Mosul (or Mosul, Arabic الموصل, DMG al-Mauṣil; Kurdish مووسڵ Mûsil ; Syriac-Aramaic :ܢܝܢܒ݂ܐ Nîněwâ ) is a city in northern Iraq on the right bank of the Tigris, about 350 kilometers north of Baghdad. It has approximately 2.9 million inhabitants (calculation of 2010) to Baghdad the second largest city in the country. Mosul is the capital of Ninawa Province, one of the disputed areas between the Kurdistan Region and the central government of Iraq. After Mosul's capture by the Islamic State in June 2014, she was the largest city in his hands. After the threat of a mass murder by the IS most of the Christian population left the city. In the battle for Mosul from 17 October 2016 to 9 July 2017, the city was completely reconquered by the coalition forces.
Mosul was a multiethnic and multi-religious city: Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians (also called Aramaeans and Chaldeans), Turkmens and Yazidis lived here. Since then, demography has changed in favor of the Arab population. Kurds blame the Arabization policy of Saddam Hussein, and Christian Assyrians and Chaldeans are responsible for the invasion of the Islamic State. Due to the uncertainty caused by the Iraq war in 2003, many people left the city. Christians in particular have left Mosul after targeted attacks. There is no exact statistic of the population living in the city today.
Mosul was first mentioned by Xenophon in his
expedition journals of 401 BC, during the reign of the Persian
Achaemenid dynasty in the region. There, Xenophon notes, there is a
small town "Mépsila" (Ancient Greek: Μέψιλα) on the Tigris River, in the
area where present-day Mosul is located (Anabasis, III.iv.10). Most
likely Xenophon's mention refers to a place called Iski-Mosul, or "Old
Mosul", located about 30 km north of modern Mosul, six centuries after
the records of the Greek historian, the Sasanian city of Bud-Ardashir
was built there. Be that as it may, the name Mepsila is undoubtedly the
root of the modern name of the city.
In its current form, the
name Mosul, or more precisely "Mawşil", translates as "junction" (or
"crossroads"). Mosul should not be confused with the ancient Assyrian
capital of Nineveh, which is located opposite Mosul on the eastern bank
of the Tigris, on the hills of Kuyunjik (Turk. sheep hill). This area,
better known as the city of Nabi Yunus ("Prophet Jonah"), today is one
of the districts of Mosul and is almost entirely inhabited by Kurds,
making it the most Kurdish district of the city. Here was the grave of
the biblical prophet Jonah, who lived and died in the then capital of
ancient Assyria.
Nineveh was captured and destroyed by the troops
of the Babylonians and Medes in 612 BC, so in 401 BC. Xenophon no longer
mentions her.
Mosul is also called al-Faiha ("heavenly"),
al-Khaḍrah ("green") and al-Hadbah ("humpbacked"), the "Pearl of the
North" and "the city of a million warriors".
Excavations have shown that the area around Mosul has been
inhabited for 8,000 years. The Bible states that Nineveh was founded
by Nimrod, the son of Cush.
Around 850 B.C. King of Assyria
Ashurnatsirapal II chose the city of Nimrud, which was located 30 km
from present-day Mosul, as his capital. Around 700 B.C. The famous
Assyrian king Sennacherib made Nineveh the new capital of Assyria.
Hill Kuyunjik on the other side of the river from Mosul became the
location of the palaces of King Sennacherib and his grandson
Ashurbanipal, who established a library there. Mosul later replaced
Nineveh as a foothold on the road that linked Syria and Anatolia
with Media. In 612 B.C. e. King of Media Uvahshatra the Great,
together with the king of Babylon Nabopolassar, conquered Nineveh.
Nineveh became part of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, following
the conquests of Alexander the Great in 332 BC. Little is known
about Mosul from the Hellenistic period, but it probably belonged to
the Seleucid satrapy of Mesopotamia, which was conquered by the
Parthian Empire in a series of wars that ended in 129 BC. the
victory of King Phraates II over the Seleucid ruler Antiochus VII
Sidet.
The city changed hands again with the rise of the
Sassanid dynasty in Persia in 225. In 637 (according to other
sources 641), during the period of the Arab caliph Umar ibn
al-Khattab, the city was annexed to the Righteous Caliphate.
Mosul received the status of the capital of Mesopotamia under the
Umayyads in the 8th century, when it reached the peak of prosperity.
During the time of the Abbasids, the city was an important trading
center due to its strategic location on the trade routes to India,
Persia and the Mediterranean. The Muslim general and conqueror of
Sind, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim al-Thaqafi, is believed to have died in
Mosul in the 8th century AD. At the end of the 9th century, the
Abbasid general Ishaq ibn Kundai and his son Muhammad seized control
of the city, but in 893 Mosul came under the direct control of the
Abbasids. At the beginning of the 10th century, Mosul came under the
rule of the local Arab Hamdanid dynasty. From Mosul, the Hamdanids,
under Abdallah ibn Hamdan and his son Nasir al-Dawl, extended their
control over the Jazeera for the next few decades, first as Abbasid
governors and later as de facto independent rulers. A century later
they were driven out by the Uqaylids.
In the XI century,
Mosul was conquered by the Turks - the Seljuks. After a period of
semi-independent Atabegs, it became the center of the Zangid dynasty
in 1127.
Sultan Saladin of Egypt unsuccessfully besieged the
city in 1182, but eventually gained control of it in 1186.
In
the 13th century, Mosul was captured by the Mongols, led by Genghis
Khan's grandson Khan Hulagu, but was spared the usual destruction in
such cases, because its governor, Badr al-Din Lulu, helped the khan
in his subsequent campaign in Syria. After the defeat of the Mongols
at the Battle of Ain Jalut against the Egyptian Mamluks, the son of
Badr ad-Din took the side of the latter, and this led to the
destruction of the city, which later regained some importance, but
never regained its original splendor. From now on, Mosul was ruled
by the Mongol dynasties of the Ilkhanids and Jalairids, and the city
escaped destruction by the Uzbek emir - the conqueror Tamerlane.
In 1535, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent annexed
Mosul to his empire, taking it from the Safavids. Although
Mesopotamia had been formally part of the Ottoman Empire since 1533,
by 1638 Mosul was still considered a stronghold of great strategic
importance, defending the approaches to Anatolia and the Syrian
coast. In 1916, a secret agreement was made between the French and
British governments, known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement. According
to him, Syria and the ridge of Lebanon came under the control of
France, and Mesopotamia (later - Palestine) - under the control of
the British military. Mosul was in the northern zone and would have
received French administration, but the discovery of oil in the
region in 1918 pushed the British government into another
negotiations with the French, as a result of which Mosul entered the
British zone of influence.
In October 1918, after the
Armistice of Mudros was signed, British troops occupied Mosul. After
the war, the city and its environs became part of the mandated
territory of Mesopotamia (1920-1932). This mandate was contested by
Turkey, which continued to claim the region on the grounds that it
was under Ottoman control at the time of the signing of the
armistice. Under the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, the dispute over
Mosul was left for further decision by the League of Nations. Iraqi
possession of Mosul was confirmed by the League of Nations and
through its mediation in 1926 an agreement was signed between Turkey
and Great Britain, according to which the former Ottoman vilayet of
Mosul became the province of Nineveh (Nineveh) of Iraq.
In November 2004, simultaneously with the attacks of the US and Iraqi
armies on the city of Fallujah, the battle with the rebels for Mosul
began. On November 10, militants carried out coordinated attacks on
police stations. The surviving police officers fled the city, leaving
Mosul without a police force for the next month. Shortly after Mosul was
occupied by the rebels, units of the US 25th Infantry Division and
coalition forces (mostly Albanians) went on the offensive and began to
gain a foothold in areas of the city. Most of the city was eventually
liberated from the insurgents, but Mosul has since been hit hard by
security threats (including military action, as well as killings of
civilians by insurgents and criminals), unprecedented levels of violence
(especially ethnically motivated), the continuous destruction of the
city's infrastructure , neglect and mismanagement of the occupation
administration.
In 2008, many Assyrian Christians (about 12,000)
fled the city after a wave of killings and threats against their
community. The murder of a dozen Assyrians, the threat that others would
be killed if they did not convert to Islam, and the destruction of their
homes caused the Christian population to flee the city. Some families
crossed the borders of Syria and Turkey, while others were given shelter
in churches and monasteries. All these events have deprived the city of
its historical, scientific and intellectual funds during the last 4
years /?clarification of the need/, when many scientists, professors,
academicians, doctors, medical workers, engineers, lawyers, journalists,
religious clergy (both Muslims and Christians), historians, as well as
professionals and artists in all walks of life, were either killed or
forced to leave the city under threat of being shot, just as happened in
other countries in Iraq in the years after 2003.
On June 4, 2014,
Mosul was attacked by ISIS militants (as predicted by the US Defense
Intelligence Agency and other sources) and fell on June 10, after six
days of fighting. The Islamic State expelled or destroyed most minority
groups and forcibly converted some Yazidi and Christian men to Islam.
Sharia law has been introduced in the city, women must cover their
bodies from head to toe, and men must grow beards and hair. Most Yazidi
women from and around Mosul are imprisoned and many have been killed or
sold as sex slaves. Islamic State (IS) militants executed more than 800
women in Mosul, Iraq, in a year and a half. Most of the victims were
shot by the terrorists after sentencing by the Sharia court established
by IS. Among the dead women are lawyers, notaries, various civil
servants, hairdressers, as well as candidates for councils of deputies.
The inhabitants of the city became de facto hostages, they were
forbidden to leave the city until they hand over all their property to
the Islamists. They were allowed to leave the city only after paying a
substantial "exit tax".
On January 21, 2015, the US launched
airstrikes in support of the Kurdish offensive to help the Peshmerga
launch the operation to liberate Mosul. That day, 5,000 Kurdish soldiers
liberated several villages near Mosul, amid disinformation that the
Iraqi army was preparing to attack the city. Peshmerga fighters began to
move towards the outskirts of the city. On January 22-23, 2015, US
aircraft intensified airstrikes on Islamist positions in the Mosul
region.
On January 27, ISIS launched a surprise attack in the
Kirkuk region in an attempt to distract Kurdish soldiers from Mosul.
However, the Peshmerga forces managed to stop the attack.
On Feb.
9, John Allen, the US coordinator for the international coalition
against ISIS, said the Iraqi army, backed by the coalition, would launch
a ground offensive "in the coming weeks" to retake Mosul. On February
10, it became known that the Peshmerga fighters are only 9-14 kilometers
from the center of Mosul, on the northwestern outskirts. However, the
Kurds stopped there, saying they were waiting for further orders to move
deeper into the city.
On February 17, Iraqi Colonel Masoud Salih
said that it would take at least 30,000 soldiers and at least 10 months
to liberate Mosul. In addition, he said that another Iraqi official
estimated the number of militants in the city at 12,000, and not at
30,000, as the Islamists themselves claimed.
On March 11,
Islamists threatened the people of Mosul through loudspeakers that they
would behead anyone who tried to leave the city. The announcement came a
day after US aircraft dropped leaflets warning of an impending military
confrontation and advising civilians to leave the city.
The
summer of 2015 did not bring the beginning of the offensive against
Mosul. On September 13, US Ambassador John Allen announced that Mosul
would be captured "within months". The Iraqi forces also announced that
they are currently training 20,000 soldiers to take back Mosul.
On Sept. 21, 90 US troops arrived at the Makhmur base, southwest of the Kurdish Iraqi capital of Erbil, to train, advise and assist Iraqi forces in preparing for the operation.
On March 24, 2016, the Iraqi military launched an operation to liberate
Mosul. On the same day, the Iraqi army liberated several villages from
ISIS.
On June 4, Kurdish militias stopped 30-40 km east of Mosul.
On July 9, the Iraqi army recaptured a strategic military bridge
located near the city of Kayyara. ISIS forces retreated towards the
city, blowing up the bridge and oil fields.
A new large-scale
attack on Mosul began early in the morning on August 14, the Kurds
managed to liberate seven villages southeast of Mosul from ISIS
militants.
On August 23, the city of Kayyara was liberated.
On October 16, 2016, the Iraqi military launched an assault on Mosul
and its environs. On October 18, the Iraqi military captured a suburb of
Mosul, 10 km from the city.
On October 21, 2016, ISIS militants
counterattacked the city of Kirkuk (located 140 km from Mosul),
occupying 7 city blocks. The prisoners were released from the local
prison. On October 22, the Iraqi army drove ISIS fighters out of the
city.
On October 31, 2016, the main forces of the Iraqi army were
located 1 km from Mosul. The advanced forces of the Iraqi army entered
Mosul.
On November 1, 2016, Iraqi Shia militias took control of
the Mosul-Raqqa highway, surrounding Mosul.
On November 4, 2016,
the Iraqi military liberated 6 eastern districts of Mosul. By December
28, 2016, the Iraqi army had liberated most of Mosul (40 out of 56
neighborhoods).
By January 23, 2017, the army had liberated all
of eastern Mosul, reaching the Tigris River. On February 19, the
offensive of the Iraqi army began on the western part of Mosul. Two
villages were occupied south of the airport. On February 23, the Iraqi
military liberated the Mosul airport.
On July 10, 2017, ISIS
fighters were completely driven out of Mosul.
According to the
UN, 15 of the 54 residential areas on the western side of the city were
almost completely destroyed and uninhabitable. In 23 more districts,
moderate damage was recorded, 16 districts were slightly affected. The
eastern part, liberated at the first stage, suffered to a lesser extent.
An analysis of satellite images shows that about 10,000 buildings were
significantly damaged or completely destroyed, mostly residential
buildings. If multi-storey buildings are multiplied by the number of
floors, then the destruction is estimated at 32 thousand units. The
famous An-Nuri Cathedral Mosque was completely destroyed. About 40
thousand people died, over 800 thousand became forced migrants.
Mosul has a hot semi-arid climate with very hot, almost dry summers
and cool, rainy winters. Mosul, although not at a very high altitude,
receives much more rainfall than much of Iraq. Rains here are almost
three times more than in Baghdad and Basra, although they are much
closer to the Persian Gulf. There is enough moisture for the cultivation
of wheat and barley. The Kurdish areas in the north are even wetter.
Snow has fallen three times in recent years: February 23, 2004,
February 9, 2005 and January 10, 2013.
Mosul was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious city: Arabs, Kurds,
Assyrians (also called Aramaeans and Chaldeans), Turkmen and Yazidis
lived here.
Demographics have since changed in favor of the Arab
population. Kurds blame Saddam Hussein's Arabization policy, and
Christian Assyrians and Chaldeans blame the invasion of the Islamic
State.
Because of the insecurity caused by the Iraq War in 2003,
many people left the city. Christians in particular have left Mosul
after targeted attacks. There are no exact statistics of the population
living in the city today.
Most of Mosul's residents are Sunni Muslims, with the majority of
them being Arabs and the minority being Kurds.
Mosul looks back
on a 1,600-year-old Christian tradition. Until recently, the city was
the seat of several archbishops of eastern churches of the
Syriac-speaking tradition (see also: Christians in Iraq). The cathedral
of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and also the oldest church in
the city is the Cathedral of St. Thomas from the year 640, less than 100
m from the church of the same name, St. Thomas of the Syrian Catholic
Church, which opened in 1863. However, the 17th-century Syrian Catholic
al-Tahira Cathedral (Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception) served as
the latter's cathedral, which was almost completely destroyed in 2017
but is due to be rebuilt. The Chaldean Catholic Church, in turn, had its
episcopal see in the medieval Mart Meskinta Church until it was moved to
the 18th-century Chaldean al-Tahira Cathedral in the 1980s.
After
the capture of Mosul by fighters from the ISIS or Islamic State group,
Christian residents were given the choice of either leaving the city,
converting to Islam or being executed. The vast majority of Christians
then left Mosul at the end of July, meaning that the city's Christian
tradition has temporarily come to an end. According to Archbishop Louis
Raphaël I Sako, there were still 25,000 Christians living in Mosul when
ISIS came to power, and according to the BBC there were even 35,000.
Syrian Catholic Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, who was
kidnapped on January 17, 2005, was released the next day without paying
any ransom. The Armenian church building was severely damaged by an act
of terrorism in 2004; At the beginning of 2006, Archbishop Avag
Asadurian received a promise from President Jalal Talabani and Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari that the church should be rebuilt. Near
Mosul, the Syrian Orthodox Church runs the St. Ephrem Seminary for the
training of priests and young church members. The current abbot is
Archbishop Mar Saverius Ishak Saka (* 1931).
On February 2, 2015,
Islamic State terrorists blew up one of Iraq's largest and oldest
Chaldean Catholic churches, the Church of the Virgin Mary, in Mosul. In
April 2016, the historic 19th-century Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady
of the Hour was destroyed.
One of the beautiful sights is the temple of the Yazidis "Lalesh",
the shape and texture of the domes of which symbolize the sun's rays
falling on the earth.
The glory of the city was brought by its
wide streets (the central Royal Street reached 26 m wide), the colossal
palace of King Ashurbanipal (VIII-VII centuries BC, its excavations form
the center of the modern archaeological site), the palace of Sennacherib
- the founder of the city, the famous the royal Kuyunjik library with a
huge collection of cuneiform tablets (archaeologists found over 30
thousand samples, it was here that the text of the poem about Gilgamesh
was first found), fortress walls with a total length of more than 12 km
with 15 gates, as well as numerous sculptural monuments (including the
famous statues winged bulls and lions that once adorned the city gates)
and a clear layout of city blocks (it is believed that this was the
first city in the history of mankind, created according to a single
urban planning scheme).
The famous English writer Agatha Christie
lived in Mosul while her second husband, an archaeologist, participated
in excavations at Nimrud.
The Umayyad Mosque:
the first in the city, built in 640 after the capture of the city by the
Arabs during the reign of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab. From the original
structure, a 52-meter minaret has been preserved, leaning like the
Leaning Tower of Pisa, and nicknamed Al-Hadba - “humpbacked”.
An-Nuri
Mosque: Built by Imad al-Din Zangi in 1172 next to the Umayyad Mosque.
Ibn Battuta (the great Moroccan traveler) described in his notes a
marble fountain and a mihrab.
Mujahidi Mosque: Dating back to the
12th century AD, it is distinguished by its graceful dome and
elaborately wrought mihrab.
Mosque of the Prophet Yunus (Jonah): was
located to the east of the city and included the tomb of the prophet
Jonah with the tooth of a whale that swallowed it. Completely destroyed
by ISIS in July 2014.
Mosque of the Prophet Jirjis (George): was
built in the XIV century on the cemetery of the Quraysh. Destroyed by
ISIS in July 2014.
Temple of the Prophet Daniyar (Daniel): A tomb
allegedly belonging to the biblical prophet Daniel was destroyed by ISIS
in July 2014.
Hema Kado Mosque: Ottoman-era mosque in the central
square, built in 1881 and officially named Abdullah ibn Chalabi Ibn
Abdul-Qadi Mosque. Destroyed by ISIS in March 2015
Mosul had the highest percentage of Assyrian Christians of
any Iraqi city outside the Kurdish region and retained several ancient
churches, some dating back to the first centuries of Christianity.
Ancient Assyrian churches are often hidden and the entrances in the
thick walls are not easy to find.
Monastery of Shamoun Al-Safa
(Saint Peter, Mar Petros): dates from the 13th century and is named
after Saint Peter (Mar Petros in Assyrian Aramaic). Previously, it bore
the name of the Apostles Peter and Paul and was inhabited by the nuns of
the Sacred Heart.
Church of St. Thomas (Mar Tuma): one of the oldest
historical churches, named after the holy Apostle Thomas, who preached
the Gospel in the East, including India. The exact time of foundation is
not known, but it certainly happened before 770, as it is mentioned that
al-Mahdi, the Abbasid caliph, listened to complaints about this church
on his trip to Mosul.
Mar Petion Church: Mar Petion was martyred in
446. This is the first Chaldean Catholic temple in Mosul, after the
conversion of many Assyrians to Catholicism in the 17th century. It
dates back to the 10th century and lies 3 m below street level. The
church often suffered from destruction and was rebuilt many times.
The ancient church of At-Taher (Immaculate Conception of the Blessed
Virgin Mary): dates back to the 7th century and lies 3 m below street
level. Reconstructed in 1743.
Church of the Miraculous Virgin, built
by the Dominicans in the 19th century. The clock tower of this church
was built with donations from Empress Eugenie, the wife of the last
emperor of France, Napoleon III.
Church of Mar Khudeni: named after
Metropolitan Mar Ahudemeh of Tikrit, who was martyred in 575. Dating
back to the 10th century, it is located 7 m below street level and was
first reconstructed in 1970. The well circuit in the churchyard is
believed to cure epilepsy.
Monastery of St. George (Mar Gurgis):
located north of Mosul, was probably built at the end of the 17th
century. The modern temple was built on the site of the old one in 1931.
Mar Matte Monastery: Located about 20 km east of Mosul on top of the
high mountain Maklub. It was built by Mar Matte, a monk who fled with
several other monks in 362 from the monastery of Zuknin near Diyarbakir
to northern Iraq during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate
(361-363). Has an invaluable library containing Scripture in Syriac.
Mar Benam Monastery: Built in the 12th or 13th century on a plain near
Nimrud, 32 km southwest of Mosul. The monastery was erected over the
tomb of Prince Mar Benam, who was killed by the Sassanids, possibly in
the 4th century AD. The legend made him the son of the king of Assyria.
Monastery of Saint Elijah (Deir Mar Ilyas): the oldest Christian
monastery in Iraq, dating back to the 6th century.
Monastery of
Rabbana Hormizda.
Bash Tapia Castle: was built
in the 12th century. The ruins of the castle overlooking the Tigris were
blown up by ISIS in 2015.
Kara Serai ("Black Palace"): the ruins of
the 13th century palace of Sultan Badr ad-Din Lulu.
Mosul Library:
Collection of Sunni Muslim Manuscripts, 265 Years Old Latin Church
Library, Dominican Monastery and Museum Library of Mosul. Among the
112,709 books and manuscripts were collections of Iraqi newspapers
dating from the early 20th century, maps, books and collections from the
Ottoman period, some of which were registered on the UNESCO rarities
list. The library was looted and destroyed by explosives on February 25,
2015.
Mosul Museum and Nirgal Gate: Statues and artifacts that date
back to the Assyrian and Akkadian empires, including artifacts from
Nineveh and Nimrud. A significant part of the exhibits was destroyed or
looted by ISIS