Iraqi forces on Thursday retook the town of Hatra, southwest of Mosul, on the third day of an operation that saw them wrest back a nearby UNESCO-listed ancient city, a statement said. Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary forces said they had flushed the Islamic State group out of Hatra, which lies 120 kilometres (80 miles) … Read more
Iraqi pro-government forces said Wednesday they had seized the UNESCO-listed ancient site of Hatra from the Islamic State group, the latest archaeological jewel to be wrested from the jihadists’ grip. Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary forces fighting IS around Iraq’s second city Mosul said they had “liberated the ancient city of Hatra… after fierce clashes … Read more
Iraqi forces on Tuesday launched a fresh push southwest of Mosul to retake the Hatra area, which includes a UN-listed World Heritage site, a statement said. The operation marks the latest phase of an offensive launched by the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary forces in parallel to the main assault on Mosul begun six months … Read more
Smoke rises from a neighbourhood in west Mosul, during an offensive by the Iraqi forces to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters on March 24, 2017 Air strikes carried out in recent days have killed dozens of civilians in west Mosul, where Iraqi forces are battling jihadists, officials said on Saturday. Bashar … Read more
Seven countries and an American donor on Monday pledged $75.5 million (70 million euros) to a UNESCO-backed fund aimed at protecting the world’s cultural heritage against war and terrorism. French President Francois Hollande hosted the gathering at the Louvre museum in Paris of influential art patrons and world leaders at the initiative of the UN … Read more
A sea of tents stretches to the horizon at a camp for displaced near Mosul but Ahmed Hassan says he and 17 relatives have to sleep outside because there is no room. Tens of thousands of civilians have poured into camps set up around Mosul as Iraqi forces battle to retake the city from Islamic … Read more
It was once home to priceless archaeological treasures, but these days you get into Mosul museum in Iraq’s second city via a gaping hole in the basement. In the darkness lies a pile of rubble — all that remains of two ancient Assyrian statues of winged bulls, smashed to pieces by Islamic State group jihadists. … Read more
Crawl through a labyrinth of narrow tunnels in near total darkness and suddenly they appear: two great winged bulls dating from the Assyrian empire found intact under the ground of Mosul. But as fighting rages to evict the Islamic State (IS) group from the main city in northern Iraq, it will be a race against … Read more
Iraqi security forces recaptured the Mosul museum, where Islamic State group militants infamously filmed themselves smashing priceless artefacts, police said on Tuesday. Iraqi forces “recaptured the archaeological museum,” Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat said in a statement, without specifying when this occurred. The museum was on a police list of sites recaptured from IS during … Read more
Iraq announced on Tuesday that its forces have retaken the provincial government headquarters and a second bridgehead from the Islamic State group in west Mosul. The operation to retake west Mosul — IS’s largest remaining urban stronghold — was launched on February 19, but the advance had slowed in the face of several days of … Read more
A mother-of-two sobs as she carries her young son down a street in war-torn Mosul following heavy clashes today between the Iraqi Army and ISIS. Iraqi forces have taken more territory in the west of the city from the jihadists as the number of people fleeing the city reaches 45,000. Since launching an offensive on … Read more
The city of Mosul is intertwined with human history, tracing its roots to 4,400 years ago when civilisation rose in fabled, fertile Mesopotamia. Today, as Iraqi forces backed by an international coalition inch forward in their fight to recover Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) group, historians are looking at how to save, repair or … Read more
As Iraqi forces fight to take back Mosul from the Islamic State group, archaeologists trained by the British Museum are preparing for another battle — trying to save what they can of the city’s heritage. One of the world’s leading institutions for the study of ancient Iraq, the London museum has been training Iraqi experts … Read more
Some 900 people have fled the Iraqi city of Mosul and crossed the border into Syria, the UN refugee agency says. This is the first large group of civilians confirmed to have escaped since the Iraqi government began its offensive to liberate Mosul from the so-called Islamic State (IS) on Monday. Up to 1.5 million … Read more
Kurdish forces are rolling in from the east The EU should be prepared for returning jihadists if the so-called Islamic State (IS) is driven out of its Iraqi stronghold, Mosul, an official warns. Security Commissioner Julian King said even a small number of militants would pose “a serious threat that we must prepare ourselves for”. … Read more