Camps best home ruins

HASSAN SHAM CAMP, Iraq, Aug 6, (RTRS): Despairing of the corpses and debris littering the streets, many Iraqis have left their homes in areas liberated from Islamic State two years ago and voluntarily returned to the displacement camps that housed them during and after the fighting.

The militants seized large swathes of the country in 2014 and were finally defeated in December 2017. The northern Nineveh province, particularly its capital Mosul and its Old City district, saw some of the worst fighting.

“I saw havoc in the Old City. All houses and building are in complete ruin. I saw in my own eyes corpses. I saw a hand of a woman,” said Sabiha Jassim, 61, who has since gone back to the Hassan Shami camp for displaced people.

Jassim says she also left because there was no drinking water or access to medical treatment for her ailing husband, both of which are available at the camp.

In Hassan Sham camp alone, more than 200 families like Jassim’s have returned this year after having initially gone home. Local officials said many had done so but refused to provide a complete figure.

Islamic State militants ravaged and looted the areas they occupied, leaving behind houses, mosques, and churches in ruin. Some have gone underground and are still active in these areas.