Iraq reopens Mosul airport 11 years after ISIL conflict, destruction | Aviation News

The airport, which has not been operational since the group seized Mosul in 2014, will have a main terminal and VIP lounge.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has inaugurated the northern city of Mosul’s newly restored airport, more than a decade after it was destroyed in a series of battles to dislodge the now vanquished ISIL (ISIS) group.

“The airport will serve as an additional link between Mosul and other Iraqi cities and regional destinations,” the prime minister’s media office said in a statement on Wednesday.

Al-Sudani’s flight landed at the airport, which is expected to become fully operational for domestic and international flights in two months. Wednesday’s ceremony was held nearly three years after then-Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi laid the foundation stone for the airport’s reconstruction.

Airport director Amar al-Bayati told the AFP news agency that the “airport is now ready for domestic and international flights.” He added that the airport previously offered international flights, mostly to Turkiye and Jordan.

In June 2014, ISIL seized Mosul, declaring its “caliphate” from Iraq’s second biggest city after capturing large swaths of Iraq and neighbouring Syria, imposing hardline rule over millions of people, displacing hundreds of thousands and slaughtering thousands more.

Nouri al-Maliki, who was the Iraqi prime minister at the time, declared a state of emergency and said the government would arm civilians who volunteered “to defend the homeland and defeat terrorism”.

At its peak, the group ruled over an area half the size of the United Kingdom and was notorious for its brutality. It beheaded civilians, massacred 1,700 captured Iraqi soldiers in a short period, and enslaved and raped thousands of women from the Yazidi community, one of Iraq’s oldest religious minorities.

A coalition of more than 80 countries led by the United States was formed to fight the group in September 2014. The alliance continues to carry out raids against the group’s hideouts in Syria and Iraq.

The war against the group officially ended in March 2019 when US-backed, Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured the eastern Syrian town of Baghouz, which was the last sliver of land ISIL controlled.

The group was also defeated in Iraq in July 2017 when Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul. ISIL then declared its defeat across the country at the end of that year. Three months later, the group suffered a major blow when the SDF took back the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, its de facto capital.

The airport, which was heavily damaged in the battle, has not been operational since the initial fall of Mosul.

It now includes a main terminal, a VIP lounge and an advanced radar surveillance system, al-Sudani’s office said, adding that it is expected to handle 630,000 passengers annually.