'We cleared the rubble with our bare hands': Mosul rises from the ruins

Iraqis rejoice as city shattered by IS reopens 850-year-old mosque in time for Ramadan

- Marta Bellingreri

In the small courtyard of Sara's grandmother's house, children are running and playing as if time had never passed. "The house kept our memories," Sara says, sitting on the sofa of the courtyard. "It seems like we never left. On the contrary, when we came back, we felt we belonged to this house."

Located in the old Iraqi city of Mosul, right behind the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, their home is part of the local cultural heritage. It was heavily damaged during the occupation by Islamic State (IS) and the battle to reclaim the city by Iraqi Armed Forces, backed by US coalition airstrikes. Sara and her family were forcibly displaced during the fighting in 2017 and for many years feared they would never see their home intact again.

"It was amazing when we could step in," Sara says. "The neighbourhood has changed a lot, but it's still very beautiful and we're optimistic that more and more neighbours will resettle in their home town."

Most of these old houses have been restored, thanks to a Unesco-led project called Revive the Spirit of Mosul, which includes the renovation of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri and other sites. "Most of our family members are employed here in the reconstruction of the city," Sara says. "Life is still precarious, but we hope that 10 years after Daesh [IS] occupied our beloved city, it will only improve."

The mosque's leaning minaret, named Al-Habda or the hunchback, has been restored under Unesco's supervision and reopened last month. Built in 1172, it is 45m tall and decorated with ornamental brickwork along its cylindrical shaft and square base. The self-proclaimed caliph of the IS, Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi, inaugurated the "caliphate" from the pulpit inside the mosque in 2014.