The Mosul offensive has entered its second week and the fierce battle continues toward the Daesh-occupied city. While Iraqi and Kurdish forces are making enormous strides in their efforts extirpating atrocious Daesh militants from the city, the international community is keeping an eye on late breaking news promulgating from the mass media. Since the operation was launched, experts, pundits and policy makers have consistently discussed the future of the city, recent advancements in the territory and a reconstructed proxy war between Turkey and Iran over energy geopolitics, however nobody pays enough attention to the Mosul civilians who are the most severely affected by the intense fighting. According to recent predictions by international organizations, approximately 1 million people may try to flee to seek safety and may be in urgent need of food, water and shelter in Mosul. More in particular, as the conflicts are intensified based on the sweeping gains of the operation, the concern for civilians has soared significantly. It was reported by visual and written media that some local residents are trapped in Mosul and some others are being used as human shields by Daesh in abandoned towns. Based on precise information that was conveyed from locals, Daesh has abducted hundreds of families with children from rural settlements around Mosul and are keeping them close to Daesh-held locations in the city.MOSUL IS A PRISON FOR ITS DESPERATE RESIDENTSIt is worth noting that both the central government and Daesh militias are forcing the local residents to stay in Mosul to fight to the death. In a way, Mosul simply could be accepted as a prison for its desperate residents. Moreover, there is a growing dilemma for locals when fighting is prevailing through the city. If they stay, they will be dragged into the war overwhelmed by fear, if they manage to run away, they will risk their lives under heavy bombardment on roadsides or are doomed to survive in refugee camps often with inadequate services including safe water, sufficient food, health facilities and schools. Based on precise information conveyed from locals, Daesh executed hundreds of residents in previous weeks and a significant portion of the victims were children.The chain of events in the Mosul offensive is defective since the precarious situation of children has been neglected by the mass media. According to statistics derived from the Save the Children Foundation, among 1.5 million people have been living under Daesh rule in Mosul, at least 50 percent of whom are children who have been caught in the crossfire. On the verge of sparking a huge humanitarian catastrophe, for the children who are living under Daesh's brutal rule, the city has already turned into a hell, as they are unable to go to school, be nourished properly or go outside. Even worse than that, some children are being recruited as soldiers in conflict zones and sexually abused by Daesh militias. However, things do not get any better if they try to escape because refugee camps are not well-equipped enough to host thousands of people in adequate standards due to the scarcity of food and lack of accommodation facilities.REFUGEE CHILDREN ARE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT 'PERSONS OF CONCERN'Among the world's refugees, children under the age of 18, making up more than half of any refugee population, are the most significant "persons of concern" to the UNHCR. As the number of refugees increases, so devastatingly did the number of children facing the asylum-seeking experience. Since the Syria war erupted, children have been traumatized and profoundly affected under the appalling conditions of the crisis. They are facing dire situations of displacement and poverty, dropping out school, working as child laborers and being recruited by armed forces. In that respect, being a refugee child violates almost every right of a child - the right to live, to be healthy, to survive and develop, the right to grow up in a family environment and to be nurtured and protected, the right to a have an identity and to belong to an effective nationality, the right to education and prospects for the future.Both Syrian and Iraqi refugee children are the most silent and affected witnesses of the blood-soaked war, however they are paying the heaviest price for the failure of reconciliation to end the conflict. Facing the broad range of challenges to their development and survival makes them not only a vulnerable subgroup among the world's children, but also a vulnerable subgroup among refugees. Pictures from the war that are engraved in our memories all belong to the precarious situation of children, such as a father carrying his child through the border, a baby breaking into tears when she is separated from her family on the border and maybe the most grievous of all is the pictures of a Syrian boy washed up on beach, a tiny victim of the refugee crisis.TIME TO RAISE AWARENESS TO THE GROWING NEEDS OF REFUGEE CHILDRENTurkey has generously opened its borders to provide a safe shelter for Syrian asylum-seekers whose numbers are increasing day by day. Admittedly, Turkish hospitality toward refugees has been appreciated by the international community and sets a good example for the rest of the world. While the Mosul operation is still in progress, it is the exact time for Turkey to raise awareness of international society to the growing needs and plights of refugee children. Reportedly, the number of people who managed to escape from Mosul has already reached 6,000 and there are 1,000 more waiting at the border. One of the camps that have already been overloaded by the large influx of Mosul residents is the al-Hol Camp located in Eastern al-Hasakah Governorate in northeastern Syria, which is 480 km away from Akçakale border, in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. As it can be remembered, Turkish authorities led Syrians to cross into Turkey at Akçakale border gate as a result of the soaring intense fighting between the PKK terror group's Syrian branch of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Daesh in 2005. As the Save the Children Foundation stated, al-Hol was constructed to keep 7,500 people, but currently shelters 9,000 refugees. If the numbers are not wrong, Turkey should get ready for another refugee exodus, this time from Mosul requiring a massive humanitarian relief operation. In order to eliminate all the risks of a sprouted humanitarian crisis, critical measures should be taken immediately by the authorities, specifically in minimizing the impact of the crisis on children and providing sophisticated remedies for breach of child rights. Turkey could be a monitor to prioritize identifying and ameliorating the plight of refugee children.* Middle East studies research master's degree at ODTÜ