War-damaged university in Iraq's Mosul recovers to host Ramadan banquet

Ninevah University, badly damaged by ISIS, hosts iftar on the banks of the Tigris

University students and staff host an ftar banquet on the banks of the Tigris river in Mosul, on Monday.

Students and staff at Mosul's Ninevah University, which was badly damaged during a battle between Iraqi government forces and ISIS in 2017, hosted an iftar banquet on the banks of the Tigris river on Tuesday.

The institution founded in 2014, close to the University of Mosul, has been brought back to life in recent years and its doors were reopened to the public.

"It was a beautiful iftar for those fasting ― with a warm and pleasant atmosphere ― held by the students and staff," a student at the university told The National.

"After what we have gone through, we hope that peace and stability will continue," said the student, who asked not to be identified.

During Ramadan, Muslims observe a strict daily fast from dawn until sunset.

Following the takeover by ISIS, most students and staff at the university were forced to flee the city.

The university's head office managed to establish a temporary site to continue its education programme in the Iraqi-Kurdistan city of Duhok.

The nearby University of Mosul is Iraq's second-largest higher learning institution, after the University of Baghdad, with 24 colleges, 40,000 students and 11,000 faculty members before the invasion of ISIS, the UN has said.

The number of students at the university now surpasses enrolment rates before ISIS occupation by more than 40 per cent.

Efforts to rebuild Mosul and its historic monuments have been shored up by international donors alongside Iraq's government, residents and officials from the city.

Last year, the university's restored Central Library opened to students eight years after ISIS destroyed it.

Founded in 1921, it was one of the richest libraries in Iraq, second only to the Central Library in Baghdad.

When ISIS took over the city in 2014, the university library was bombarded by missiles and badly damaged. An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 books and ancient manuscripts were destroyed.

A treasured archive recognised by Unesco was also damaged.

Also last year, Mosul's biggest theatre opened to the public five years after it was burnt down by ISIS.

The theatre inside the University of Mosul’s campus, adjacent to the busy student centre and central library, is the biggest hall in the Nineveh governorate with a capacity of about 1,500.

ISIS fighters were driven out by government forces with the assistance of an international coalition in 2017.

The terrorist group controlled about one third of Iraq and Syria from mid-2014 until they were ousted by the coalition.