VOA Special Report

Voices from Mosul

When Islamic State militants swept into Mosul in 2014, conditions in the northern Iraqi city were so bad some residents believed IS rule could bring stability and prosperity. Their hopes were quickly, brutally dashed. Now, nearly three years later, Iraq’s prime minister has declared victory. While it may still be some time until the last of the fighting is truly over, the key question may be will the Iraqi government do any better in the aftermath of victory than its foes, or will another extremist force – be it tribal, ethnic, or sectarian – once again gain the upper hand.

Looking to Mosul's Future Amid Extreme Violence

As Iraqi forces poise themselves to win the battle for Mosul city in the coming days or weeks, some locals fear that when this war is over, rebuilding infrastructure will not be enough to end more than a decade of extremist brutality and build a lasting peace.

Under the Islamic State

Police officer

As IS militants face off with Iraqi forces in Mosul, former local police officers in areas controlled by IS are rounded up and many are killed.

Student

Ali and his mother, Iman, tell why he could never join IS, no matter how dangerous it was to stay out.

Internet provider

Bilal Ahmed, 27, tells how he kept his neighborhood online through beatings and threats for nearly two years.

Teacher

For two-and-a-half years, Nathir Bashir, an Arabic language teacher, followed orders that started out benign and morphed into terror.

Mother

In the summer of 2014, Khalifa, then a 20-year-old Yazidi mother of one 3-year-old son, was kidnapped by Islamic State militants and sold as a sex slave.

Father

Abu Yousef arrived at this camp, with his wife and four small children in tow. He settled into the relative safety of a camp that has gone from empty to overflowing in just two weeks.

“Don’t try to imagine what it was like here back then. It was terrifying. But half of Mosul was using the Internet when IS got here, and they didn’t have the capacity to ban everything.”

Bilal Ahmed,
Internet provider

The future

Revenge or Reconciliation — The Future of Mosul

Iraqi government has no detailed plans for post-IS Mosul, but will need to move fast

The history

The Pearl of the North Has Been Fought Over For Centuries

Tribes, races, religions and empires all fought in terrible cycles of conflict, revenge and retaliation

Islamic State in Mosul

A Reign of Terror in Mosul

Declaring a caliphate from the Grand Mosque was an act of subversion and audacity aimed at both the West and rival al-Qaida

Mapping the fight

June 2014: ISIS seizes Mosul

Oct. 2016 - May 2017: Coalition forces battle to reclaim Mosul

The long battle to reclaim Mosul

When the offensive to retake Mosul began in October 2016, Iraqi and coalition forces swiftly overran many IS-controlled towns and villages surrounding Mosul. But in Iraq’s densely-populated second city, the battle was waged one neighborhood at a time as survivors hid in basements or fled.

Click through the maps to see the progress of the conflict, then click on the red pins to watch Heather Murdock’s frontline reporting.

Nov. 3, 2016

Map key

VOA video reports from
Heather Murdock

ISIS controlled
Contested neighborhood
ISF controlled
KDP-Peshmerga Control
Armored army unit
Mechanized army unit
Brigade
CTSCounter Terrorism Service
FPUnspecified Federal Police Unit
ERDEmergency Response Division
PMUIraqi Shi'a Militias
TBMTurkish-backed Sunni Militia
ISTAnti-ISIS Sunni Tribal Fighters
PESHPeshmerga

Source: Institute for the Study of War

Broken But Carrying On

Mosul Residents Repair IS-desecrated Graves

In the Shadow of War: Building Business on a Broken Bridge

Unlikely Survivor in Post-Islamic State Wasteland: Olive Trees

Recent VOA headlines

Reporting from the front

Portrait of Heather Murdock VOA Cairo Bureau chief Heather Murdock is an award-winning reporter currently covering the Middle East and North Africa for Voice of America. She has worked as a foreign correspondent for VOA as well as Bloomberg News, AP, Time.com and others. She is the author of “Everything is Possible in Yemen: The misadventures of a first time journalist in the Middle East.”

Portrait of Jamie Dettmer Jamie Dettmer covers the Mideast and Europe for VOA. A frontline reporter, he has also previously run news bureaus in Washington, Moscow, the Middle East and Europe, and has worked for Newsweek, Daily Beast, The Hill, The Times of London and others.