By CGTN's Toby Muse
Iraqi forces are confident they will be able to push ISIL out of Mosul within days.
But the militant group is not going down without a fight, striking back at Iraqi forces on the cusp of retaking the country’s second-largest city.
An Iraqi Federal Police soldier on a tank in the ISIL occupied Old City district where heavy fighting continues in Mosul, Iraq on July 4, 2017. /VCG Photo
The Iraqi army general overseeing the operation says that ISIL has less than 400 fighters trapped in Mosul’s Old City. once controlling this whole city, the militant group has been reduced to just one square kilometer. And ISIL is losing territory fast.
Revenge suicide attacks
Yet ISIL has showed it can still deliver mortal attacks. A female suicide bomber killed a number of fleeing civilians and a policeman in Mosul. The Iraqi authorities hope they can stop these attacks with intelligence from the population.
Authorities estimate that once ISIL is defeated in the city it will take two months to restore basic services, such as electricity and water. And then will begin the mammoth task of rebuilding.
Iraqi students return to University of Mosul freed from ISIL
With ISIL nearly flushed out of what was Iraq’s second-largest city, residents are trying to rebuild and seek some normalcy.
The University of Mosul was one of the region’s finest universities, before ISIL used it as a military barracks. Now free of the group’s control, students have returned.
However, many faculties have to be rebuilt before study can begin again. Every day, students pitch in with whatever is needed.
“We are cleaning our university because we want to study here and the university is important for Mosul,” said Ali Abdullah Mehid, a student.
Like the rest of Mosul, the university has emerged from three years of ISIL rule. Here and elsewhere in the city, you can see Iraqis’ determination to move forward but also just how big a task that will be.
Troops patrol the university, alert for any ISIL terror attack. In the meantime, the students are helping bring their beloved university back to life. It’s the ultimate victory over ISIL.
