In this part of the study we begin our conversation about the city of Mosul, because of the importance of this governorate and the large number of files and issues related to it. In the previous study, we dealt with several issues, the most important of which was the identity of Mosul, the nature of its inhabitants, and what was exposed to it in the period before and after the occupation of ISIS, and in this part, we will address several other matters, the most important of which are:
1- Ancient and historical monuments of the city:
Where the extremist organization destroyed most mosques, and shrines in Mosul, such as the mosque and the mausoleum of Sheikh Fathi, which dates back to 1050 AD, the mosque and the shrine of Sheikh Qadud al-Ban dating back to the year 1150 AD, the shrine of Imam al-Bahir dating back to 1240 AD, the shrine of Imam Yahya Abu al-Qasim, which dates back to 1240 and the shrine of Imam Aoun al-Din which dates back to 1248. ”
Also the prophet Yunus Mosque has been destroyed, which was built on an Assyrian hill and dates back to 1365 AD, in addition to the prophet Jerjes Mosque, which dates back to 1400 AD, and the prophet Shit Mosque dating back to 1647 AD.
Among the most important other landmarks that were detonated are the tomb of the historian Ibn al-Atheer al-Jazari al-Mawsili (1160-1232) and the statues of the poet Abu Tammam (803-845) and Othman al-Mawsili (1854-1923), the poet and scholar of the arts of music.
All of the important and unique monuments previously mentioned on the world level go back hundreds of years.
The extremist organization has also destroyed many other relics that have not been recorded and documented until this moment, such as the shrine of Imam Ibrahim, which dates back to the thirteenth century AD, the shrine of Imam Abd al-Rahman, the shrine of Abdullah bin Asim, grandson of Omar Ibn al-Khattab, and dozens of other shrines.
The matter that should be mentioned here is that this information is confirmed and reliable, and it is recorded by many people of the city in particular and by international organizations concerned with these matters in general.
And we do not forget that ISIS at its time took control of the Antiquities Museum in Mosul, which contains thousands of important and rare pieces, which were used by the organization as one of the sources of funding at that time, not to mention the antiquities that were smuggled in earlier times with governmental and political cover run by influential people in the country,
As for the Christian heritage in the city, Mosul includes among its flanks the most important and oldest churches in the world, such as the Shamoun Al-Safa Church, which dates back to the year 300 AD, the Mar Ahudini Church that dates back to 575 AD, and the Church of Al-Tahira, which dates back to 1250 AD, and includes about other 30 church dates back to 1500 years ago,
The fact that the reader and the follower of this matter is aware of, is that one of the priorities of this organization is to destroy, and there has not been such an insistence in history on destroying history in all its forms and transforming monuments dating back hundreds of years into rubble and stone.
Among these sites is the mosque and shrine of the Prophet Yunus, which is revered by Muslims and Christians alike, in addition to a large number of gravestones, mosques and statues that embody the rich history of this city, which have been turned into rubble.
In conclusion of the discussion on this topic and after we diagnosed everything that happened in the city and the parties that caused it, it is not hidden from anyone that what happened and is happening in Iraq and not so long ago is a systematic destruction of the country at all levels, a destruction that exceeds its size and planning to be a particular organization or a specific party. It is a destruction involving many partners from many sides.
2- The industrial sector in Mosul and its important position:
Mosul, which was once a center for global industries, has witnessed a remarkable deterioration in this sector since 2003, which is the date of the American intervention in the country and until 2014, the date of the extremist organization’s control of the city.
Today, after several years of liberating the city from the remnants of the extremist organization, the industry is still suffering. It cannot return to its previous state, of course, due to the lack of financial resources, but also the spread of products from foreign countries in the markets, which negatively affects this sector.
According to the World Bank, between 70 and 80% of those factories’ equipment were sold outside the country or converted to weapons.
Several factories have been abandoned due to a lack of raw materials, or due to the displacement of skilled workers to the camps. As for the demand, it decreased, as the population was thinking about survival,
Today, however, the security situation that the city is experiencing in particular and the surrounding areas, and the foggy reality in which Iraq lives, makes it difficult and almost impossible for this sector to recover.
To return to the golden age, if it is correct to say with regard to the industrial sector in the city, many economists stress the importance of establishing controls for importing goods from outside the country so that the local sector can play a small part of its role and restore the spirit to the factories in Mosul and that requires government support, infrastructure reform and providing a complete banking system “in a country that the World Bank classifies its banking system as” backward”
3- Mosul Dam:
The Mosul Dam is the largest Iraqi dam and the fourth largest in the Middle East region. It was built on unfit land for the construction of a dam of its size, which makes injection of support materials necessary to avoid the disaster of flooding entire residential areas beneath it.
Establishment:
The story of the construction of the dam goes back to the year 1950, when the Iraqi Reconstruction Council decided to establish it on the Tigris River at a site about forty kilometers north of Mosul.
But the political fluctuations in Iraq and the technical studies that were conducted on the proposed places, the structure of the dam and the components of its construction made its construction delayed until 1984 during the rule of the late President Saddam Hussein, who bore his name.
Its characteristics:
The Mosul Dam is the largest dam in Iraq, and the fourth largest in the Middle East, providing water and electricity to more than a million Iraqis.
The Mosul Dam was built on fragile soil that needs continuous support to strengthen it, to prevent it from collapsing and to prevent water flooding that reaches about twenty meters high, which is if explodes, it will be in the direction of the residents of nearby cities.
According to US sources, in 2007, the average capacity of the dam to generate electricity was 750 megawatts, which is enough to meet the needs of about 675 thousand homes.
While the volume of water stored in the Mosul Dam is about 12 billion cubic meters, which is allocated for drinking and irrigation of agricultural lands.
The Mosul Dam is 3.4 kilometers long and 113 meters high, and its construction cost about 37.7 million cubic meters of building materials.
As for the unfit land:
Although several consulting firms conducted many studies on where the dam was built, it was eventually built on unfit ground, making it a constant threat if it did not undertake regular treatment. According to a study prepared by the Swedish Technological University, “Luli”, the foundations of the dam are already weak, due to their salt components that are eroded due to their encounter with water, and then allow them to influence, causing the dam to collapse and increase the threat of its exploding, which has been exacerbated by the neglect and the ongoing battles since the American invasion in 2003.
According to Iraqi experts, an in-depth Russian study conducted prior to the construction of the dam decided conclusively that the place was not suitable for building a giant dam of the required size due to the quality of the land that was analyzed, and proved that it is exposed to melting due to the high pressure of water.
However, two French and Swiss companies submitted studies to the government at the time, in which they considered the area suitable for building the dam after making minor adjustments to its floor and treating it with special materials, setting a failure rate of about 15%, unlike the Russian report, whose failure rate exceeded 93%.
The Russian reports proved their validity a few months after the start of the operation of the dam after cracks and erosion occurred in the soil below its base, forcing the two implementing companies to remedy this through the cement injection process that has been taking place almost since 1986.
And if the dam collapses, God forbid, it is expected that it will take three hours for the first wave of floods to reach the city of Mosul. They also expect the flood waters to drown the cities of Tikrit and Samarra, south of Mosul, and the countryside of the capital, Baghdad, which will threaten millions of Iraqis, and cause losses along the 300 km in the direction of the downstream, except for the damage it will cause over the years to the agricultural, industrial and environmental future of the region.
Official sources are trying to reassure the population, and confirm that they have used high alarms and careful follow-up, and they record the indicators of the dam on a daily basis and submit it to an expert council that follows up on this matter.
And the government announced in February 2016 that it had brought in international companies to assess the situation of the dam and use modern methods to deal with the issue, and that engineers from the US Army were checking the state of the dam regularly.
Aid:
In February 2016, Turkey offered to Iraq to contribute to repairing the damages in the Mosul Dam, as a statement by Ankara’s ambassador to Baghdad stated that his country offered to the Iraqi government to provide assistance and support through specialized Turkish companies to deal with the situation of the dam, in coordination with the concerned authorities.
In late February 2016, the US embassy in Iraq called on the Iraqi government to empty the dam of water, confirming the occurrence of cracks in its walls.
However, the advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, Mahdi Rashid, commented on the US embassy’s statement denying the possibility of the Mosul Dam collapsing, stressing that it is operating normally.
We are satisfied with this discussion so far in order to complete the rest of the important and articulated matters in this governorate in the third part of the study.
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