The soldiers escorting three trucks loaded with oil, flour, rice and sugar shouted at the crowds, trying to keep them in line, but had to open the door to distribute the food as soon as possible in fear of attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants coming from nowhere out of the tunnels in the district liberated by the army early this month.
Children were crying loud in the chaos, even louder than the sound of heavy machine guns fired in other districts in eastern Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq that was seized by IS in June 2014.
Despite the tradition of storing three-month supply, many people in Mosul are running out of food after living under IS control for more than two years.
"We support each other in the past two years, but everyone is living in fear for such a long time and that's why they scramble for food even when they still have certain storage," said 26-year-old college student Jassim.
All these people are living on Saddam Street which was changed to the name of an IS leader after the group seized the city. Walls along the street were covered by bullet holes and many windows were smashed. The counter-terrorism soldiers had to drive a Humvee to tow away the wreckage of the car bomb to make room for the crowds.
"The militants launched nine suicide car bombing attacks when we were trying to take that street," said Mohammed who fought against IS since Oct. 31, pointing at the crossroad about 50 meters away where nearby houses were destroyed.
"The snipers are taking cover at civilian houses, using them as human shields, so we cannot bomb their positions, but have to search street by street, building by building. It takes a lot of time and is quite risky," he said.
Despite being threatened by stray bullets and rocket attacks, most of the people are not willing to leave for IDP camps. They say they would rather take risks living in their houses than living in tents during the coming winter.
[Xinhua/globaltimes.cn]
24/11/16
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