The Beginning of the End: The Battle and Aftermath of Mosul

The Beginning of the End: The Battle and Aftermath of Mosul

By Hailey Lawrence

  

October marks the official beginning of ending ISIS influence in Iraq for once and for all.  While the battle seems to be a confirmed victory, there are still multiple messes that the world will have to clean up after Iraq is rid of ISIS.

Displaced children walk through Mosul. Millions will be refugees.

 Mosul is the last remaining ISIS stronghold in Iraq. According to officials, the full ground assault will begin at the end of the month but final operations and preparations have been going on for awhile. On October 15, troops will begin the push towards Mosul.

The troops involved include the Iraqi military that have been training with US forces for the past two years for this battle. Their numbers are large--roughly 45,000 men, according to The Guardian. On the opposing side, ISIS is believed to have 5,000 to 8,000 members ready to make their last stand. The battle is an obvious victory, but the fate of Iraq after ISIS is removed from it is the lingering question.

The victory over ISIS is a great accomplishment; the mess left over from so many years of destruction is the hard part of the fate of Iraq. First, it is believed that there will be a large refugee crisis. According to The Guardian, there will be an estimated 1.3 million refugees coming from Mosul alone. Those refugees will need to recover from two years of destruction and given the circumstances, it can either be good or bad.

“When you have one million people you have to be precise with each attack; it requires really good intelligence that will slow things down. Anyone who says it is going to take two weeks or two months does not know. We will see early on when the process has started, but we do not want to end up like Ramadi with 80% of the city destroyed, and then mass unemployment because that is a breeding ground for terrorism. You could just end up with a more brutal version of (Isis).” According to an Iraqi security official.

The Battle of Mosul will not be a quick battle; it has to ensure the safety of a million people. Those people will be heavily dependent on others to help reconstruct their society for the first time in two years. It is projected that 500,000 people will seek shelter in Kurdish territory while another 500,000 people will flee to Iraqi military occupied areas, according to The Guardian. UNICEF spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah estimates that 700,000 people will be in desperate need of shelter and life saving assistance. With an aide efforts program that is underfunded by 13 million dollars, supporting all the refugees will be tricky.

The future of Iraq in a post-ISIS world will be a big adjustment. It will need all the support it can get, but for now the beginning of the end starts now with the upcoming battle of Mosul. 

For more information of the upcoming battle, click here

For more information about refugees and how you can help, click here