Jan 23, 2018

Mosul, after ISIS

Haley Britzky

An Iraqi man walks over the rubble in the old city of Mosul. Photo: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP / Getty Images

In December, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi proclaimed the end of the nearly four-year-long war against ISIS, five months after al-Abadi announced victory in the city of Mosul.

Why it matters: Since Iraq's second-largest city was liberated, around 327,000 of the 1 million people who left the city have returned, ABC reports. And while the people of Mosul are beginning their lives again, after three years of ISIS control the conditions of the city still pose challenges and dangers to its residents.

Mosul, after ISIS

Lise Grande, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement that eastern and western Mosul are facing different challenges: "Ninety-seven percent of the population has returned to their homes in eastern Mosul. People are rebuilding their lives there...Conditions in western Mosul are very difficult...Families are worried about booby-traps, security and services."
More than 270,000 people were "living in 18 camps and emergency sites surrounding the city," per a U.N. report from October.
ABC reports that repairing the basic infrastructure in the city will cost more than an estimated $1 billion.

Corruption in the Iraqi government has led citizens to doubt claims that "hundreds of millions of dollars of U.N. aid is being spent to rebuild Mosul," CNN reports.
As of October, the remains of 1,642 civilians had been found underneath rubble, the U.N. reported.
60,000 homes are "uninhabitable," the New York Times reports, and "at least 20,000 commercial and government buildings" were destroyed.

Go deeper: Timeline: the rise and fall of ISIS in Iraq and Syria

Add Axios on Google

Mosul, after ISIS

Mosul, after ISIS

What to read next