The 'Mosul Eye' blogger whose live tweeting helped hundreds escape the ISIS occupation
Mosul archaeologist Junaid Al Fakhry and his family escaped the building in which they had been trapped during the US-led battle to retake the city from ISIS , not knowing that the person who arranged their evacuation had been a close friend. Omar Mohammed, who blogged about the ISIS occupation under the pseudonym Mosul Eye, had attended Mr Al Fakhry’s weekly clandestine meetings about the city's…
Junaid Al Fakhry, an archaeologist from Mosul, and his family escaped the city during the US-led battle to retake it from ISIS. They were trapped in a building when their evacuation was arranged by their friend Omar Mohammed, a blogger known as "Mosul Eye." Mohammed had been following the ISIS occupation through live tweets, which helped hundreds of people escape.
His mission was to document the city's history and current events for a wider public. Unknown to Al Fakhry and his family, Mohammed was the one who facilitated their evacuation. Mohammed's book, "Mosul Eye: A Scholar’s Clandestine War against ISIS," recounts his experiences and the events leading up to the liberation of Mosul. The city, once a major Levantine center, had become a homogeneous, religiously conservative place due to decades of sectarianism and conflict, exacerbated by ISIS's occupation.
Mohammed's book details the brutal ISIS takeover in 2014, their massacres of various religious communities, and their failed attempts to integrate Mosul's Christian population. The city's reconstruction, although necessary, cannot heal the deep wounds caused by the sectarian violence and the loss of cultural diversity.
Written by urgent.news from The National UAE's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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