The Mechanics of Mosul

It had been an intense week of fighting in Mosul, as the Iraqi Army declared the Al-Noori mosque liberated from ISIS, and the conflict reaches its close in the surrounding districts. But while over 650,000 of the city’s inhabitants had fled their homes since the start of the offensive, a group of mechanics had stayed behind – risking their lives to give their help to what would be the slow reconstruction of Mosul, and commence the arduous work of fixing the thousands of cars that had been destroyed during the war. “Mortars, snipers and air strikes have destroyed 90 per cent of the cars in this city,” said Ali Fathi Hamid, 29. “Under Daesh, I had no work. Everyone was suffering. Now I should have more work but nobody has any money, so it’s still very difficult because nobody can afford to pay me. There are a lot of things in Mosul that need fixing.”