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EXITING PANDEMONIUM

...Scroll down for pictures...

The people of Mosul have had a hell of a few years. With ISIS occupying their city and effectively holding them hostage since June 2014, they've not had the freedom to live normal lives in a long time. All manner of draconian laws were introduced (no smoking, no drinking, no TV, no internet, no mobile phones, no public appearance for women without their eyes, hands and feet covered as well as everything else) and rigorously enforced (with fines, whipping, cutting off hands and beheading).

With ISIS in active conflict since October, any public services and amenities that had been kept up broke down. There is now no water or electricity for many and food shortages for all. Those with any cash left are paying hugely inflated amounts for flour and sugar and fuel. Those without money are eeking out the little they have by eating flour soup and weeds. Anemia is rife, as are other illnesses associated with malnutrition. 

Being caught in the middle of a conflict like this is fraught with very difficult choices.    

There’s a very real threat to personal safety that goes with trying to leave Mosul. Civilians are very useful to ISIS, they don’t want them to leave and there are many verified cases where ISIS snipers have targeted them, killing people as they fled. One family identifies a pivotal point in deciding to leave as being the smell of the decomposing bodies of their neighbours under the airstrike rubble of the house next door.

And there's a very real threat to personal safety that goes with staying. Added to the hardship and oppression is the daily terror of suicide vehicles (widely used as weapons on the Frontline), mortars, the potential for an ISIS sniper to take up residence on your roof, and the knowledge that the Frontline is coming and slowly but surely it’s going to be your street under the airstrikes.

It isn't possible for people to take much with them when they leave, as most eventually do once the fighting reaches their neighbourhood or it is liberated. In order to get out it's often necessary to go on foot through areas of Mosul that have been badly damaged by airstrikes. Rubble and twisted metal block roadways that may be guarded by ISIS Snipers, children and babies need to be carried, especially when families have to run under fire. Material possessions take a back seat. 

On the way out, once through the active conflict zone, feelings seem mixed, there are tears, laughter, exhausted and stressed faces, happy and euphoric faces. Too many blank faces. Levels of optimism are astonishing. The realities of the situation absolutely heartbreaking. What’s not anywhere close to breaking is a palpable sense of community spirit. Everyone helps anyone they can. Sharing water, supporting the old, the young, the sick or injured, passing smaller children and the less able onto and off transport vehicles. Everywhere, helping hands are reaching out to do what they can. These citizens may have lost everything, but their dignity and humanity remain.

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Hey! We found your handcart!! Mosul, May 2017
Walking out of Mosul for the first time in almost 3 years. Mushaarifa, Mosul, Iraq, 7th May 2017
Women and children walking through the dust on their way out of Mosul - they haven't brought much with them, but the bird is ...
A family on the road out of Mosul. Iraq, 7th May 2017
The flow of people displaced by the battle for Mosul stretches into the far distance. Mushaarifa, Mosul, Iraq, 7th May 2017
Tears in the dust
A tired family makes it's way along a dusty dirt road on the way out of Mosul to avoid the conflict of the battle to reclaim ...
Three men help transport an old woman in a wheelchair on her way out of Mosul as they flee the conflict against ISIS. Mushaar...
A woman carries only water and her son as she escapes on foot from the battle for Mosul. Mushaarifa, Mosul, Iraq, 7th May 2017
A woman shields her mouth and nose from the dust as she walks away from her home, displaced by the battle for Mosul. Mushaari...
Happy to be out - a man carries a bag and his daughter as they walk away from ISIS rule and their home in Mosul. Mushaarifa, ...
A mother helps her daughter up when she trips over in the dust as they flee the conflict in mosul. Mushaarifa, Mosul, Iraq, 7...
Leaving Mosul on foot, a man pushes an old woman in a wheelchair. Mosul, Iraq, 7th May 2017
Loading IDPs from Mosul onto a truck to transport them to the nearest Muster Point. Mushaarifa, Mosul, Iraq. 7th may 2017
Women and their donkey pass an Iraqi Army Soldier on their way out of Mosul as they escape the conflict zone. Mosul, Iraq, Ma...
A boy on a donkey followed by a burkha clad woman with a white flag on their way out of Mosul to escape the conflict. Mosul, ...
A man holds an old woman in a cloud of dust kicked up by a passing tank. He has just helped her down from a truck in which sh...
Iraqi Soldier supports an old woman as she arrives at a field hospital having escaped from her home in Mosul. Mushaarifa, Mos...
Displaced people arrive at a field hospital and are loaded onto trucks to be transported to the closest Muster Point. Mushaar...
Passing a young girl down from the truck that picked these people up, after they had fled their homes on foot, and has brough...
People displaced by the conflict in Mosul being transported to an IDP Camp outside the city
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