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On February 26, we fled Mosul because the fighting had reached our district and our house was near the front line," explains Hossam's father, Anis. "We were displaced several times in the city before we decided to leave, because life was just too hard. We took refuge in Qayyarah camp, to the south of Mosul. Life certainly wasnt easy there either, but at least we were safe. Until one day, Hossam was out playing with his friends at the camp and part of a wall fell on him and broke his leg.

Ten-year-old Hossam was rushed to the citys hospital, where he was operated on. A few days later, he met Khaled, one of Handicap Internationals physical therapists, but was still too weak to start rehabilitation sessions at that time. They transferred my son to a hospital in Hamdaniya. This hospital mainly treats people who need a lot of post-operative care. My son started his physical therapy sessions here with HI.

Stretched out on his hospital bed, time seems to pass by slowly for Hossam. He has lost interest in the coloring books and large ball that had kept him amused when he arrived three months ago. Curious and energetic by nature, the only thing Hossam is in a hurry to do is get out of his room so that he can run around outside and play with his friends. He also says hes looking forward to going back to school one of the things he misses most about what he calls his old life. The heavy plaster cast around his right leg makes that impossible, at least for now.

In the meantime, Hossam says he does his exercises every day. I really like doing them, it helps pass the time, he tells Mouna, a physical therapist with Handicap International. As the session comes to an end, Mouna asks Hossam what hed like to be when he grows up. The boy is silent for a few seconds and then replies enthusiastically: I think Id like to be an engineer, like my dad! Looking fondly at his son, Anis replies: All of that is a long way off yet. All we want to do right now is return home. I want to work again and rebuild my house. We want to pick up life where we left off.

MOSUL EMERGENCY

Fighting between armed groups and government forces in Iraq in recent years has displaced more than three million people. An estimated 11 million civilians already need humanitarian assistance in the country. The Mosul offensive has presented international organizations with an unprecedented challenge. More than 485,000 people have fled the city since last October.

HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL AND THE IRAQI CRISIS

More than 200,000 people have benefited from Handicap Internationals actions since the launch of its emergency operations in Iraq in 2014. Our actions are regularly reviewed to take into account a highly volatile situation across the whole of Iraqi territory. Handicap International currently organizes population protection activities, raises awareness of the risk from mines and conventional weapons, conducts non-technical surveys and clears potentially hazardous areas, provides physical and functional rehabilitation and psychosocial support, supports health centers, organizes training and advocacy, and provides technical support to partners to enhance the inclusion of vulnerable people (people with disabilities, casualties, older people, and others) within their services.

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We want to pick up where we left off - Reliefweb

Hundreds of jihadi militants have returned to France from Iraq and Syria, France's interior minister said on Sunday.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, Gerard Collomb said that an estimated271 radical Islamistswhofought for militant groups have returned from war zones after being members of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).

The figure is made up of 217 adults and 54 minors,some of whom are in French detention, and all of whom are under security services surveillance,Collomb told the paper. The minister could not provide a precise figure on how many French nationals had been killed in Iraq and Syria, but estimated that as many as 1,900 French nationals were involved in radical Islamist activities in Iraq and Syria, according to interior ministry data as of mid-2016.

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The minister said the threat of a militant assault on French soil remained "very high," with authorities foiling seven plots already this year. A key concern of the French counter-terror forces, he said, was a homegrown radical being directed "remotely" by ISIS or Al-Qaeda figures in the Middle East.

The country is battling the most serious case of homegrown extremism in the European Union, with around 15,000 suspected radical Islamists on the watch-lists of French authorities, overseen by the country's Counter-Terrorism Coordination Unit, with some 4,000 individuals at high risk of committing an attack.

Security serviceshave also prevented several female homegrown jihadis from carrying out attacks, in what represents a new dimension of the threat to the country's security. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said lastSeptember that "hundreds" of radicalized women could return from Iraq and Syria as ISIS continues to lose territory to ground forces backed by the U.S.-led coalition.

A soldier stands guard at the Eiffel Tower, Paris, November 15, 2015. The French Interior Minister said in a newspaper interview Sunday that hundreds of radical militants had returned to France. David Ramos/Getty Images

The country has borne the brunt of radical Islamist attacks in Europe, with several mass casualty attacks striking major cities since January 2015. As a member of the anti-ISIS coalition and one of the most liberal countries in the West, France is a top target for jihadi groups.

Shooting attacks on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in January 2015 were followed by an ISIS cell that launched a suicide bomb and shooting attack across the French capital in November 2015, killing 130 people.

Months after France fell under a state of emergency, which remains in place today, a Tunisian national plowed a high-tonnage truck into revelers watching the Bastille Day fireworks on the promenade of the southern city of Nice.

Several smaller attacks, such as the murder of a priest in northern France and the shooting of a policeman on Paris' famous Champs-Elysees avenue, have since taken place.

The failure of Francois Hollande's Socialist government, replaced by centrist Emmanuel Macron in June's election, to tackle security led to a corresponding surge in support for Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front party that spouted anti-immigrant and anti-Islam rhetoric.

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French Minister: Hundreds of Jihadis Have Returned From Iraq and Syria - Newsweek

JUL 30, 2017

Iraqi Military Forces launched airstrikes on ISIS positions near Iraqi-Syrian border, which destroyed weapons and munitions cache belonging to ISIS.

Iraqi Security Forces with the cooperation of civilians managed to arrest 12 ISIS who sneaked from the western side to the eastern side of Mosul by surrounding the areas of Summer, Palastin, and Yarmaja in Mosul city.

Popular Mobilization Forces

Repelled ISIS attacks in Risalah neighborhood located in Qahtaniyah west Sinjar district and Zawiyah Junction in Salah Al-Din.

Others: Three civilians got killed and four were injured due to an IED explosion in Raas Al-Jada area in the western side of Mosul city

JUL 31, 2017

Iraqi Military Forces

Launched airstrikes on ISIS positions in Tal Asfuk Port near Iraqi-Syrian border and near Hamdaniyah in Ba'aj district of Ninewa, other strikes were also launched on Alush village in Hawiga district of Kirkuk.

Found and cleared IEDs, and IED belts in a workshop in Mosul Al-Qadimah in Mosul. Popular Mobilization Forces

Repelled ISIS attacks in areas near Iraqi-Syrian border west of Ninewa and Zawiyah Junction in Makhoul Mountains in Salah Al-Din, which led to destroying lots of their vehicles.

Destroyed 3 VBIEDS in Ain Talawi village west of Telafar.

AUG 1, 2017

Iraqi Military Forces launched an airstrike on the eastern neighborhoods of Telafar city in Ninewa Popular Mobilization Forces

Launched a big operation in southwest of Mosul city in order to clear the liberated villages from ISIS remnants.

AUG 2, 2017

Iraqi Military Forces

Popular Mobilization Forces

Launched shells on ISIS positions in Makhoul Mountains in Salah Al-Din and near Iraqi-Syrian border.

Destroyed a heavy carrying ISIS vehicle in Makhoul Mountains in Salah Al-Din.

ISIS Planted an IED in a house in Bab Jadid in Mosul Al-Qadimah, it exploded and led to the death of two civilians and the injury of one.

AUG 3, 2017

Iraqi Military Forces

Popular Mobilization Forces

ISIS ambushed two security officers in Najma village in Qayarah south of Mosul, which led to the death of one and the disappearance of the other one.

AUG 4, 2017

Iraqi Military Forces

Mountain in Kirkuk.

Repelled an ISIS attack on the Security Forces headquarters in Aghawat neighborhood in Mosul city. Popular Mobilization Forces

Repelled an ISIS attack in Al-Jughaifi area western Ba'aj district of Ninewa, Ayn Al-Baitha village, and Zawiyah Junction in Salah Al-Din.

Found and cleared two VBIEDs, SIEDs, and three improvised fighting vehicles in Zawiyah sector in Salah Al-Din and Al-Jughaifir area western Ba'aj district.

ISIS

Executed four civilians by shooting them in an agricultural land near Telafar city.

Killed three members of Peshmarga Forces and injured two others by an IED explosion in Tamur village in Kirkuk.

AUG 5, 2017

Iraqi Military Forces

Launched strikes on an ISIS convoy in Telafar district.

Found and cleared a tunnel that contains ERW in the southern area of Mosul Al-Qadima.

With the support of Popular Mobilization Forces repelled an ISIS attack in Al-Khanoka in Salah Al-Din. Popular Mobilization Forces

Repelled ISIS attacks on Tal Safuk in Ninewa, Al-Namel junction and Al-Tasni'e Al-A'skari junction in Salah Al-Din.

Found and cleared weapons and munitions in Al-Namel junction and Al-Tasni'e Al-A'skari juction in Salah Al-Din.

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Iraq: Mosul Humanitarian Response: Weekly Explosive Incidents Report (30 July - 05 August 2017) - ReliefWeb

Next month, Iraqs Kurds head to the polls in an eagerly-awaited independence referendum. Ahead of the vote, on September 25th, the countrys Kurdistan Regional Government is searching for inspiration from abroad. Brexit, unsurprisingly, is an obvious pick; many Kurds are hoping that Kurdexit could as with Britains shock departure from the EU finally become a reality.

Yet for all the parallels between the two movements, the champions of Brexit are lukewarm in their support for the Kurdish cause. Boris Johnson said that Brexit was about the right of the people of this country to settle their own destiny. He was somewhat colder on the issue of Kurdish independence. In his role as Foreign Secretary, he said that the move towards Kurdish independence must be undertaken only with the Iraqi governments consent. Boris went on to warn that unilateral moves towards Kurdish independence would not be in the interests of the people of the Kurdistan Region, Iraq or of wider regional stability. Clearly, it seems, the right to self-determination only goes so far.

Kurdistans politicians will not be put off so easily, though. Falah Mustafa, the head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the KRG, says that a referendum is the path to a brighter future for the areaand its people.

In a region of turmoil, Iraqi Kurdistan is something of a beacon of hope. At a Royal Society of Edinburghspeech in2008, Lieutenant General Simon Mayall, the deputy commander of the multinational corps in Iraq, said the Kurdish region was a totally safe area. With much of Iraq increasingly divided along sectarian lines, Kurdistan has maintained its reputation as a relative centre of stability. The region now hosts more than two million displaced people and is a place of refuge for the many who fled the terror of Isis.

With Isis in its death throes and the war winding down, many Kurds are hopeful that their time has finally come. Kurds have been fighting for independence for almost 100 years, having been denied a country of their own when the Middle East was carved up at the end of the First World War. Their plight has not been easy: over the years, they suffered terribly under Saddam Hussein including the gassing and killing of tens of thousands. Now, there is much for Kurds to be optimistic about andindependence looks tantalisingly close. The time has come for our own people to determine their future, Falah Mustafa says.

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For Iraq's Kurds, independence looks tantalisingly close - Spectator.co.uk (blog)

In The National Interests latest Facebook Live interview,HarryKazianis, Director of Defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, sat down with Lt. Col.Daniel L. Davis(Ret.), a senior fellow at Defense Priorities, to discuss what is next for Iraq.

Daniel Davis recently visited Iraq and interviewed residents of Mosul. An excerptof the articlecan be found below:

I am currently in Iraq exploring the region in and around Mosul, assessing the current state of the city following Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadisdeclarationon July 9 that ISIS had been driven from Mosul. Last Thursday I interviewed a number of Mosul residents living in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) outside of Erbil to get their views. What I discovered was a curious combination of hope, numbness and fear for the future. If the Iraqi government isnt careful, the end of the war against ISIS in Mosul may simply herald a transition to thenext phaseof conflict.

Just outside of the Kurdish city of Erbil sits Camp Baharka, set up by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to host IDPs from Mosul and environs. I met with camp manager Meva S. Akrey who shared a bit of the camps history and stories from current residents. The camp was established in 2014 as a temporary measure, but has since been upgraded to serve as a long term facility. Currently there are roughly 12,000 people living in the camp, with a total of 250,000 IDPs living throughout the KRG region.

The camp is filled with a combination of Shia and Sunni Muslims, Christians, Yazidis, and other smaller religious subgroups. There has been no problem at the camp with the sectarian conflict or violence that has afflictedother partsof Iraq. Akrey said they have a formal training program that all new families must complete as soon as they arrive. We emphasize how everyone has to live together, in tolerance. Life here is not about the political or religious issues of the past, he continued, but about how theyre going to live in the present and future. For two years it has worked in the camp. Whether that tolerance remains in effect once IDPs return to their homes, however, remains to be seen.

Akrey said the camps population was generally relieved that ISIS has been cleared from the city, but are discouraged by destruction wrought on the city and realization that most wont be returning to home any time soon.

Interestingly, for the most part, the people dont blame anyone for their fate. It simply is. Whole sections of Mosul have been utterly destroyed in the process offreeingit from ISIS control. The destruction was caused by ISIS, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) as they cleared the city section by section, and coalition air attacks, artillery bombardment and drone strikes. Many have become numb and say it doesnt matter who was responsible: they just want to rebuild and have a chance for a normal life. They do, however, have concerns about what comes next.

Some of the displaced people at Camp Baharka dont want to go back right away because they want to find out how Mosul is going to be administered first. Many are afraid there will be a civil war, Akrey admitted. They are afraid that if Baghdad comes back in and rules like it did before (the perception of being unfair to the Sunnis, primarily), the people may fight against each other. There is also the concern about conflicts that might arise between families who fled immediately and those who remained behind.

One elderly camp resident (who wouldnt give her name because she was still afraid that ISIS might find her) told me there was a commonly held belief that those who didnt like ISIS left right away, while those that stayed behind did so because they supported ISIS. I was able to leave, she explained. They could have left as well. Why do you think they stayed behind? A man who lived several blocks over, however, had a different view.

Many people who escaped had money or cars or knew people outside who could help them. But many did not, he explained. Why accuse them of helping ISIS just because they werent able to leave? These diverging views expose some of the dangers looming for post-ISIS Mosuleven aside from how the city is governed.

Many of the people in this camp who fled Mosul say they know who supported ISIS and who didnt in the areas where they lived, Akrey explained. When they get back I am afraid many will carry out revenge attacks against their neighbors in vigilante, extrajudicial ways. Shia firebrand clericMoqtada al-Sadrsaid he has similar fears.

This article originally appeared atThe National Interest.

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After Mosul, Rebuilding Iraq Will Be Just as Painful This Time Around - Task & Purpose