Incredible trip to Mosul, the caliphate devastated by ISIS and now embraced by the Pope

MOSUL (special correspondent) .- The blades of the MI17 military helicopter, Made in Russia and not quite modern, from the 70s they start to move. The noise is deafening when the device carrying a pool papal flight reporters take off from airport Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Fate is Mosul, the city which for three years, from 2014 to 2017, was the capital of the caliphate proclaimed by the Fundamentalist terrorist group Islamic State (IS).

Today, a little over three years after the reconquest and liberation of Mosul and the defeat of this extremist and brutal group, after the destruction, barbarism, death, massacre, rape, desecration, not only of churches, but also of mosques, the Argentine pope walked and embraced this martyred city, symbol of terrorist fury, in one of the most shocking moments of its historic tour of Iraq. And he spoke of peace, hope, reconstruction, reconciliation. “Brotherhood is stronger than fratricide, hope is stronger than death, peace is stronger than war,” he recalled.

During the 50-minute flight from Baghdad to Erbil, Salvatore Scolozzi, the “guide” of the delegation, gives journalists a new accreditation issued by the authorities of the Kurdish autonomous region. It will serve us for this last day of the papal tour, dedicated to this region of the north of the country, particularly devastated in recent years by IS. And very different from the central-south zone of the country, where the first two days were concentrated. The oil wealth of this region is noticeable by looking down on Erbil. It’s a much more modern city than Baghdad, full of skyscrapers, surrounded by refineries visible by their tongues of fire.

Salvatore also gives a select group of journalists – for logistical reasons, not all of them can make it to Mosul – special pink cards. “It has to be in plain view,” he recommends. Mine is H1; This means that I will get on the military helicopter thus identified, which carries 12 reporters.

We take off at 7.48. Operate the device Mustafá Alkhazalli, one of the three officers top guns Iraqis dressed in classic aviation uniforms accompany us. We are not flying high – as long as the cell phone signal continues to work – and we see cultivated fields, some green, which contrast with the desert area surrounding Baghdad. Of course, we flew over the famous Nineveh Plain, populated with very low concrete houses, peasants raising sheep and goats. Some refineries are also visible. This region of Iraq – Iraqi Kurdistan – is swimming in oil and that’s why there are strong tensions not only with the Iraqi central government, that it does not support its autonomy – we can see it at the border between the two zones, the checkpoints -; but also cwith neighboring Turkey and Iran. Countries just beyond the snow-capped mountain range that can be seen in the distance, where pro-Iran militias are hiding who also have destabilizing interests.

Only 22 minutes pass and we start to land in Mosul, city ​​that is not really considered part of the autonomous region of Kurdistan, which stands on the west bank of the Tigris, 465 kilometers northwest of Baghdad. During its history, this city was a symbol of Iraq’s plural identity, thanks to the coexistence, within the walls of its old town, of various ethnic, linguistic and religious groups. Mosul was also called “The city of the prophets”, for the tombs of five Muslim prophets or the “city of two sources”. Until it is occupied and overwhelmed by ISIS in June 2014, In its old part, it had beautiful medieval architecture, with Islamic, Christian and Ottoman buildings.

None of this already exists. As the sound of the helicopter continues to be deafening – we land – we begin to see that one of the bridges over the Tigris, with clear blue water, is destroyed. Upon landing at the military base on the outskirts of the city, everything is neat, cleaned again to receive the illustrious guest, like the avenues through which he will pass, adorned with welcome posters and flags of Iraq and the Vatican. But get closer to the historic center the change is brutal. Dozens of buildings no longer exist. They are only mountains of rubble, stones, rubble. Among the posters welcoming Pope Francis there are broken walls, holes, machine guns, bombardments. The desolation is absolute. Most shocking is the skeleton of what the driver of the van that takes us to the center tells us it was a hospital. This is only the material part of the destruction left by ISIS.

The city, which in 2014 had 1,846,500 inhabitants and today does not even have half of them, he was systematically devastated by his extremist madness. Christian churches, mosques, even the Awn ad-din mausoleum, and part of an ancient wall in Nineveh, the Assyrian city that arose here in 6000 BC, were destroyed before being freed in July 2017 after a nine-month siege, IS even razed the mosque of Mur ad-din, a symbolic place of the caliphate.

The destruction of Hosh-al-Bieaa, the square of the four churches – Syrian Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox and Chaldean is also savage. This is where the Pope arrives at 10 a.m. The sun beats, there is a festive atmosphere, girls dressed in white, singing a welcome song, a hundred people, among whom, many Muslims, with olive branches, the speakers sing a hymn performed in their honor. We can also hear the “zlghouta”, the traditional and ancestral ululation of the women of this corner of the earth, produced with the tongue, as a sign of joy.

Francisco, received by the people among the ruins like a true hero, is seen moved, shocked. How not to be? Just think that in 2004, Dabiq, the ISIS magazine, put on its cover an image of its black flag of its group flying over St. Peter’s Basilica.

Before singing a suffrage prayer for the victims of the war, Francis talks about “So inhuman storm” who fell here, where ancient places of worship were destroyed and thousands and thousands of people, Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and others, were expelled or killed. Speak of peace, forgiveness, reconciliation, reconstruction. And he shares his thoughts in a prayer he says in Italian, immediately translated into Arabic: “If God is the God of life, and he is, we are not allowed to kill our brothers in his name. If God is the God of peace, and he is, we are not allowed to wage war in his name. If God is the God of love, and he is, we are not allowed to hate our brothers ”.