When Iraqi forces finally retook Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the terrorist group ISIS this summer after a nine-month battle, they came upon scenes of horrible carnage.
The fighting had reduced buildings to rubble, streets were littered with the burnt-out remains of cars and strewn with dead bodies, and the city’s liberators found starving families who’d huddled for weeks in basements to escape the gunfire.
ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) had controlled the city since 2014, subjecting residents to its brutal rule and punishing opponents with torture or death. The battle to push ISIS out of Mosul killed more than 40,000 civilians and forced nearly a million others to flee.
Iraqi forces finally retook Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the terrorist group ISIS this summer. This defeat came after a nine-month battle. When Iraqi troops went into the city, what they saw was horrific.
The fighting had reduced buildings to rubble. Streets were littered with the burnt-out remains of cars and scattered with dead bodies. The city’s liberators also found starving families who’d huddled for weeks in basements to escape the gunfire.
ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) had controlled the city since 2014. The terrorist group subjected residents to its brutal rule and punished opponents with torture or death. The battle to push ISIS out of Mosul killed more than 40,000 civilians and forced nearly a million others to flee.