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Iraqi forces retook Qaraqosh from ISIL late last year, but for residents finally returning home, the ordeal continues.
Claire Thomas | Battle for Mosul, ISIS, Iraq, Middle East
The Batlos family fled Qaraqosh more than two years ago, when ISIL fighters captured the city. They recently returned home for the first time, only to discover their town in ruins.
As the battle rages to retake Mosul, the last Iraqi stronghold of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, members of Iraq’s Christian minority have started returning to the recently liberated town of Qaraqosh.
The Batlos family, who are Assyrian Catholics, fled Qaraqosh on August 6, 2014, after Kurdish forces warned them that ISIL would soon seize the city. Leaving all of their belongings behind, the family travelled to nearby Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region.
In December 2016, less than two months after Iraqi forces retook Qaraqosh from ISIL, the Batlos family returned home to discover large areas of the town in ruins, with no power or water supply. The threat of hidden improvised explosive devices planted by ISIL fighters continues to loom large.
“We are still scared here,” Haitham Zeia Batlos told Al Jazeera.
Adnan Mati, 37, stands on the roof of his home, which was hit by an air strike during the battle to retake Qaraqosh from ISIL. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
In the heart of Qaraqosh, Camel Batlos Shamon, 75, and his family walk along the desolate streets towards their home, passing by the ruins of once-beautiful houses destroyed by air strikes. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
Shamon’s wife, Mary Batlos, looks through some of the things left behind by ISIL, fighters who occupied and destroyed her home. ‘I have no money to restore the house,’ she said. ‘We are waiting for the government to compensate us.’ [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
The family’s belongings were strewn across the floor throughout the house. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
On the roof of their house, Mary Batlos picks up a makeshift bed that was used by ISIL fighters. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
Without support from the Iraqi government, and with the city’s infrastructure still in tatters, the family has little hope of returning permanently to live in Qaraqosh in the near future. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
Shamon said that he believes the home where his family lived for more than 40 years was occupied by two ISIL families. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
The family now faces the task of clearing and restoring their houses, and removing all evidence of the fighters. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
Among what was left of their belongings, the family discovered that all of their religious ornaments had been decapitated. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
Haitham Zeia Batlos and his sister, Amira Zeia Batlos, search for Christmas decorations to salvage for their rented home in the Kurdish city of Erbil. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
Every room in their Qaraqosh home had been destroyed by ISIL fighters. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
Directly opposite their home was a large house that was part of a network of tunnels created and used by ISIL. Rooms were filled with displaced earth to hide it from the view of coalition airplanes. ‘I am very scared because the tunnel is so close to our house,’ said Amira Batlos, noting she was afraid that ISIL fighters may still be using the tunnels. [Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera]
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2017/01/iraqi-christians-return-isil-wreckage-170105103644833.html