A man cries as he carries his daughter while walking from an ISIS-controlled part of Mosul towards Iraqi special forces soldiers during a battle in Mosul, Iraq on Mar. 4, 2017. (Source: Goran Tomasevic / Reuters)

ishtartv.com - english.alarabiya.net

By Mashari Althaydi, Thursday, 13 July 2017

Following a tedious wait, various Iraqi forces succeeded in liberating Mosul from the occupation of the dark ISIS organization and the latter’s members were expelled from Mosul, Iraq’s second capital, which is known as the “Mother of Two Springs”.

Mosul is also famous for its Great Mosque of al-Nuri that’s known for its leaning minaret nicknamed “the hunchback.” This is great and wonderful news amid the bad and sad developments across the world. 

Precious Iraqi social fabric 

The people of Iraq, may God bless them, deserve this victory. Arab and Muslim people and people across the entire world deserve this happy news. We congratulate the Iraqi people, government, police and army on this victory. When we say “Iraq’s people,” we mean Shiites, Sunnis, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Yazidis, Shabak, Sabians and Christians from the Chaldean Assyrians and others who form the precious Iraqi social fabric.

We hope this great victory will be the beginning of purging Iraq from the rest of ISIS in Anbar and other strongholds and on the borders with Syria. We also hope that the victory in Mosul may be the beginning of defeating ISIS in ar-Raqqah and Deir az-Zour in Syria and we hope this is achieved soon.

"This glorious victory increases the responsibility of the Iraqi president, prime minister and patriots to launch a new phase towards a new Iraq that’s void of black mentalities, whether Sunni or Shiite, and that’s not owned by someone like Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani who recently told Tasnim News that “the Iraqi army is on its way to embracing ideology.”

Mashari al-Thayidi

Defeating ISIS murderers paves way to raise postponed questions and completely eliminate ISIS so it never returns again!

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi addressed people from Mosul declaring victory. He said the victory was that of “all the Iraqi people,” adding that only Iraqis fought to liberate the city.

We hope these statements are translated into laws, guarantees and a new social and political contract that prevent the establishment of sectarian parties and criminalize religious incitement, be it Sunni or Shiite.

The real meaning of all this is for victory to express all the Iraqis’ aspirations. Anything other than that would be mere sentimental talk. 

Role of international coalition 

It’s also not fair to deny the role of the international coalition, primarily countries like America and Britain, which aided this victory in Mosul. A believer is fair! Representatives of the 72-nation coalition met in Washington to discuss the phase after liberating Mosul. The aim of this international meeting according to the official statement is “to guarantee that military victories do not once again evaporate amid new sectarian strife.”

It’s worth noting that American President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget allotted around $13 billion to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Yes, the front ranks fighting “on ground” are Iraqis, Arab and Kurds, but the “decisive” role of the international coalition must not be denied.

This glorious victory increases the responsibility of the Iraqi president, prime minister and patriots to launch a new phase towards a new Iraq that’s void of black mentalities, whether Sunni or Shiite, and that’s not owned by someone like Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani who recently told Tasnim News that “the Iraqi army is on its way to embracing ideology.”

His statements oppose Abadi’s while he declared the victory of an Iraq for all the Iraqi people. Peace for Iraq, all of Iraq.