Five months after Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city was liberated from ISIS in a nine-month long battle, residents have returned to the destroyed city to rebuild their lives. After more than two years of ISIS occupation, savage fighting and airstrikes, the city is in ruins. Despite the damage residents have hastily returned and managed to setup temporary shops, homes and services to help bring the city back to life. In West Mosul, home to the Old City, more than 32,000 homes were destroyed and a recent report from the U.N. estimates repairing Mosul’s basic infrastructure will cost more than $1 billion and take years to complete.
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Family members watch on as a bride and groom leave their house to be married in West Mosul.
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Men dance and sing from a car as they celebrate a wedding in West Mosul.
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Children enjoy a train ride at the Mosul Amusement Park.
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A man selling iPhones talks to customers at his street store in East Mosul.
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A shop owner fixes the hair of a mannequin at a women’s clothing store in East Mosul.
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Women shop at a clothing store in East Mosul.
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A man stocks women’s clothing at a shop in East Mosul.
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A father sits with his son to watch a local soccer game in East Mosul.
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Children walk to school past destroyed cars in West Mosul.
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A woman walks past a destroyed building in an outer neighborhood of the Old City in West Mosul.
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Civilians carry their belongings on a destroyed street in an outer neighborhood of the Old City in West Mosul.
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volunteer looks for useful medical items inside the destroyed Salam Hospital in Mosul, Iraq.
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Men pray during Friday prayers in West Mosul.
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People shop at the Prophet Younis market in East Mosul.
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A store owner waits for customers at the Prophet Younis market in East Mosul.
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A man sells vegetables inside the Prophet Younis market in East Mosul.
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Men smoke water pipes during a power outage at a cafe in East Mosul.
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Security forces patrol outside the busy Prophet Younis market in East Mosul.
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