By Isabel Coles — In some parts of Mosul, you can almost forget that a war is being waged over the city between Iraqi forces and the IS, which still controls more than half of it. As Iraqi forces prise away more and more of the IS’s largest urban stronghold, a semblance of normality is returning to eastern districts that were retaken in the campaign that began nearly three months ago. But reminders of the conflict and the militants’ legacy are never far away. “We are trying to forget,” said 19-year old Wisam, slicing meat off a skewer to serve a customer in the Zuhour neighbourhood.
“It will take time — some things have got inside our heads.”
Around his stall, the market was bustling with people enjoying the freedom to walk around undisturbed by the Hisba, which enforced IS rules and punished infractions with fines and flogging.
Young men ran after a ball on a soccer pitch, some wearing shorts, which were forbidden under IS.
Occasionally, the militants themselves came to play, prompting everyone else to flee in fear of being caught in the crosshairs of coalition planes targeting IS, said 22-year old Osama, who runs the pitch.
Under militant rule, matches had to stop at prayer time and players only ever had one eye on the ball, Osama said. The other eye was on the street, in case an IS patrol drove past.
There is still a mark where a mortar bomb tore through the synthetic turf, and only shards of glass remain in the window panes after a car bomb exploded nearby when Iraqi forces retook Zuhour in November.
The municipality has resumed work, but much of its equipment was damaged by IS, which converted some of its vehicles into car bombs, so authorities are borrowing them from other provinces.
At a busy intersection, workers were digging up the road to fix a water pipe damaged by an air strike. A taxi drove past, its passengers singing along to loud music and dancing in their seats.
“It’s an indescribable feeling,” said a man in the front seat, who comes from a district recently retaken by the security forces. “I can’t express it”.
Some vehicles still fly white flags to identify their passengers as non-combatants, and the crow of cockerels is interrupted by bursts of sustained gun fire and the thud of artillery — audible from the front line further forward.
Thousands are still fleeing clashes in the city and for them, life is far from normal.— Reuters
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