Mosul - Iraq's prime minister declared
victory over Islamic State in Mosul on Monday, three years after
the militants seized the city and made it the stronghold of a
"caliphate" they said would take over the world.
Haider al-Abadi made the announcement from the operations
room of the Counter-Terrorism Service, his media office said on
Twitter.
He arrived in Mosul on Sunday to congratulate military
commanders who have waged a nearly nine-month battle to
recapture the city from Islamic State.
Gunfire and explosions could be heard earlier in the day as
the last few Islamic State positions were pounded.
Abadi has been meeting military and political officials in
Mosul in an atmosphere of celebration that contrasts with the
fear that spread after a few hundred Islamic State militants
seized the city and the Iraqi army crumbled in July 2014.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi shocked the Middle
East and Western powers shortly afterwards by appearing at the
pulpit of Mosul's Grand al-Nuri Mosque to declare the caliphate
and himself the leader of the world's Muslims.
A reign of terror followed which eventually alienated even
many of those Sunni Muslims who had supported the group as
allies against Iraq's Shi'a majority.
A member of Iraqi counterterrorism forces stands guard near Islamic State militant graffiti in Fallujah in June 2016. File picture: Hadi Mizban/AP
REVENGE
In the aftermath of victory, Abadi's government now faces
the task of managing the sectarian tensions in Mosul and
elsewhere that enabled Islamic State to win support, and the
threat of a wave of revenge violence in the city.
Baghdadi has fled the city and his whereabouts are unknown.
Reports have circulated that he is dead but Iraqi and Western
officials say they cannot corroborate this.
His death or capture would not be the end of Islamic State,
which still controls areas south and west of Mosul and which is
now expected to take to the desert or mountains to wage an
insurgency.
The militants are expected to keep trying to launch attacks
on the West and inspiring violence by "lone wolves" or small
groups of the kind mounted recently in Britain, France and
elsewhere.
But the loss of Iraq's second-largest city is a grave body
blow to Islamic State.
"The recovery of Mosul is a significant step in the fight
against terrorism and violent extremism," said the spokesman for
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Jaafar Sadiq, a member of Iraq's counter-terrorism force,
said military operations had been completed in Mosul's Old City,
which saw heavy fighting in recent weeks as the Islamists made
their last stand.
Islamic State is also under heavy pressure in its
operational headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
Demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State group, slogans as they carry the group's flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul in June 2014. File picture: AP
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
The stench of corpses along Mosul's streets was a reminder
of the gruelling urban warfare required to dislodge Islamic
State.
Much of the city of 1.5 million has been destroyed in the
fighting, its centuries-old stone buildings flattened by air
strikes and other explosions. One of Islamic State's last acts
was to blow up the historic al-Nuri mosque and its famous
leaning minaret.
Thousands of people have been killed. The United Nations
says 920 000 civilians have fled their homes since the military
campaign began in October. Close to 700 000 people are still
displaced.
"It's a relief to know that the military campaign in Mosul
is ending. The fighting may be over, but the humanitarian crisis
is not," said U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise
Grande.
"Many of the people who have fled have lost everything. They
need shelter, food, health care, water, sanitation and emergency
kits. The levels of trauma we are seeing are some of the highest
anywhere. What people have experienced is nearly unimaginable."
Iraqi soldiers relaxed. Some swam in the Tigris river which
runs through the city. One wiped the sweat from his face with an
Islamic State flag.