By Al-Fassel | 2024-09-04

The "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) rampaged through northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, beginning a three-year reign of terror that still haunts many Iraqis.

The extremist group beheaded, tortured and enslaved civilians, banned music, burned books and punished perceived wrongdoers by stoning them and cutting off their fingers or hands.

Though US-backed Iraqi forces vanquished the group in 2017, the destruction it left behind lingers on.

In June, the United Nations (UN) cultural agency, UNESCO, discovered five bombs ISIS had planted in Mosul's historic al-Nuri mosque.

The "large-scale explosive devices, designed to trigger a massive destruction of the site," were found in a prayer hall wall, a UNESCO representative told AFP.

UNESCO has been restoring al-Nuri mosque and other heritage sites in Mosul that ISIS reduced to rubble. The mosque restoration, largely funded by the United Arab Emirates, is expected to be completed in December.

This will finally erase "the stigma" of ISIS occupation, UNESCO said.

Visible scars

Mosul residents still bear the sometimes visible scars of the ISIS era.

Azad Hassan, now 29, recalled the morning in 2015 when ISIS elements cut off his hand in punishment for feuding with a member of the group.

Hassan's brother and three other relatives were killed by the group.

"They wanted to break me, but they lost," he said. "I now go to university, play football and drive. But the scar is still here."

ISIS also came for the family of Judge Ahmed Hureithi, detaining his father and two brothers, and later beheaded the youngest, age 17, "with a sword."

"They published pictures," said Hureithi, 60. "They were proud of such acts."

A decade on, the pain is raw in places like the largely abandoned village of Solagh in Ninawa province's Sinjar district.

"Out of 80 families, only 10 have come back," local resident Bassem Eido told AFP in the desolate village, once famed for its flourishing grape vines.

"The rest say there are ... no homes to shelter them. Why would they return?"

Mass graves

Many did not survive the ISIS era.

The UN estimates ISIS left behind more than 200 mass graves that might contain as many as 12,000 bodies.

In Tal Afar, around 70km west of Mosul, Iraqi authorities in July announced they have removed the remains of 139 people from the Alo Antar hole -- a natural desert feature ISIS turned into a mass grave.

Searches for other victims at the site, both men and women, are ongoing.