The day after

The battle for Mosul is finally over with a major win not only for Iraq, but also for the other countries of the region and the world.

The victory of Iraq over the tyranny and savagery of Daesh took many months and a heavy toll.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi was right in calling the recapture of Mosul as the beginning of the end for Daesh, after the first bullet in the military campaign to retake the city had started last October. 

These gains in Mosul usher in a new era in Iraq on the road to completing the liberation of the entire country from Daesh and its followers.

Then — and only then — would Iraq be completely free and reborn on the ashes of the last few years of bloodshed and destruction.

Millions of Iraqis have been affected by the Mosul campaign. Hundreds of thousands of them became internally displaced, but those were the lucky ones, as many others were held in the city by force and had to endure much suffering, death and destruction.

Those who stayed behind had to withstand the worst of the last few months of street-to-street fighting until D-day finally arrived.

Yet, the battle for Mosul will not be truly complete until the city and its residents recuperate from the wounds of the war.

It will take billions of dollars to rebuild Mosul, as practically all its infrastructure has been reduced to rubble.

The war’s scars on the personal lives of the people of the city, especially women and children, will need years of psychosocial rehabilitation to heal.

For this reason, the international community must invest heavily in the reconstruction of Mosul and the rehabilitation of its people.

The bricks and stones that were destroyed can eventually be repaired. It is human suffering and the psychological scars of the war that will take years to heal.