Mosul’s Destroyed Bridges: A Major Challenge for Residents

Displaced people who fled ISIS militants, cross the bridge in Al-Muthanna neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq, January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
Displaced people who fled ISIS militants, cross the bridge in Al-Muthanna neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq, January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
TT
20

Mosul’s Destroyed Bridges: A Major Challenge for Residents

Displaced people who fled ISIS militants, cross the bridge in Al-Muthanna neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq, January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
Displaced people who fled ISIS militants, cross the bridge in Al-Muthanna neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq, January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

Few minutes are enough for student Ahmad Meyssar to cross the bridge over Tigris river in Mosul to reach his university, however, it takes him now over two hours to cover the distance after the bridge had been destroyed following the nine-month operation to retake the city from ISIS.

Iraq's second-largest city Nineveh, "90 percent" of the 70 bridges have been totally or partially destroyed, Marwan Abderrazaq from the local roads department told Agence-France Presse.

Some of Mosul's bridges were blown up by ISIS, while the others were destroyed by government forces and the firepower of a US-led coalition backing them up. A large number of the city's infrastructure, especially on the western side, has been fully destroyed following the liberation operations after ISIS controlled the city in June 2014.

Five months had passed since Mosul had been liberated, millions of residents in Mosul are still suffering following the disappearance of the bridges they used to rely on.

However now, thanks to support from the World Bank and United Nations, two temporary bridges have gone up in Mosul and three more are under construction.

Abderrazaq stated that a German team arrived in the governorate to assess the damages and set the plans to reconstruct Nineveh's seven bridges. Because of this team, student Meyssar now has a road to his university. But the limited options still mean that he still face major delays.

Meyssar stated that "to be sure of being on time for the start of lessons at university at eight in the morning," he needs to leave his home "at around 5:30 or six."

Hundreds of cars lined up as they queued to reach the other side on a recent morning, forming a traffic jam that stretched for several kilometers.

Fathiya Sobhi, 44, mother of two, stated that she carries one of her children on her shoulders to reach the other side of the river which takes her half an hour. She is making the crossing by foot as she "cannot afford the taxi fare" across.

The jams and delays crossing the river have forced taxi driver Yahya Ahmed, 37, to change the way he works. He has decided that from now on he is going to stick to the eastern side of the river where he lives and will no longer take passengers to the other bank.

Ahmed, father of six, stated that before citizens used to cross from one side to the other without thinking about it.

"But now it takes two-and-a-half hours so I just work on one side," added Ahmed.

Engineer Hussein Nabil, 40, who works in rebuilding the iron bridge, known as the "Old Bridge", says the restoration operations will take up to six months.

Nabil says the metallic structure, which ran across the center of Mosul since it was built in 1934, will be accessible to cars as of August meaning that it requires over a year after Baghdad announced Mosul's "liberation".



Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah Warns US Against Intervening in Israel-Iran Conflict

 Protesters hold Iranian flags during a protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Protesters hold Iranian flags during a protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
TT
20

Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah Warns US Against Intervening in Israel-Iran Conflict

 Protesters hold Iranian flags during a protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Protesters hold Iranian flags during a protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)

Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah warned on Sunday it would resume attacks on US troops in the region if the United States intervenes in the conflict between Israel and Iran.

"We are closely monitoring the movements of the American enemy's army in the region," Kataib Hezbollah Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said in a statement. "If America intervenes in the war, we will act directly against its interests and bases spread across the region without hesitation."

Founded in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah is one of the elite Iraqi armed factions closest to Iran. The group, a key pillar of Iran's network of regional proxy forces, has claimed responsibility for dozens of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US forces in both Iraq and Syria.

Early last year, Kataib Hezbollah announced the suspension of all its military operations against US troops in the region in response to efforts by the Iraqi government.

Kataib Hezbollah is part of a coalition of Iran-aligned groups known collectively as the "Axis of Resistance" — an umbrella of hardline Shiite armed factions that have claimed more than 150 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since the onset of the Gaza war about 20 months ago.

Iraq, a rare ally of both Washington and Tehran, is striving to avoid upsetting its fragile stability while focusing on rebuilding after years of conflict.