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Hot springs spa reopens amid war in Mosul

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An Iraqi boy bathes in a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi man bathes in a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi boy bathes in a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Iraqis bathe in a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Iraqis bathe in a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi boy bathes in a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Iraqis bathe in a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Iraqis bathe in a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi man bathes at a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Iraqis bathe in a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi cover his boy with sand from a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Displaced Iraqis who had fled their homes fill water at Hammam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi cover his boy with sand from a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Displaced Iraqis who had fled their homes washes their boy with water at Hammam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi cover his hand with sand from a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi boy jumps at a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi man bathes at a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Iraqis swim at a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi boy bathes at a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi boy jumps into a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi man bathes at a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi boy bathes at a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An Iraqi boy bathes at a sulfur pond at Hammam al-Alil city south of Mosul, Iraq April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

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HAMMAM AL-ALIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Some Iraqis in this town get massages in a spa or take muddy baths and relax in the morning sun on the banks of the Tigris. Others beg for food or rise at dawn to queue for water.

Hammam al-Alil, a town south of Mosul once famous throughout Iraq for its healing hot waters, is back in business after a U.S.-backed offensive retook the area from Islamic State militants and authorities reopened its spa.

SEE ALSO: Child victims of Mosul battle fill emergency hospital

This oasis of leisure now coexists, however, with camps housing more than 30,000 of the people displaced in the region by the campaign to dislodge Islamic State from Mosul, its the last major city stronghold in Iraq.

"I come here three times a week," said 47-year old Ali Qader, a retired soldier, after showering with water from a natural spring. "It's refreshing and good for your skin."

Residents have been flocking back since Islamic State was expelled from the town in early November, ending the days when bathers had to wear a tunic covering them from knee to navel as part of the Sunni Muslim movement's strict modesty code.

"If you had only swimwear, Daesh (Islamic State) would whip you," said Wael Abdullah, 12, before diving into a pool.

"The hisbah came checking that everyone had the right dress," he said, referring to the religious police that monitored everything from men's beards to women's veils.

Across the street is an indoor pool where locals and soldiers taking a day off from the front get a soapy massage.

The spa used to be magnet for wellness tourists and rheumatism patients but had passed its heyday even before the Islamist militants arrived in 2014.

"We used to have visitors from Baghdad, the south and even the Gulf, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia," said Latif Mohammed, who was hired to help run the spa for 10,000 Iraqi dinars ($8.58) a day. "It was built in the '80s but needs refurbishing."

The elegant hotels at the spa are now shuttered or bombed out because Islamic State fighters used to live there. A machine gun nest at the entrance shatters any sense of normality.

On Monday, the spa opened only at noon due to rumors of an Islamic State attack, said a federal police officer.

Related: See more of the destruction inside Mosul:

SPA TOWN CAMP

Upgrading the baths is probably the last priority for officials who, just 2 km (1.25 miles) away, also have to run one of the biggest camps for people fleeing the battle of Mosul.

Every five minutes or so, a bus pulls into Hammam al-Alil with more new arrivals. Up to 5,000 people come every day from the district or across the frontlines around Mosul, around 30 km (19 miles) to the north.

The United Nations said on Tuesday the total number of displaced since the offensive began in October had exceeded 300,000 and camps for them are being expanded to take in even more people expected to flee the fighting in and around Mosul's densely populated old city.

13 PHOTOS

What's left of Mosul University in Iraq

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General view of the library of the University of Mosul burned and destroyed during the battle with Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

General view of the library of the University of Mosul burned and destroyed during the battle with Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Books burned during the battle with the Islamic State militants, lie in the library of the University of Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

General view of the library of the University of Mosul burned and destroyed during the battle with Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Books burned during the battle with the Islamic State militants, lie in the library of the University of Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

General view of the library of the University of Mosul burned and destroyed during the battle with Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

General view of the library of the University of Mosul burned and destroyed during the battle with Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Books burned during the battle with the Islamic State militants, lie in the library of the University of Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

A member of the Iraqi security forces speaks with a boy at the entrance of the University of Mosul, in Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Full library of University of Mosul burned by clashes during the battle with the Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmad Jadallah

General view of a building of the University of Mosul destroyed during the battle with Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

General view of the library of the University of Mosul burned and destroyed during the battle with Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

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With tents packed sometimes with two families in one some spend their first night in a mass tent or outside. Many are in state of shock.

"We left at 1 a.m. to avoid Daesh snipers walking to the army checkpoint and arrived here in the evening," said 20-year old Omar Abdullah, who came with 20 family and fiends.

"We didn't get a place in Hammam al-Alil so we went to a mosque where the preacher took us to his apartment. Now we'll try another camp," he said.

While there's plenty of hot water at the spa, women in the tent city rise early to queue for the water truck that comes once a day.

"We have some 200 spa visitors everyday, locals, soldiers," said Mohammed, the spa worker. "There are also displaced people but many can't afford the 1,000 dinars entrance fee."

More from AOL.com: Brothers in arms: Iraqi armed groups grow as Islamic State shrinks Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, flies into Iraq with top US general Terror threats transform China's Uighur heartland into security state

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Iraq reopens hot springs spa amid Mosul war chaos - AOL

President Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, traveled with the top U.S. general to an Iraqi base just over 10 miles (16 km) from Mosul on Tuesday.

Kushner was on the second day of a trip to Iraq as the guest of Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. militarys Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the visit to the Hammam al-Alil base allowed them to get an operation briefing from Iraqi and U.S. commanders.

The trip has demonstrated the far-reaching portfolio of Kushner, 36, who is part of Trumps innermost circle and who has been given a wide range of domestic and foreign policy responsibilities, including working on a Middle East peace deal. His views on Iraq could shape Trumps own opinions.

Speaking after lengthy battlefield reports from two Iraqi generals, Kushner sounded upbeat about the campaign and said the partnership between U.S. and Iraqi troops was very impressive.

I hope the victory that you have in Mosul in the near future will not just be a victory for the American and Iraqi troops but it will be a victory for the world, Kushner said.

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Jared Kushner Visits Iraq Base Just 10 Miles From Mosul Battle - Forward

IRBIL, Iraq The Chaldean Catholic patriarch is supporting a more than 80-mile peace march during Holy Week to urge an end to violence in his homeland and throughout the Middle East.

The Chaldean Catholic Church has dedicated 2017 as the Year of Peace. For the patriarch, Holy Week culminating in the Easter celebration offers a fresh hope to breathe new life into prayer and reflection, reconciliation and dialogue.

Peace must be achieved by us (religious leaders) as well as politicians, through courageous initiatives and responsible decisions, said Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad.

He has repeatedly called on Iraqis to engage in serious dialogue, openness and honesty to realize national reconciliation and unity among the countrys vast mosaic of religious and ethnic peoples, battered by years of sectarian violence.

Some 100 people, Iraqis and foreigners, are expected to participate in the march, which will begin on Palm Sunday (April 9) with a Mass in Irbil, the patriarch told Catholic News Service by phone.

They will walk from Irbil to Alqosh in the Ninevah Plain, needing one week or more because the journey is very long, some (140 kilometers) 87 miles, he said. I will join them in a village near Alqosh on Holy Thursday, April 13.

The march presents a great occasion for unity, and a common front against the violence and bloodshed that have scarred Iraq and the region, he said.

Another group from Lyon, France, will help make the Way of the Cross using as the stations villages from Telaskov to Bakova, a walk of two to three hours, Sako told CNS.

This peace initiative is meant to demonstrate the bond among Iraqi communities and churches around the world during the years of suffering and persecution. These once-flourishing Christian towns have formed the bedrock of centuries of Christian history and were recently liberated from the brutal control of the so-called Islamic State militants.

Telaskov translates as Bishops Hill and, before the Islamic State takeover, was a thriving, modern town of 11,000. But when ISIS attacked in 2014, Christians fled. Although it is currently a ghost town, there are hopes that it will revive when mines and booby traps left by the militants are removed and its infrastructure rebuilt.

Last September, representatives of the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Irbil told the U.S. Congress that they had received no U.N. or U.S. government-administered humanitarian aid for 70,000 Christian or Yezidi survivors of what has been now designated as a genocide against them and other Iraqi minorities, carried out by the Islamic State since 2014.

Before the U.S.-led 2003 war that toppled Saddam Hussein, Iraqs Christian population numbered an estimated 1.4 million. After being killed or driven out, they number only 250,000 people. Despite these difficulties, Iraqs Christian community remains the Middle Easts fourth-largest indigenous Christian community.

At the moment, we are going through the tunnel, and we need to work hard and pray without ceasing for peace in our country and the region and for the safe return of the forcibly displaced people to their homes and properties, Sako said in a recent Lenten address.

He urged the faithful to rely on wisdom and patience and to stay united together on the land where we were born (and have) lived for 1,400 years together with Muslims, sharing one civilization.

Ahead of Easter, Sako said he hopes for a real resurrection, a quick return of displaced to their homes, and a restoration of peace at our churches, country and the whole world.

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Chaldean patriarch supports Holy Week peace march in Iraq - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

KTLA

U.S.-Led Coalition Responsible for 229 Civilian Deaths Since 2014 in Iraq, Syria Strikes KTLA At a time of growing concern about civilian casualties in Iraq, the U.S.-led coalition issued a report Saturday that says at least 229 civilians likely have been killed by coalition strikes there and in Syria since Operation Inherent Resolve began ... Iraq hospital struggles with Mosul's injured -- and its deadLA Daily News Four civilians killed in February in US-led strikes in IraqThe Hill (blog) Mosul is falling. This is the end of the 'caliphate' in IraqThe Sydney Morning Herald Los Angeles Times -New York Post -UN News Centre -Amnesty International all 735 news articles »

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U.S.-Led Coalition Responsible for 229 Civilian Deaths Since 2014 in Iraq, Syria Strikes - KTLA

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Why Trump, Against His Instincts, Spared Iraq From the Travel Ban ... Wall Street Journal (subscription) National-security officials, after getting an earful from Iraq on why it did not belong on a list of restricted countries, quietly made their case to the presidentwho ... and more »

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Why Trump, Against His Instincts, Spared Iraq From the Travel Ban ... - Wall Street Journal (subscription)