Iraq reopens historic mosque in Mosul 8 years after Islamic State destruction

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister presided over the official reopening of the historic al-Nuri Grand Mosque and its leaning minaret in the heart of Mosul’s Old City Monday, eight years after the mosque was destroyed by militants from the Islamic State group.

For some 850 years, the leaning minaret of the mosque stood as an iconic landmark. In 2014, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the so-called “caliphate” there by delivering a Friday sermon and leading prayers.

The militant group later destroyed the mosque by detonating explosives inside the structures as it faced defeat in a battle with Iraqi military forces for control of the city in 2017.

UNESCO, the U.N.’s scientific, educational and cultural organization, worked alongside Iraqi heritage and Sunni religious authorities to reconstruct the minaret using traditional techniques and materials salvaged from the rubble. UNESCO raised $115 million for the reconstruction project, with large shares coming from the United Arab Emirates and the European Union.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that the reconstruction of the mosque “will remain a milestone, reminding all enemies of the heroism of Iraqis, their defense of their land, and their rebuilding of everything destroyed by those who want to obscure the truth.”

“We will continue our support for culture, and efforts to highlight Iraqi antiquities, as a social necessity, a gateway to our country for the world, an opportunity for sustainable development, and a space for youth to innovate,” he said.

At its peak, IS ruled an area half the size of the United Kingdom in Iraq and Syria and was notorious for its brutality. It beheaded civilians and enslaved and raped thousands of women from the Yazidi community, one of Iraq’s oldest religious minorities.

In addition to the mosque, war-damaged churches were rebuilt as part of the reconstruction project, aiming to preserve the heritage of the city’s shrinking Christian population. Sudani said the city of Mosul embraces all of its communities and “embodies all the characteristics of Iraq’s diverse society.”

U.N. investigators have said that IS militants committed war crimes against Christians in Iraq, including seizing their property, engaging in sexual violence, enslavement, forced conversions and destruction of cultural and religious sites.

Most of Mosul’s small population of Christians fled when IS launched its offensive in 2014. In 2003, Mosul’s Christian population stood at around 50,000. Today, fewer than 20 Christian families remain as permanent residents in the city, although some who resettled in the semi-autonomous Kurdish area of northern Iraq still return to Mosul for church services.

The reconstruction project in Mosul could serve as a model for restoring other cultural sites in war-torn areas — including neighboring Syria, which is starting to emerge from nearly 14 years of civil war after the fall of former President Bashar Assad last year.