Photos: A bittersweet return home to ISIS free Mosul

When Mohammed Saleh Ahmad and his family left their Mosul home, fleeing the US-led coalition offensive against the Islamic State in March 2017 they hadn’t thought that just a year later, returning home would be a reality. But with the ouster of the Islamic State, going back turned out to be a bittersweet experience for the Ahmad family, leaving behind once more friends and like-minded survivors that made life bearable in the Hammam al-Alil refugee camp, and returning to a Mosul that is a shadow of itself.

Updated on: Mar 30, 2018 9:33 AM IST

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A child carries a box as her family packs their belongings to go back home from Hamam al-Alil camp, to Mosul, Iraq. The child's father Mohammed Saleh Ahmad and his family fled their home in March 2017 when US-led coalition forces began their advance on western Mosul, a final push to rout Islamic State militants who had overrun the city in 2014. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)

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For Mohammed Saleh Ahmad (C) and his family, returning to Mosul after more than a year away was bittersweet. He was happy to return to a semblance of his old life, but leaving behind the friends he’d made in the refugee camp where they’d lived for a year weighed on him. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)

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Ever since the Ahmad family fled in March 2017, this community of friends and relatives - a group of like-minded survivors of the battle for Mosul - had made life bearable. “It’s so hard saying goodbye,” Mohammed said, boxing up belongings in his tent in the Hammam al-Alil refugee camp. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)

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The family did not think they’d be returning so soon. But when the opportunity presented itself, they jumped at it. Mohammed’s father (L) and mother (R) were going, too. Mirroring the heavy mood, his father, Saleh, brought out an MP3 player and played old Iraqi folk songs, amid tearful goodbyes and promises to visit soon. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)

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A few days after deciding to leave, neighbours and relatives came to help them load their belongings onto the small truck that would start the next chapter of their lives. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)

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In Mosul, they were greeted by Mohammed’s older brother, Ahmad, who had persuaded them to move back by finding them a modest two-room house to rent. As the rest of their things were unloaded into the house, Mohammed’s wife Iman (R), immediately set about preparing the family’s first meal in their new home. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)

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Saleh Ahmad and his wife Rafa Mohamed Hamid, also moved in with their son’s family back in Mosul. Here they celebrate their return over tea. Though rudimentary, this new house is a step up from life in the camps, with a separate kitchen and makeshift bathroom, and the Ahmed family quickly settled into a new routine. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)

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Before finding a job working at his uncle’s construction company, Mohammed busied himself by going to the market, getting a haircut and taking his children to a recently reopened amusement park. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)

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And as he got down to work, building a new life for his family, Mohammed (R) took Iman shopping for some new clothes. “New clothes for our new life,” he said, as the couple wandered through the market picking out dresses. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)

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In the time the Ahmad family was away from Mosul, a nine-month campaign to drive out the Islamic State culminated in a brutal battle in the Old City, the centuries-old historic district that is Mosul’s beating heart. “I hardly recognise anything anymore,” Mohammed said as he walked around with his brother Ahmad (R) in streets where the two had grown up. (Khalid Al-Mousily / REUTERS)