BREAKING NEWS

Mosul humanitarian crisis could be largest in world

The United Nations said on Thursday it is bracing for the world's biggest and most complex humanitarian effort in the upcoming battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul, which could make up to 1 million people homeless and see civilians used as human shields or even gassed.
US-backed Iraqi forces are preparing for a long-anticipated assault on the last major Islamic State bastion in Iraq, potentially the biggest battle in the country since the US-led invasion of 2003.
The UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, said in a worst-case scenario, Mosul could represent "the single largest, most complex humanitarian operation in the world in 2016".