ICC Note: According to a senior research fellow at the International Center for Radicalization Studies there is no such thing as post-IS Mosul. Drastic measures will need to be taken to ensure the survival of diversity in northern Iraq after the radical group occupied the territory for more than two years. There is always a threat of re-emergence and sympathizers, making it a long journey before Christians feel comfortable enough to return.

02/01/2017 Iraq (WWM): Charlie Winter, senior research fellow at the International Centre for Radicalisation Studies at King’s College, London, said that Islamic State in its propaganda had “audaciously” likened Mosul to the Saudi city of Medina in the days of Muhammad. (In 622 AD, Muhammad left Mecca for Medina after hearing of a plot to assassinate him.)

Speaking in London on 25 Jan., Winter said “there is no such thing as a post-IS world” and added that ideological measures will be needed after military victory is achieved, to address ongoing levels of sympathy for the group and its supremacist aims.

Asked what measures would be necessary for the city’s diverse non-Muslim communities to return to Mosul, he replied that it’s vital that the Shia-led Iraqi Government shows they care about the population who lived under the group’s occupation, and rebuild what was lost.

The rise of IS came amidst disaffection among Iraqi Sunnis, which increased during the premiership of Nouri al-Maliki, who centralised power around himself.

“The best way to inoculate territories the Islamic State has held for a long time is trying to return to normal – not ignoring what has happened, but trying to re-establish services’ provision, repopulate areas, get people talking to each other again, get trade going again, take back to these territories everything that was lost over the last few years,” Winter said.

He added that the city’s civilian population is now “less supportive” than it used to be.

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