On Sunday, July 9, Iraq declared victory in Mosul after nearly nine months of bitter fighting to displace the extremist group from the city.
Iraqi offensive nearly completely destroyed six districts in western Mosul, and getting basic infrastructure across the city running again will cost more than $1 billion, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday (July 5).
United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, told Reuters the level of damage had exceeded predictions and was much worse in the western half of the city than it had been in the eastern half.
"In western Mosul what we're seeing is the worst damage of the entire conflict. So in those neighborhoods where the fighting has been the fiercest, we're looking at levels of damage incomparable to anything else that has happened in Iraq so far," Grande said.
But the fighting, involving air strikes, artillery, and ISIS car bombs, has left Mosul a shattered shell of its former self and displaced around half of its pre-war population.
Reuters
9 July
