Ancient city destroyed beyond repair
THOUSANDS OF RESIDENTS HAVE STARTED RETURNING TO THE DEVASTATED CITY
Three years after Daesh rule, there is not a single structure in Mosul that is left unscathed by the upheaval |
There is not a single structure in the city that is left unscathed by the upheaval. Most of the city areas have no water or power supplies. Schools and hospitals have been laid waste, and there is hardly any food.
Mosul is liberated. After three years of reign of terror by the extremist group Daesh, guns have fallen silent in the city. More than a million residents, who fled the ancient city since the Iraqi security forces began an offensive in October, have heaved a collective sigh of relief.
As calm returned thousands of residents began returning. But the unprecedented destruction in the country’s second city and the unstable security situation will delay the return home of hundreds of thousands of people who fled. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) more than 825,000 people are yet to return to Mosul.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR has warned that many of the displaced will remain so for months.
There is not a single structure in the city that is left unscathed by the upheaval. Most of the city areas have no water or power supplies. Schools and hospitals have been laid waste, and there is hardly any food.
Iraqi authorities says the Daesh occupation that left a trail of human misery and devastation could cost $100 billion (Dh3.67 billion) to rebuild.
Planning Ministry spokesman Abdul Zahra Al Hindawi said last week that power and water supplies would be restored in the first phase of a 10-year programme to rebuild Mosul. But in a sign of the immense challenges ahead, he estimated that reconstructing all areas of Iraq that fell to Daesh would cost much more.
“The government is intensifying efforts to restore life in the destroyed areas,” Mudher Saleh, economic adviser to Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, said.
Nofal Al Hamad, the governor of Nineveh province, whose capital is Mosul, said yesterday that destruction in the city’s west, where the military campaign entered its final phase in mid-June, is 30 times greater than in the east, liberated in January, according to a report by the Rudaw news agency.
Nabeel Khoury, a former US State Department official, said last week the military plan to defeat Daesh had been carefully crafted to ensure everyone stuck to their role, and it largely went well.
“Now, a comprehensive plan is needed for the aftermath,” Khoury had said.