• Pentagon: US won't alter rules of engagement in Mosul 'just because of civilian deaths'
• Russian MoD reports some 800 militants head to Syrian border after leaving Mosul, Iraq
• Iraqi President admits civilian deaths in Mosul are miscalculations and mistakes
• Operation Mosul: A Medieval Massacre
• At least 112 bodies found at site of US-led coalition's airstrike in Iraqi Mosul
• Lavrov says Moscow requests special UNSC briefing over US actions in Mosul
• Settling 'Plan B': Pentagon throws 200 more US troops into Mosul maelstrom
• Where's the outcry at massive death toll from US bombing in Mosul?

"Evidence gathered on the ground in east Mosul points to an alarming pattern of US-led coalition airstrikes which have destroyed whole houses with entire families inside," said Donatella Rovera, a senior crisis response adviser who carried out field investigations in Mosul.

She noted the increasingly high civilian death toll "suggests that coalition forces leading the offensive in Mosul have failed to take adequate precautions to prevent civilian deaths, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."

The fact that the Iraqi authorities repeatedly told civilians not to flee the war-ravaged city in the midst of fighting, "indicates that coalition forces should have known that these strikes were likely to result in a significant numbers of civilian casualties," the organization said, adding that "disproportionate attacks and indiscriminate attacks violate international humanitarian law and can constitute war crimes."

Wa'ad Ahmad al-Tai, a resident of eastern Mosul, said these instructions were delivered via radio and through leaflets dropped from military aircraft. "The government ... told us [to] stay in our homes and avoid displacement," he added.

Those who managed to escape the Mosul crossfire suffer a complete nervous breakdown, recalling how entire families, ill-advised to stay home instead of fleeing, often ended up under the rubble of their homes bombed by the US-led coalition.

Unable to handle the psychological pressure of serving as the terrorists' human shields amid the daily US-led coalition bombings of Iraq's second largest city, those lucky enough to escape the crosshairs often suffer meltdown once they reach the relative safety of the outer city.

Finding themselves inside the overcrowded refugee camps, the escapees are haunted by the merciless reality of war they witnessed in Mosul. Many remain worried about friends and relatives trapped in Mosul as fighting to liberate the western portion of the city continues despite mounting civilian casualties.

"She had a nervous breakdown. Imagine the stress - being here with half your family, and with the other half left under ISIS in Mosul. Contrary to what it may look like — the people you see here — are the lucky ones. They made it out alive," an elderly man told RT's Murad Gazdiev after his companion collapsed.

"We did not expect to survive. There were 9 families in a single room, and ISIS were shooting from our roof," said a man with a child in his arms, explaining that in Mosul that amounts to a death sentence.
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People who fled the carnage have been telling RT that the bulk of the casualties indeed come from the airstrikes targeting terrorists but ignoring the civilian presence in the area.

"If a pilot sees an ISIS fighter on a roof, of course, he'll fire — it's a target. He doesn't see the civilians inside," one refugee explained.

Meanwhile, an RT crew on the ground has learned that Iraqi forces are barring journalists from visiting certain areas of Mosul, which have been severely bombed to avoid the negative coverage of their actions in the media.
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The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, criticized the US-led coalition's rules of engagement in Mosul, saying the operation is claiming "more and more civilian lives." He went on to cite humanitarian pauses and corridors set up during the liberation of eastern Aleppo in Syria, as an example of a more responsible approach.

"A corridor was organized for all the militants, including the members of the terrorist groups [to leave eastern Aleppo]. Many seized this opportunity, thus reducing the need for the use of military force for the liberation of that part of the city," Lavrov said, emphasizing that "we did it with the sole purpose of saving lives."