United Nations chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Baghdad Thursday to review the humanitarian situation, calling for protection of civilians to be the “absolute priority” as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain in Mosul, which was seized by ISIS group in 2014, and officials and witnesses have said that air strikes have taken a devastating toll on civilians in the city this month.

“Just arrived in Iraq to focus on the dire humanitarian situation on the ground. Protection of civilians must be the absolute priority,” a post on the UN chief's official Twitter account said.

Meeting with Abadi
Guterres was to meet top Iraqi officials including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad before flying to Arbil, the capital of the country's autonomous Kurdish region.

Iraqi forces launched a major operation to retake Mosul in October, retaking its eastern side before setting their sites on the smaller but more densely populated west.

Source :Al Arabiya