In one image, a fighter forgot
that not shaving his facial hair off would be a problem as he attempted
to dress as a woman to flee
A Jihadist attempted to flee Mosul in a disguise similar to a pantomime dame, but was caught when he forgot to shave off his beard and moustache.
The ISIS fighter
was trying to get away from the former militant stronghold as the city
was recaptured, but didn't quite get his escape plan right.
Dressed in women's clothes and with elaborate make-up, the bearded man forgot to get rid of his facial hair.
In
photos released by the Iraqi army after his capture, the man can be seen
to have slathered on powder, eyeshadow and lipstick, even adding some
beauty spots.
But the large moustache and beard as well as full eyebrows, rather give the game away.
Other photos released by the army show the men in padded bras as they try to slip through the net and out of the city.
Mosul's
Old City, which once stood as a neighborhood of densely built alleyways
and homes on winding lanes, has been reduced to rubble by a months-long
war to root out the Islamic State.
The effect of the battle, which ended as
jihadists made their last attempt to hold on to the region earlier this
month, can be seen in stark before-and after satellite photographs.
Other images shared by the Iraqi
army show the hapless attempts by men who are trying to get out of the
city to look like women, including wearing padded bras
Much of the city has been leveled, with rubble and dust covering what was once a thriving neighborhood in Iraq.
Nearly
a third of the Old City - more than 5,000 buildings - was damaged or
destroyed in the final three weeks of bombardment up to July 8,
according to a survey by UN Habitat using satellite imagery.
Across
the city, 10,000 buildings were damaged over the course of the war, the
large majority in western Mosul, the scene of the most intense
artillery, airstrikes and fighting during the past five months. The
survey only covers damage visible in satellite photos, meaning the real
number is likely higher.
It took Iraq's
US-backed forces nearly nine months to wrest Mosul from the Islamic
State group, and the cost was enormous destruction, especially in the
western part of the city. Mosul was finally liberated on July 10.
Residents
of the city have been left rebuilding their lives from the rubble left
from multiple bombings as they use a temporary bridge to get over the
Tigris river.
The people of the city have to rebuild their lives after the nine month battle to reclaim Mosul
Many have reported struggling to pay rent on temporary accommodation as landlords double the rent
Many people from West Mosul, where whole
neighbourhoods were flattened in air and artillery strikes by a U.S-.led
coalition, are struggling to pay rent in temporary accommodation. Often
they have no work and are running out of funds.
Safwan
al-Habar, 48, who has a house in al-Zinjili district, had spent a
morning seeking help for a particularly alarming problem - Islamic State
had booby-trapped his house.
'Two bombs attached to each other with wire. If you put your leg on it, it will explode,' he said.
Another man, Mirsur Dannon Hassan, 53, said his house had been destroyed in an air strike.
Bomb damage in Mosul, as the residents try to rebuild from the rubble
'I don't have a salary. I need help to rebuild it,' he said.
He
was living in rented accommodation with his wife, five daughters and
son in the east but the landlord had just increased the rent from £77
($100) per month to £154 ($200).
They
said life was miserable under Islamic State, also known as Dash, which
seized Mosul in July 2014 and declared it the capital of a self-styled
caliphate spanning parts of Iraq and Syria.
'It
was living hell,' said 31-year-old Mohamad Zuhair. 'Daesh denied you
everything. You did not have the right to have a phone or wear jeans. I
had to have a long beard.'
There were beatings and executions for transgressions. As the fighting worsened, gunmen opened fire on people trying to escape.
The
reality of living in Mosul comes as Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said on
Friday that he believes Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is
still alive, following various claims he was dead.
He said: 'I think Baghdadi's alive... and I'll believe otherwise when we know we've killed him.
A member of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) stands next to the ruined Grand al-Nuri Mosque in the Old City of Mosul
The ruined Grand al-Nuri Mosque is seen in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, taken on July 20
'We are going after him, but we assume he is alive.'
There have been persistent rumors that Baghdadi has died in recent months.
The
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a longtime conflict
monitor, last week said it had heard from senior IS leaders in Syria's
Deir Ezzor province that Baghdadi was dead.
Russia's army said in mid-June that it was seeking to verify whether it had killed the IS chief in a May air strike in Syria.
With
a $25 million US bounty on his head, Baghdadi has kept a low profile
but was rumored to move regularly throughout IS-held territory in Iraq
and Syria.
The Iraqi native has not
been seen since making his only known public appearance as 'caliph' in
2014 at the Grand Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul, which was destroyed in the
battle for Iraq's second city.
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