ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— Nearly 1,650,000 internally displaced people (IDP) have so far returned to their liberated areas in central and northern parts of Iraq since mid-2016, which is more than half the number of people forced from their homes by the ISIS war, says Iraq’s Immigration minister Darbaz Muhammad.
The bulk of the internal refugees returned to their homes in central provinces of Anbar and Salahaddin in the months following the liberation of key cities including Ramadi, Falluja and Tikrit.
But the return of many others still depends on the outcome of the open-ended operation in Nineveh province where ISIS still maintains in control of half of the city of Mosul and other areas such as Hawija southwest of Kirkuk.
US army officials have said the liberation of the two major ISIS strongholds of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in neighboring Syria could take six months.
US army commander in Iraq Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told the Associated Press Wednesday that “Within the next six months I think we'll see both (the Mosul and Raqqa campaigns) conclude.”
Townsend also has said he expected the offensive to retake western parts of Mosul to begin in days.
Iraqi officials have put the approximate number of displaced people in Nineveh province, which has a population of 3.5 million, at around 1.5 million, the majority of whom are currently in camps in nearby Kurdish provinces of Dohuk and Erbil.
In the case of places such as the Yezidi town of Shingal and in Jalawla, almost the entire population is still in refugee camps or settled in the Kurdistan Region and reluctant to return to their cities for lack of public services and safety.
Authorities have said Shingal alone would need $100 million in aid to restore basic services such as roads, sanitation, running water and electricity before they can guarantee the return of the displaced people whose number is about 100,000 people.
Kurdish President Massoud Barzani has suggested an entirely new city to be built near the devastated Shingal and preserve the ISIS-ravaged town as a reminder for future generations.
“After liberating most of the areas in Nineveh province, some 60,000 IDPs have returned home assisted by the security forces and the ministry of transportation,” said Muhammad adding that his ministry receives between 1000 and 2500 IDPs a day after arriving in their liberated areas.
