Mosul residents express relief over liberated area

Record ID: 77235

  • Title: Mosul residents express relief over liberated area
  • Date: 27th November 2016
  • Summary: SHUQAQ HAY AL-KHADRA, EAST OF MOSUL, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 26, 2016) (REUTERS) BLACK HUMVEES OF IRAQ'S ELITE FORCES OF COUNTER-TERRORISM SERVICE (CTS) DRIVING IN ROADS OF CAPTURED DISTRICT GROUP OF PEOPLE AT FRONT GATE OF HOUSE / IRAQI MILITARY VEHICLES DRIVING PAST CTS MILITARY VEHICLES DRIVING IN AREA MORE OF CTS VEHICLES DRIVING ALONG STREETS OF AREA WHITE BANNER RAISED ON APARTMENT BUILDING CTS TROOPS STANDING IN STREET NEAR HOUSES CTS MEMBER STANDING ON TOP OF HUMVEE IN STREET OF NEIGHBOURHOOD / HUMVEE AND IRAQI FLAG ON BACKGROUND CTS TROOPS AND VEHICLES INSIDE NEIGHBOURHOOD MEN OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD GREETING CTS COMMANDER MAJOR GENERAL MAAN AL-SADI MAN CARRIED HIS CHILD STANDING IN BALCONY OF BUILDING RESIDENT OF NEIGHBOURHOOD TALKING TO MAJOR GENERAL SADI SAYING: "A tail of missile hit this building." MAJOR GENERAL SADI, SAYING: "This is the price of victory. The most important thing is that they have now liberated from the oppression of IS." ARMED CTS MEMBER STANDING GUARD IN STREET OF NEIGHBOURHOOD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT OF NEIGHBOURHOOD, AHMED ZAYDAN MAHMOUD, SAYING: "We did not have life (under Islamic State control). As if we are out of a prison when you arrived. We were prisoners with no water, no electricity and no food. We had nothing. Thank God you came today now and everything will be available again." CTS HUMVEE AND IRAQI FLAG IN FRONT OF HOUSE BUILDING IN NEIGHBOURHOOD / AUDIO OF GUNFIRE IN DISTANCE TWO MEN WITH ONE HOLDING CHILD STANDING AT BALCONY OF THEIR BUILDING LOOKING AT STREET CHILD LOOKING THROUGH WINDOW WHILE MAKING PEACE SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED MAN OF NEIGHBOURHOOD, SAYING: "My aunt died yesterday from a mortar shelling. Life has almost come to a halt. There is no work, no water and no electricity. Life was so hard. Thank God we are relieved now." GROUP OF RESIDENTS STANDING NEAR CTS VEHICLE MAN CARRYING CHILD WALKING IN STREET / AUDIO OF GUNFIRE IN FAR DISTANCE BUILDINGS OF NEIGHBOURHOOD / SOUND OF REMOTE GUNFIRE MORE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD AND SOUND OF REMOTE GUNFIRE
  • Embargoed: 12th December 2016 13:29
  • Keywords: Mosul Iraq IS
  • Location: SHUQAQ HAY AL-KHADRA, EAST OF MOSUL, IRAQ
  • City: SHUQAQ HAY AL-KHADRA, EAST OF MOSUL, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015A7XS9H
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Armoured vehicles near Mosul signal that the fight to oust Islamic State from the area is far from over.
    But for residents in Shuqaq Hay Al-Khadra (Apartments of Al-Khadra neighbourhood), east of the Mosul, they're no longer living their lives under IS rule.
    Iraqi troops of the Counter-Terrorism Forces (CTS) on Saturday (November 26) declared full control of a number of neighbourhoods on the eastern side of the city of Mosul, the Islamic State's largest stronghold.
    Known also as the Golden Division, the CTS black humvees drove in the streets as residents came out to welcome the arrival of the troops, expressing relief for their new found freedom.
    "We did not have life (under Islamic State control). As if we are out of a prison when you arrived. We were prisoners with no water, no electricity and no food. We had nothing. Thank God you came today now and everything will be available again," said Ahmed Zaydan Mahmoud, a resident of the neighbourhood.
    Mosul, the largest ISIS-controlled city in either Iraq or Syria, has been held by the jihadist fighters since they drove the army out of northern Iraq in June 2014.
    The city is already ringed to the north, south and east by Iraqi government forces and Kurdish peshmerga forces.
    Iraq's U.S.-trained Counter Terrorism Service breached Islamic State defences in east Mosul at the end of October and is battling to expand its foothold in the city.
    Residents of the neighbourhood expressed happiness at the arrival of the troops, hoping for an improvement of their living conditions.
    "We did not have life (under Islamic State control). As if we are out of a prison when you arrived. We were prisoners with no water, no electricity and no food. We had nothing. Thank God you came today now and everything will be available again," said Ahmed Zaydan Mahmoud, a resident of the neighbourhood.
    But Islamic State still holds other parts of the northern city, carries out suicide bombings and fires rockets from positions nearby -- the sound of the ongoing fighting could be heard in the area.
    With food and water in short supply, life remains far from normal in in the liberated neighbourhoods, even if Islamic State is on the back foot in Mosul after more than two years of brutal rule.
    "My aunt died yesterday from a mortar shelling. Life has almost come to a halt. There is no work, no water and no electricity. Life was so hard. Thank God we are relieved now,'' said a resident of the neighbourhood.
    Islamic State fighters in Mosul are dug in among more than a million civilians as a tactic to hamper air strikes. They are moving around the city through tunnels, driving suicide car bombs into advancing troops and hitting them with sniper and mortar fire.
    The offensive to take Mosul started on October 17 with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition. It is turning into the most complex campaign in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
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