References
1 Mostafa Ahmad Hassan conducted local research. Hana Nasser contributed significant research support and editing.
2 RISE Foundation, Post-ISIS Mosul Context Analysis (Erbil: RISE Foundation, 2017), https://rise-foundation.org/selected-reports/.
3 For a more detailed description of some of forces like the PMF, or the Ninewa Guards Force, see the Annex in the Background Literature Review. Erica Gaston, Andras Derzsi-Horvath, Christine van den Toorn, and Sarah Mathieu-Comtois, Backgrounder: Literature Review of Local, Regional or Sub-State Defense Forces in Iraq (Berlin: Global Public Policy Institute and American University of Iraq, Sulaimani Institute of Regional and International Studies, 2017), http://www.gppi.net/publications/peace-security/article/literature-review-local-regional-or-sub-state-defense-forces-in-iraq/.
4 UN Habitat, City Profile, 21.
5 Given the lack of recent census data, it is difficult to find accurate data on the ethnic composition of Mosul. For a more detailed description of these estimates, see Ibid., 21; Knights, How to Secure, 6.
6 UN Habitat, City Profile, 77. As of 2017, the population of East Mosul is approximately 400,000. From 1990 to 2003, the east underwent many demographic changes. Prior to 1990, about two-thirds of all Mosul city residents lived on the river’s right bank, in West Mosul. However, due to the Iraq-Kuwait war, residents began migrating to East Mosul, which led to the urbanization of the area. Many of Mosul’s minority populations are clustered in East Mosul.
7 “Sunni Rebels Declare New ‘Islamic Caliphate´,’’ Al-Jazeera, June 30, 2014, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/isil-declares-new-islamic-caliphate-201462917326669749.html; Martin Chulov and Kareem Shaheen, “Destroying Great Mosque of al-Nuri is ISIS Declaring Defeat,” Guardian, June 22, 2017, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/21/mosuls-grand-al-nouri-mosque-blown-up-by-isis-fighters.
8 Campbell MacDiarmid, “Mosul University after ISIL: Damaged but Defiant,” Al Jazeera, January 26, 2017, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/01/mosul-university-isil-damaged-defiant-170120090207277.html. Mosul University is one of the largest universities in the Middle East, with historically among the strongest reputations for academic centers in Iraq. It was destroyed and looted under ISIL; UN Habitat, City Profile, 77. Mosul is also home to several significant, ancient archeological sites, including the Ancient City of Nineveh, Nirgal Palace Gate, and Kuyunijak hill, many of which have also undergone significant damage.
9 Liz Sly and Ahmed Ramadan, “Insurgents Seize Iraqi City of Mosul as Security Forces Flee,” Washington Post, June 10, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/insurgents-seize-iraqi-city-of-mosul-as-troops-flee/2014/06/10/21061e87-8fcd-4ed3-bc94-0e309af0a674_story.html?utm_term=.48864f63a718.
10 “Terror’s New Headquarters,” The Economist, June 14, 2014, https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21604160-iraqs-second-city-has-fallen-group-wants-create-state-which-wage-jihad; Ned Parker, Isabel Coles and Raheem Salman, “Inside the Fall of Mosul,” Reuters, October 14, 2014, http://www.pulitzer.org/files/2015/international-reporting/reutersisis/01reutersisis2015.pdf. Estimates vary of the number of fighters, particularly as some reports suggest that many Sunni Mosul residents, harassed and persecuted under the Maliki régime and local Shi’a authorities, took up arms and joined the ISIL invaders.
11 Martin Chulov, “ISIS Insurgents Seize Control of Iraqi City of Mosul,” Guardian, June 10, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/10/iraq-sunni-insurgents-islamic-militants-seize-control-mosul.
12 Parker et al., “Fall of Mosul.”
13 Andrew Kramer, “Iraqi Military Extends Control in Northern City,” New York Times, June 1, 2008, query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html; Department of Defense, Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 2009).
14 Ned Parker, Isabel Coles, and Raheem Salman, “Special Report: How Mosul Fell — An Iraqi General Disputes Baghdad’s Story,” Reuters, October 14, 2014, www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-gharawi-special-report-idUSKCN0I30Z820141014; Suadad al-Salhy and Tim Arango, “Sunni Militants Drive Iraqi Army Out of Mosul,” New York Times, June 10, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/world/middleeast/militants-in-mosul.html.
15 Parker et al., “Fall of Mosul.”
16 Tim Arango, “Iraqis Who Fled Mosul Say They Prefer Militants to Government,” New York Times, June 12, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/13/world/middleeast/iraqis-fled-mosul-for-home-after-militant-group-swarmed-the-city.html.
17 Knights, How to Secure, 13.
18 Fazel Hawramy and Peter Beaumont, “Iraqi Kurdish Forces Take Kirkuk as ISIS Sets its Sights on Baghdad,” Guardian, June 12, 2014, www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/12/iraq-isis-kirkuk-baghdad-kurdish-government.
19 RISE Foundation, Post-ISIS Mosul.
20 Among the most prominent of these, a US airstrike in March killed an estimated 200 civilians in West Mosul. Human Rights Watch, Iraq: Civilian Casualties Mount in West Mosul (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2017).
21 Amnesty International, Iraq: Battle between US-Led Coalition, Iraqi Forces, and Islamic State Creates Civilian Catastrophe in West Mosul (London: Amnesty International, 2017). Amnesty International criticized Coalition forces for not adapting their fighting techniques to account for the high civilian density in West Mosul. According to AI, the civilian death toll would have been lower had Coalition forces used less powerful and more precise weaponry.
22 Stephen Kalin, “Mosul Basic Infrastructure Repair Will Cost Over $1 Billion: UN,” The Wire, June 7, 2017, https://thewire.in/154854/mosul-infrastructure-repair-billion-un/.
23 BBC Global News (Radio), “Iraq PM formally declares Mosul victory,” July 10, 2017.
24 Ibid.
25 Tim Arango and Michael R. Gordon, “Iraqi Prime Minister Arrives in Mosul to Declare Victory over ISIS,” New York Times, July 9, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/09/world/middleeast/mosul-isis-liberated.html.
26 RISE Foundation, Post-ISIS Mosul, 2.
27 When visited during the field research in March 2017, East Mosul had comparatively less damage than areas visited in Bartella and in Qaraqosh.
28 After the liberation of East Mosul, reports indicate that life mostly returned to normal. Vendors returned to their shops, and schools and universities were reopened; see “Lipstick and Dresses Return to Mosul’s Streets,” BBC, May 22, 2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39525749; Alice Fordham, “Life Inches Back to Normal in East Mosul, but Worries Remain,” NPR, February 18, 2017, http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/02/18/515823146/life-inches-back-to-normal-in-east-mosul-but-worries-remain. Tens of thousands of those displaced from East Mosul returned to the area in early February 2017; see Dilshad Abdullah, “Displaced Iraqis Leave Camps as Smoke Clears in East Mosul,” Al Monitor, February 15, 2017, www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/02/mosul-iraq-khazir-hassan-sham-displaced.html.
29 Interview, 3/2/2017, Erbil.
30 RISE Foundation, Post-ISIS Mosul, 12.
31 The RISE foundation noted that some key informants alleged that former members of Shi’a PMF groups, from outside Ninewa governorate and still loyal to the Badr Organization, had joined the new police recruits, although it could not confirm these statements. Ibid., 13.
32 This figure is based on tracking conducted by the US Diplomatic Mission to Iraq and was shared with the members of the research study.
33 Not many TMF units were operating at a level where they could be deployed to other areas, according to those involved with them, but some of the older units had this capacity.
34 This information is based on tracking conducted by the US Diplomatic Mission to Iraq, and shared with the members of the research study.
35 Human Rights Watch, Iraq: Fallujah Abuses Test Control of Militias (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2016); Human Rights Watch, Iraq: Protecting Civilians Key to Mosul Battle (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2014).
36 “Rights Group Says Ban Militias with Record of Abuses from Mosul Battle,” Reuters, June 31, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-rights-idUSKCN10B06Z;
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, “Trump and the Final Battle of Mosul,” The Huffington Post, March 3, 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-and-the-final-battle-of-mosul_us_58b9b489e4b02b8b584dfb29; RISE Foundation, Post-ISIS Mosul, 17.
37 The RISE Foundation also reported, “Whilst PMF forces have not been directly involved in the fighting to retake Mosul from IS, many have begun to develop a presence in the city as security actors in retaken areas,” including manning checkpoints with other ISF forces. RISE Foundation, Post-ISIS Mosul, 17.
38 Ibid., 12.
39 Ibid., 18.
40 Renad Mansour, “After Mosul, Will Iraq’s Paramilitaries Set the State’s Agenda?” The Century Foundation, January 17, 2017, https://tcf.org/content/report/mosul-will-iraqs-paramilitaries-set-states-agenda/.
41 RISE Foundation, Post-ISIS Mosul, 19.