Displaced Iraqis eager to return home as troops vow to retake Mosul in months

In Erbil city, capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, the Baharka Camp hosts thousands of people who fled Mosul two years ago. And, finally, their return is drawing near, or perhaps so.

In recent days, the Iraqi forces have vowed to retake the country's second largest city from the hands of the Islamic State (IS) militants by the end of the year, and begun to ask the displace Iraqis to register their names for their return.

"I register my name without hesitation when they come to me," said Jamila, a woman in her 50s who left Mosul in June 2014 when the IS group overran much of the town and sent troops and residents on the run.

She slowly put back two pairs of shoes on the shelf of a local shoe and grocery shop for she was almost penniless. "I left everything in my hometown, and life become miserable since that day," she said.

The shop owner, Walid, is also one of the crowds who ran for life as the extremist fighters waged the invasion.

"My family has five big shops and five houses in Mosul before the militants came," he said, adding that "one of my brothers was killed years ago by al-Qaida, so we decided to escape Mosul before the IS controlled it."

"Life is hard here, but is worse for my relatives and friends who chose to stay in Mosul," he said.

Over the past almost two years, the Iraqi army has tried to roll back. It has managed to reclaim a number of key cities and towns, including Ramadi, the capital of the country's largest province of Anbar. And the pro-Baghdad forces have been determined to march on.

On March 26, the Iraqi army, supported by the international coalition, Kurdish forces and tribal militia, launched military operations against the IS militants who controlled several villages in the district, about 60 km south of Mosul. They liberated three villages and rescued almost 3,000 people who were ruled by the IS for nearly two years.

For Sayed, a 26 years college student in Mosul, life over the past two years in the city was excessively hard and displayed the dark side of humanity.

In the summer of 2014, he was caught in the fight between the IS and government troops when he just returned to the campus from vacation. He was trapped in a local village called Kirbirdary, which soon fell to the hands of jihadists.

Earlier this month, the village was liberated by the army and the young man was transferred to a camp for the displaced where he told his stories.

"They (IS militants) did not allow government employees and teachers to work in the village and they taught kids at school themselves. They used bullets and guns to teach kids to learn numerals instead of pictures, and forced students at the fifth grade to learn how to use machine guns and make roadside bombs," Sayed said.

"Some people living in other towns tried to sneak into our village waiting for the army's rescue, but were killed by mines and roadside bombs planted on the road by the IS," Sayed said.

Staff from Barzani Charity Foundation that manages Dibaga Camp said many people living in the IS-controlled areas suffered malnutrition due to lack of food and mental illnesses as they lived under fear for far too long.

The International Organization of Migration office in Iraq released a report in February, which identified more than three million internally displaced (IDPs) Iraqis from Jan. 1, 2014 through Feb 4, 2016. And the number of the IDPs surged in the northern and western provinces due to ongoing military operations.

The Iraqi government and Kurdistan authorities have called on the international community to provide aid for these people and more for reconstruction in their hometown in the future.

As the battles raged on, the Iraqi troops now seem confident in taking back the strategic city.

Earlier, the top commander of the army in this operation General Najim Abdullah Al-Jubury said "Mosul is the most important city held by the IS in Iraq which provides them with oil, tax and other resources. After we liberate Mosul, the IS in other parts of Iraq will collapse," he said.

However, Marjor General Gary Volesky of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army, which provides key support for the Iraqi troops in the anti-IS campaign, cautioned that the closer they get to Mosul, the harder the battles would be.

There were also worries coming out of the Iraqis, complaining that the offensive on Mosul was rushed while the troops were still busy in Anbar province.

Source: XINHUA