Mosul’s trademark leaning minaret was yesterday missing from its skyline for the first time in centuries after desperate extremists blew it up as Iraqi forces advanced on an ancient mosque compound.
Explosions on Wednesday evening leveled al-Nuri mosque, where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave his first sermon as leader of the Islamic State (IS) group, and its ancient leaning minaret, known as the Hadba, or the Hunchback.
Officials from Iraq and the US-led anti-IS coalition said the destruction of the site was a sign of the militant group’s imminent loss of Mosul, with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi calling it an “official declaration of defeat.”
Photo: AFP
The loss of the unmistakable 12th century minaret — one of the country’s most recognizable monuments sometimes referred to as Iraq’s Tower of Pisa — left the nation in shock.
However, the destruction had been widely anticipated, with commanders saying IS, also known as DAESH, would not have allowed Iraqi forces to score a hugely symbolic victory by recapturing the site.
“They blew up this place in an attempt to cover up their heavy losses in the media, but the media and the people see the victories and see the collapse of DAESH,” Iraqi Brigadier General Falah Fadel al-Obeidi, from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service, told reporters in Mosul.
IS claimed on its Amaq propaganda agency that the site was hit in a US airstrike, but the US-led coalition said it was the extremists who had “destroyed one of Mosul and Iraq’s great treasures.”
It was the “clearest sign yet of desperation and defeat” from the militants, US envoy to the coalition Brett McGurk said.
The destruction of the site in Mosul’s Old City adds to a long list of priceless heritage and historical monuments destroyed by the IS during its three-year rule over parts of Iraq and Syria.
The minaret, which was completed in 1172 and has been listing for centuries, is featured on Iraq’s 10,000 dinar banknote and was the main symbol of its second city — giving its name to countless restaurants, companies and even sports clubs in Mosul.
After seizing Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland in June 2014, the IS reportedly rigged the Hadba with explosives, but was prevented from blowing it up by the local population.
The extremists consider the reverence of objects, including of such sites, as heresy.
The minaret used to be visible from many spots in Mosul, especially from the east bank, across the Tigris River that divides the city.
Iraqi forces had been approaching the mosque on Wednesday, after launching an assault on Sunday to retake the Old City, the last district of Mosul still under IS control.
About 100,000 residents are believed to still be trapped in the Old City by the IS, which has been using civilians as human shields to defend its last redoubt in Mosul.
The area still controlled by the extremists is small, but its narrow streets and the presence of so many civilians has made the operation perilous.
Two journalists were killed on Monday and two others wounded near the Old City, and reports by medics and rights groups suggest that trapped civilians are paying a heavy price.
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