国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Iraqs operation to liberate Mosul receives international support amid humanitari_时事

国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Iraqs operation to liberate Mosul receives international support amid humanitari

"Turkey has a 350-kilometer border with Iraq, and therefore cannot be expected to remain impartial to developments right across the border," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

China and Iran also voiced their support for the Iraqi operation.

"China supports the Iraqi government's efforts to maintain national stability and fight terrorism. China hopes for national security and stability in Iraq at an early date," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular news briefing.

"We will stand by the Iraqi government and nation until Iraq's full liberation (from terrorists) and the establishment of stability in the country," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

While Iraqi forces are moving gradually to encircle Mosul, humanitarian concerns arises as one million people may be forced to flee the terrorist group's last stronghold because of fighting.

"I am deeply concerned about the rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in Mosul, Iraq, and the heightened threat to the health and lives of pregnant women who may be cut off from life-saving emergency obstetric care," Babatunde Osotimehin, the UN under-secretary-general and executive director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said in a statement.

Among the 200,000 people likely to be displaced during the initial weeks of military operations in Mosul, an estimated 46,000 are women and girls of reproductive age, including about 8,000 who are pregnant or about to give birth, the statement said.