LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Aid agencies said on Wednesday families who have fled Mosul and surrounding towns were start

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Aid agencies said on Wednesday families who have fled Mosul and surrounding towns were starting to reach displacement camps away from the fighting, as Iraqi forces press on with an offensive to retake Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq.

The battle that started on Oct. 17 with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition is shaping up as the largest in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
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On Tuesday Iraqi forces battled Islamic State fighters on the eastern edge of Mosul as the campaign entered a new phase of urban warfare.
The United Nations has said the Mosul offensive could trigger a humanitarian crisis and a possible refugee exodus if the civilians inside in Mosul seek to escape, with up to one million people fleeing in a worst-case scenario.