Mosul: The leaning minaret of Mosul in northern Iraq has been restored using its original brickwork, years after it was reduced to rubble under Daesh group rule.
The Al-Hadba or “hunchback” minaret is part of the historic Al-Nuri Mosque from where former IS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in July 2014 declared his “caliphate” that committed atrocities across swathes of both Syria and Iraq.
The mosque and minaret were destroyed in June 2017 during the battle to oust Daesh from Mosul, and Iraq’s authorities accused the jihadists of planting explosives before their withdrawal.
The minaret and mosque are the latest landmarks in Mosul to be restored by United Nations heritage body UNESCO, whose teams have worked for five years to revive several sites there.
The Al-Hadba minaret of today is an exact replica of the old one, “built with the same bricks,” said Abdullah Mahmoud of the Iraqi department of antiquities.
“Al-Hadba is our identity, and by restoring it, the identity of the city has been reclaimed.”
The restored minaret’s tilt has been retained at 160 centimeters (63 inches), just as it was in the 1960s.
However, engineers have reinforced the foundations so it no longer leans quite so precariously, as it began to do gradually after being built in the 12th century.
“The minaret’s body from the inside needed 96,000 new bricks,” Mahmoud said.
“But for the exterior we used 26,000 old bricks” to preserve its historical legacy.
’Massive change’
Days before work was completed, hundreds of workers put the finishing touches to Al-Nuri’s columns, dome and yard.
Mahmoud said the mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of Makkah, has been largely repaired using its original stones.
But the minbar, from where sermons are delivered, has lost most of its original pieces.
Across the street, Imad Zaki, a former muezzin at the mosque, said: “Every day I stand here for an hour to watch as they are restored to their original state.”
“Today one can feel the spirituality. It’s as if our souls have finally found peace,” added the 52-year-old, wearing a long traditional Iraqi abaya, or robe.
Eighty percent of Mosul’s old city was destroyed in the fight against IS, and more than 12,000 tons of rubble was removed for the UNESCO restoration project, which also included Al-Tahira and Our Lady of the Hour churches and 124 heritage houses.
The Al-Tahira Church, dating from 1862, has been rebuilt with its arcades, embellished pillars and stained-glass windows.
During restoration, workers discovered an underground cellar and large jars once used for wine. It now has a glass ceiling so visitors can look inside.
Maria Acetoso, senior project manager at UNESCO Iraq, said the project aimed “to work in parallel on meaningful monuments for the city and also to bring life back” to Mosul.
“When I arrived here in 2019 it looked like a ghost city,” Acetoso said. “In five years plus, there has been a massive change.”
In Mosul on Wednesday, UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay hailed her team’s efforts and said on that the renovation had allowed “the identity of the city” to return.
Scars of battle
After IS was defeated, life returned to the city’s streets, where the chatter of patrons in small cafes blended with the clatter of construction work at the mosque.
In the coming weeks, Iraqi authorities will inaugurate the restored landmarks.
But Mosul still bears scars from the ferocious fight against IS.
Tucked away in narrow old city alleyways are ruined houses. Some bear the word “safe” scrawled in red on walls, signalling that they that have been cleared of explosives.
The crumbling walls and shattered windows tell tales of displacement. Their original owners, mostly Christian, have yet to return.
Mohammed Kassem, 59, came back to the old city a few years ago, to a new house as his former home was just debris.
Mosul still “needs a great deal” of work before it is back to normal, he said.
“It needs its former residents... the Christians to come back. This is their place,” Kassem added.
Across the street from Al-Nuri Mosque, Saad Mohammed, 65, said he hoped the restoration efforts will attract visitors to Mosul, although he still feels sad because of what it has lost.
But he couldn’t help but smile when he looked up at the minaret from his little shop.
“We opened the window once and saw the black IS flag on top of the minaret. Then we opened it again and the minaret was gone,” said Mohammed, who never left Mosul, even at the height of the fighting.
“Today the minaret has risen again, alongside the mosque and the churches. Now we feel safe,” he said.
Iraq’s famed ‘hunchback’ of Mosul rebuilt brick by brick
https://arab.news/v4647
Iraq’s famed ‘hunchback’ of Mosul rebuilt brick by brick
- The mosque and minaret were destroyed in June 2017 during the battle to oust IS from Mosul
- Minaret and mosque are the latest landmarks in Mosul to be restored by United Nations heritage body UNESCO
King Abdullah II urges UK’s PM Starmer to push for Gaza ceasefire reinstatement
- The British premier thanked King Abdullah for his country’s leadership and work towards a political solution
AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah II called on the international community to take urgent action to halt Israel’s attacks on Gaza and reinstate a ceasefire during a phone call with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday.
The king also urged the need to resume aid deliveries to Gaza, warning of the worsening humanitarian crisis, Jordan News Agency reported.
Reiterating Jordan’s firm opposition to any displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, King Abdullah warned against continued attacks on Palestinians and violations of Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.
Discussing Syria, the King Abdullah also reaffirmed Jordan’s support for the Syrian Arab Republic’s unity, sovereignty and stability.
Starmer highlighted his deep concern about the renewed Israeli military action in Gaza and the lack of humanitarian aid to the enclave, a statement from Downing Street said.
The British premier thanked King Abdullah for his country’s leadership and efforts aimed at a political solution to the Israel-Palestine crisis.
He welcomed the Arab plan for Gaza and commended the efforts of Jordan and regional partners in developing it. The leaders agreed to continue urging Israel and Hamas to return to the ceasefire.
Starmer said that the UK remained a strong partner to Jordan and the two leaders agreed to keep in close contact.
45 killed in Sudan paramilitary attack in North Darfur: activists
- The aid group gave a “preliminary list of the victims of Al-Malha massacre” blamed on RSF
KHARTOUM: A paramilitary attack killed at least 45 civilians in North Darfur’s Al-Malha area, according to an initial toll shared by activists Saturday.
The local volunteer aid group, known as a resistance committee, in the state capital El-Fasher, gave a “preliminary list of the victims of Al-Malha massacre” blamed on the Rapid Support Forces, with 15 people still unidentified.
Fatah urges Hamas to relinquish power to safeguard ‘Palestinians’ existence’
- “Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men,” Al-Hayek said
GAZA CITY: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement called on its Islamist rivals Hamas Saturday to relinquish power in order to safeguard the “existence” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men,” Fatah spokesman Monther Al-Hayek said in a message sent to AFP from Gaza. He called on Hamas to “step aside from governing and fully recognize that the battle ahead will lead to the end of Palestinians’ existence” if it remains in power in Gaza.
In Turkiye, mass protests give vent to long simmering anger
- “Some young people are being politicized for the first time in their lives,” said Yuksel Taskin, a lawmaker from the main opposition CHP
- The move sparked a wave of protest which spread within 48 hours to more than two-thirds of Turkiye’s 81 provinces
ANKARA: The massive street protests gripping Turkiye may have been triggered by the arrest of Istanbul’s popular opposition mayor but they reflect a much broader sense of frustration, observers say.
“There is a great anger. People are spontaneously taking to the streets. Some young people are being politicized for the first time in their lives,” said Yuksel Taskin, a lawmaker from the main opposition CHP.
Wednesday’s arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s most powerful political rival — came just days before the CHP was to formally name him their candidate for the 2028 presidential race.
The move sparked a wave of protest which spread within 48 hours to more than two-thirds of Turkiye’s 81 provinces, even including strongholds of Erdogan’s ruling AKP such as the central area of Konya, as well as Trabzon and Rize on the Black Sea.
Despite a ban on protests and a heavy police presence on the streets, huge crowds of protesters have taken to the streets, including many university students who are not normally seen as politically engaged.
The protests are the biggest in Turkiye since the massive demonstrations of 2013, which began at Istanbul’s Gezi Park to protest its demolition and spread across almost the entire country.
“The feeling of being trapped — economically, socially, politically, and even culturally — was already widespread,” Kemal Can, journalist and author of numerous books on Turkish society told AFP.
Imamoglu’s arrest, he said, had sparked a strong reaction, “especially among young people worried about their future in a country where freedoms are increasingly restricted. It’s a reaction that goes well beyond Imamoglu.”
“We’re the children of the ‘raiders’ who have now grown up,” reads a slogan carried by many young protesters, using an old-fashioned term that Erdogan coined for the 2013 Gezi Park protesters when he was prime minister.
“This is not only about the CHP, but about everyone. The question is whether Turkiye will live under an authoritarian regime or be a democratic country,” said Ilhan Uzgel, who handles the party’s external relations.
In a bid to highlight the non-partisan nature of the protest movement, the CHP has invited all Turks, not just party members, to join its symbolic primary vote on Sunday when Imamoglu is to be named the party’s presidential candidate.
“We are determined to hold this primary although (the government) is trying to block it. But it will go ahead,” insisted Uzgel.
The pro-Kurdish opposition DEM, the third party in parliament, has also thrown its support behind the protests which have taken place for three nights in a row outside Istanbul City Hall.
“By using the judiciary, they are trying to reshape the opposition in order to consolidate the regime,” explained DEM lawmaker Ibrahim Akin.
DEM is regularly accused by the government of having ties with the banned Kurdish militant PKK, which is blacklisted by Ankara as a terror group.
But in recent months, the Turkish government has sought to end the decades-long conflict and last month, jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan urged his fighters to lay down their weapons and disband.
“For several years, the government has sought to split the opposition, or keep it tied up with internal issues. It has succeeded several times. But this time, the opposition has thwarted this strategy,” said Can.
For Gonul Tol of the Washington-based Middle East Institute, the government’s efforts to “drive a wedge” between DEM and CHP through its peace overtures toward the PKK had clearly failed, after DEM came out strongly against Imamoglu’s arrest.
“The government now seems to be seeing how long this wave of discontent will last, hoping to weaken it through pressure, protest bans and arrests,” said Can.
“If the opposition gives in to threats from the authorities who are accusing it of provoking the street, and gives the impression its determination has weakened, the government will increase the pressure,” he said.
“The coming days will be crucial.”
Sudan’s army says it seized key buildings in Khartoum after retaking the Republican Palace
- The army also retook the headquarters of the Central Bank of Sudan and other government and educational buildings in the area, Abdullah said
- Hundreds of RSF fighters were killed while trying to flee the capital city, he said
CAIRO: Sudan’s military on Saturday consolidated its grip on the capital, retaking more key government buildings a day after it gained control of the Republican Palace from a notorious paramilitary group.
Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah, a spokesperson for the Sudanese military, said troops expelled the Rapid Support Forces from the headquarters of the National Intelligence Service and Corinthia Hotel in central Khartoum.
The army also retook the headquarters of the Central Bank of Sudan and other government and educational buildings in the area, Abdullah said. Hundreds of RSF fighters were killed while trying to flee the capital city, he said.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF.
The gain came a day after the military retook the Republican Palace, the prewar seat of the government, in a major symbolic victory for the Sudanese military in its nearly two years of war against the RSF.
A drone attack on the palace Friday believed to have been launched by the RSF killed two journalists and a driver with Sudanese state television, according to the ministry of information. Lt. Col. Hassan Ibrahim, from the military’s media office, was also killed in the attack, the military said.
Volker Perthes, former UN envoy for Sudan, the latest military advances will force the RSF to withdraw to its stronghold in the western region of Darfur.
“The army has gained an important and significant victory in Khartoum militarily and politically,” Perthes told The Associated Press, adding that the military will soon clear the capital and its surrounding areas from the RSF.
But the advances doesn’t mean the end of the war as the RSF holds territory in the western Darfur region and elsewhere. Perthes argued that the war will likely turn into an insurgency between the Darfur-based RSF and the military-led government in the capital.
“The RSF will be largely restricted to Darfur ... We will return to the early 2000s,” he said, in reference to the conflict between rebel groups and the Khartoum government, then led by former President Omar Al-Bashir.
At the start of the war in April 2023, the RSF took over multiple government and military buildings in the capital including the Republican Palace, the headquarters of the state television and the besieged military’s headquarters, known as the General Command. It also occupied people’s houses and turned it into bases for their attacks against troops.
In recent months, the military took the lead in the fighting. It reclaimed much of Khartoum and its sister cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North, along with other cities elsewhere in the country. In late January, troops lifted the RSF siege on the General Command, paving the way to retake the palace less than two months later.
The military is now likely to try to retake the Khartoum International Airport, only some 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) southeast of the palace, which has been held by the RSF since the start of the war. Videos posted on social media Saturday purportedly showed soldiers on a road leading to the airport.
The war, which has wrecked the capital and other urban cities, has claimed the lives of more than 28,000 people, forced millions more to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country. Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll.
The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups.
