Mosul despairs a year after Daesh’s defeat
City still lies in ruins and adding to the misery are the missing husbands and sons
Ayear after pro-government forces recaptured Mosul from Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), much of Iraq’s second city lies in ruins and many of its residents see little reason to celebrate.
“We were liberated but what have we come back to? Our homes have been destroyed,” said mother of seven Umm Mohammad.
On July 10, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi declared victory in the battle for the city after a nearly nine-month offensive against the terrorists.
The fiercest fighting took place around western Mosul’s Old City, where Umm Mohammad’s home near the Great Mosque of Al Nouri has been reduced to rubble.
Like many mosques, houses, schools and other buildings across Mosul, all that is left of it is a pile of rubble.
Although life has gone back to normal in some parts of eastern Mosul, the massive cleanup of the western part of the city only began a few weeks ago. In a report released this week, the Norwegian Refugee Council bemoaned conditions in the city.
“More than 380,000 people are still displaced in and around Mosul as the city lies in ruins with a staggering eight million tons of debris,” it said.
No official festivities were planned yesterday to mark the first anniversary of Mosul’s liberation from the brutal three-year rule of Daesh, which had used the northern city as the capital of its ‘caliphate’ straddling the border with neighbouring Syria.
Residents said they had little to celebrate and they accused the central government of dragging its feet, while the NRC has said the international community “is not doing enough”.
The Norwegian aid group estimates that $874 million (Dh3.2 billion) is needed to repair infrastructure in Mosul.
But destruction is not the only hardship facing the people of Mosul. Every Friday for the past year, women dressed in black have gathered in the city’s Al Minassa Square, holding up pictures of missing husbands and sons as they seek information on their fates.
Some believe their loved ones were taken by the terrorists, while others think Iraqi security forces arrested them on suspicion of collaboration with Daesh.
Like the mothers of Argentina’s Plaza de Mayo who staged similar protests to seek information on their children who vanished during the 1976-1983 military junta, the women of Mosul have continued to demand answers.
“The government is not telling us anything,” said Umm Qais, a 40-year-old whose son is missing.
At least $874 million is needed to repair basic infrastructure in a city drowning in more than 8 million tonnes of debris and where more than 380,000 people are still displaced.