Ashes OF Battle

IRAQI FORCES RETAKE MOSUL, BUT THE CITY IS COMPLETELY DEVASTATED, PUTTUNG A  QUESTION MARK OVER ITS FUTURE.

- Francesca Mannocchi

Are there civilians trapped in the ruins?”

I asked a soldier belonging to a Shiite militia group, which was part of the offensive to liberate Mosul. The battle for Mosul, which started last October, is drawing to a close, with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi declaring victory on July 9. Sporadic clashes, however, still continue, especially in the old city. The regular Iraqi army, the Golden Division special forces and the federal police have been leading the campaign against Islamic State.

The soldier laughed, and pointed to the battle tanks in the street, which were decorated with flags to mark Iraqi victory. “They are all under the rubble,” he replied, reminding me of the dirty part of the war. By the end, the war was about prisoners tied to the ground waiting to be questioned, and dead bodies lined up in rows inside buildings, as after a mass execution.

Another face of the war: soldiers carrying on their backs women and children, who came like ghosts from the ruins of the old city. They were wounded, hungry, barefoot and in tears. In a word, desperate.

Two days before the end of the war, General Fadhil Barwari, the commanding officer of the special forces, was looking at an old city map at his base in west Mosul. He was barely 200 metres from victory.

“What about civilians?” I asked him.

“We are waiting only to rescue the kids,” he said. “All others will die. We have pictures of women fighting. Those who stayed back till now, have done so to fight. We will save the children because they are our children, too. They are the children of Iraq. We will not have pity for anyone else.”