A Ruined Farmer and a Love Letter: Remnants From Fighting in Western Mosul
The Iraqi government is advising people to stay in their homes both to avoid airstrikes or mortar fire, and in the hope
that keeping civilians in western Mosul would avert the kind of destruction that was seen in Ramadi when it was liberated by government forces.
I’m your son, the eastern side Omar We are all Iraq The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, an independent international organization, has led a campaign to deliver letters from
civilians in liberated areas as part of an effort to persuade residents, disoriented by the terror group’s information blackout, that the Iraqi people have not forgotten them.
25, 2017
I’m in northern Iraq and spent the day traveling to the front lines of western Mosul, where
Iraqi government forces are battling the Islamic State for complete control of this city.
This one says it is from someone called Omar who is living in eastern Mosul, which was liberated by Iraqi forces in late January,
and it addresses his family and others trapped in the west.
He writes that those on the eastern side are safe,
and he then encourages those in western Mosul to stay put and wait for the Iraqi forces to liberate their area, too.
We are doing all right here in the eastern side, I pray God for you and ask God to bring relief to you and get liberated as soon as possible,
but you have to be patient in order to get rid of these dogs, we will smash their heads.
