are numbered, using one of the acronyms for the militant group.

Iraqi forces have pushed Islamic State forces out of nearly all the cities and towns the group once held in Iraq. Mosul is the last major urban center it holds in that country, and government forces have retaken the eastern half of the city since the operation was officially launched in October.

Kubis said the government’s steady progress and successful campaign to retake the eastern part of Mosul “should not conceal that fighting has been and will be a massive challenge, in particular inside the old city in western Mosul.”

The U.N. envoy accused the Islamic State group of deliberately targeting civilians trying to flee areas it controls, indiscriminately shelling civilians in liberated areas, using civilians as human shields and placing its fighters in and near hospitals and schools.

During the campaign in eastern Mosul, nearly 190,000 people were displaced, and 30,000 have already returned home, Kubis said. An estimated 885,000 civilians had remained in areas retaken by the Iraqi military.

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When fighting starts in western Mosul, he said, “civilians will be at extreme risk” and humanitarian groups are bracing for possible scenarios including “a possible mass exodus, prolonged siege-like conditions, or a sequenced and managed evacuation by the Iraqi security forces.”

Iraqi U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim said his country’s forces are completing preparations for taking over western Mosul.

Alhakim reiterated Iraq’s deep regret at President Trump’s travel ban on seven countries including Iraq, saying it “is not fully in line with our strategic partnership” and comes at a time of “major progress” against the Islamic State by Iraqi forces. “We therefore call upon the U.S. government to review its position,” he said.

The Security Council expressed support for Iraqi forces, urged all efforts to minimize civilian casualties, and stressed the “urgent need” for the government to promote national reconciliation.


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