Twenty-six thousand Iraqis fled west Mosul in the 10 days since security forces launched a major push to retake it, the minister of displacement and migration said Wednesday.

But the number who have fled is only a small fraction of the 750,000 people who are believed to have stayed on in west Mosul.

The drive to retake the west of Mosul began on February 19, after Iraqi troops retook the city's eastern side the previous month.

The operation to retake Mosul was launched on October 17.

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Iraqi civilians fleeing from Mosul

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