'A Million Iraqis Could Flee' Fight For Mosul

Up to one million Iraqis could be forced to flee their homes as the war against Islamic State intensifies, the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned.

The flight of so many people could pose a "massive humanitarian problem" for Iraq, the Geneva-based aid group said.

It said it is preparing for the worst, particularly in the Mosul area - IS's de facto Iraqi capital.

US-backed government forces have trained their sights on the city since retaking full control of Fallujah , 30 miles west of Baghdad, after a vast operation against IS which was launched in May.

"Up to a million more people could be forced to flee their homes in Iraq in the coming weeks and months, posing a massive humanitarian problem for the country," the ICRC said in a statement.

More than three million civilians are already displaced inside the country and 10 million people are in need of assistance.

Around Mosul, the United Nations is also preparing for what it has described as the largest relief operation so far this year to provide food, water and shelter for people fleeing the area for between three and 12 months.

Coalition victories in IS-strongholds are shrinking the size of the "caliphate" the group proclaimed over large parts of Iraq and Syria two years ago.

The latest warning on the deepening humanitarian crisis comes as a British-based watchdog said IS had executed 24 civilians in northern Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday the killings had taken place "in the last 24 hours" after jihadis retook a village called Buyir from the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance.