If it were possible to stand at the center of the Tigris River where it bisects this ancient city, once the crown jewel of Islamic State’s conquests, the view might bring to mind an oft-repeated cliche: Mosul has become a tale of two cities.
It was in 2017 that more than 100,000 Iraqi troops and militiamen, backed by a U.S.-led coalition,The riverfront neighborhood on the western side, a warren of alleyways and closely stacked buildings known as the Old City, was the site of the militants’ last stand. It was smashed.
At the University of Mosul campus, students crowd coffee sellers on the street for a quick caffeine shot before class. One of the region’s top academic institutions, thefor two years before Iraqi forces took it back in January 2017; two months later, classes were already restarting. Now, more than 30,000 students have returned, professors say.
One recent morning, a crew from the United Nations’ Mine Action Service and personnel from G4S, a private multinational security company, assembled at the Khaled bin Walid school in Mosul’s Old City.Inside the school playground, an armor-plated bulldozer scooped up debris, then strewed it over a space cleared in the center.
The government also has not provided compensation to residents for war damage, leaving many unable to rebuild their homes, said Bashir Hussein Fathi, a onetime Old City resident and member of Iraq’s Communist Party. Schoolgirls in the Old City quarter of Mosul learn how to deal with mines and other unexploded ordnance peppered throughout their neighborhood.
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