(20.8.2016) The planned assault on the Islamic State-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq has the potential to cause a humanitarian disaster unless the international community is properly prepared, the foreign minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has warned.

In an interview with The Irish Times, Falah Mustafa Bakir said measures will be urgently needed to assist up to a million civilians expected to flee Mosul after the operation to retake it has begun.