Around 15,000 Iraqis have arrived in Syrian Kurdish territories after escaping the Mosul offensive, an official of the Federation of Northern Syria, a de facto Kurdish autonomy, told Sputnik.

The Kurdish autonomy is hosting roughly 500,000 displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, he said. They urgently need food, clothes and medicine.

“Some 15,000 refugees have come to us. A new camp has been built for them in the town of al-Hawl on the Syrian border with Iraq,” Rodi Osman, the federation’s representative to Russia, said.

Troops loyal to the Iraqi government launched an offensive last October to retake the key stronghold from terrorists. They captured the eastern part of Mosul this January and are pushing into more populated western districts.

According to the International Organization for Migration, fierce fighting has pushed a total of 300,000 people out of Mosul since the operation began.

Source: Sputnik