The airport, which has not been operational since the group seized Mosul in 2014, will have a main terminal and a VIP room.
Iraqi prime minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, has opened the city of the newly restored airport in Mosul, more than a decade after it was destroyed in a series of battles to evict the Isil Group (ISIS) now defeated.
“The airport will serve as an additional link between Mosul and other Iraqi cities and regional destinations,” said Prime Minister's Media Office in a statement on Wednesday.
Al-Sudani's flight landed at the airport, which is expected to be completely operational for national and international flights in two months. Wednesday's ceremony was held almost three years after the then Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi placed the base of the base for the reconstruction of the airport.
The airport director, Ama Al-Bayati, told the AFP news agency that the “airport is now ready for national and international flights.” He added that the airport previously offered international flights, mainly to Turkiye and Jordan.
In June 2014, Isil seized Mosul, declaring his “caliphate” of the second largest city in Iraq after capturing large strips of Iraq and neighboring Syria, imposing a hard line government to more than millions of people, displacing hundreds of thousands and killing thousands more.
Nouri al-Maliki, who was Iraqi prime minister at that time, declared an emergency state and said the government would assemble civilians who offered themselves as volunteers “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 known for its brutality. He gave the civilians, massacred 1,700 captured Iraqi soldiers in a short period, and enslaved and violated thousands of women from the Yazidi community, one of the oldest religious minorities in Iraq.
A coalition of more than 80 countries led by the United States to fight the group in September 2014 was formed. The alliance continues to carry out raids against the group's hiding places in Syria and Iraq.
The war against the group officially ended in March 2019 when the fighters of the democratic forces (SDF) backed by the United States captured the city of Baghouz of Syria oriental, which was the last splinter of controlled land.
The group was also defeated in Iraq in July 2017 when Iraqi forces recovered Mosul. Isil then declared his defeat throughout the country at the end of that year. Three months later, the group suffered a great blow when the SDF withdrew the city in northern Raqqa, its de facto capital.
The airport, which was very damaged in the battle, has not been operational since Mosul's initial fall.
Now it includes a main terminal, a VIP room and an advanced radar surveillance system, said the Al-Sudani office, added that it is expected to drive 630,000 passengers annually.
