Three years ago, the world celebrated when Iraqi forces, with the support of the United States and Iran, regained control of the ancient city of Mosul from ISIS. And hopes were raised among the residents of the city to rebuild their lives after the destruction.
Today a different battle is taking place, taking place largely behind the scenes, from the halls of local government - which overlook the streets ravaged by bombing in the city - to meeting rooms in hotels in Baghdad.
And that battle is nothing but a struggle for influence between parties, politicians and armed factions. Some are backed by Iran and others prefer the United States.
At stake, political control in Nineveh Governorate - whose capital is Mosul - is a region rich in natural resources, and represents a link in a supply route that runs from Tehran to the Mediterranean. This road serves factions supported by Iran, and is the staunchest enemy of the United States here since the defeat of the Islamic State.
Iran's allies scored victories in this battle. They appointed a governor that Iran prefers a year ago. But Iranian influence faced challenges from anti-government protests, US sanctions, and the assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. The pro-Western camp was able to replace the Nineveh governor with an old ally of the United States.
This competition reflects a wider struggle for the future of Iraq itself.
In a Reuters report, Iraqi officials say that Iran and its allies have formed networks to gain influence over local government and that pro-Western officials have tried to counter them, and this push and pull has hindered the rise of Mosul from its repression.
Many insiders believe that if one side is to win, it will ultimately be the party allied with Iran.
Nineveh Provincial Council member Ali Khudair said that Iran supports its allies with money and political support and does not leave them. On the contrary, he added, "US policy has not affected Iraq."
Much of the city of Mosul has become ruins, with cars stumbling across devastating bridges and disabled war victims selling paper napkins, cigarettes and tea at intersections. This is a picture of misery that Iraqi officials fear is the ideal breeding ground for the resurgence of the Islamic State.
A US State Department spokeswoman accused Iran of making a major effort "to dominate all aspects of political and economic life in Iraq." The spokesperson, Morgan Ortagos, added that the United States is committed to helping Iraq build its economic capabilities and improve stability and security.
"Iran does not interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq," said Ali Reza Mir Yousfi, spokesman for Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York.
For his part, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi told Reuters in response to a question about Mosul that corruption and political differences hinder the advancement of the city, but he denied the existence of a proxy conflict.
Year regions
The political struggle over Nineveh is part of the broader picture in the predominantly Sunni northern provinces, one of the former strongholds of the late President Saddam Hussein, and represents a strategic value for Tehran, and Washington wants to limit Iranian influence in it.
The fertile plains of Nineveh from the west border Syria, in which the Iranian Revolutionary Guards fought alongside the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Behind it lies Lebanon, where Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran, is located.
The rest of this sector is formed by the predominantly Sunni lands, the Anbar governorates, which are divided by the Euphrates, and Salah al-Din, in which an important Shiite shrine is located, and Diyala bordering Iran.
About 5,000 American soldiers are stationed in Iraq on bases scattered across 3 of these provinces, and they are often subjected to missile attacks.
Iran has confirmed its domination of Baghdad and the southern Shiite provinces in Iraq after the US invasion in 2003 and the overthrow of Saddam.
However, the Sunni areas of the country - where Kurdish, Christian, Shiite and Yazidi Turkmen minorities also live - were a challenge.
These areas became centers of a Sunni insurgency against US forces in the mid-2000s, and strongholds of the Islamic State, which took Mosul as its capital in 2014.
After Iranian-backed factions helped drive the organization out of Mosul in 2017, these factions remained in the region, and flew their flags across northern Iraq along with banners and billboards honoring their leaders, including the Iranian leader Qassem Soleimani, who was recently assassinated by the United States.
Reuters quotes 20 local government officials, representatives in Baghdad and tribal leaders as how Iran worked to consolidate its political influence until it had allies in nearly every regional administration.
These sources said that two of the influential figures in Nineveh are two influential Sunnis: Khamis al-Khanjar, a businessman from Anbar province who went to work in politics, and Ahmad al-Juburi, widely known by his nickname Abu Mazen, a former governor of Salahuddin Province and a member In the Iraqi parliament now.
The dagger was a bold opponent of Iran. He supported Sunni protests against the Iranian-backed Iraqi government in 2013 and later accused armed Shiite factions allied with Iran of human rights violations.
Abu Mazen was at one time an ally of the United States. He described how he cooperated closely with US forces after they invaded Iraq in 2003.
In 2018, Al-Khanjar and Abu Mazen unexpectedly joined a coalition of Iranian-backed parties and factions in the Iraqi parliament.
In explaining this shift, Al-Khanjar said, referring to solving problems such as the displaced and prisoners: "Who can implement it? The strong on the ground or the weak? The strong who can implement and therefore I go with the alliance that is on the ground. This alliance has Iranian extensions ... We are not accused, as if We have external extensions. "
In May 2019, Al-Khanjar and Abu Mazen intervened in the selection of the new Nineveh governor.
Sources said that the majority of the 39 members of the Nineveh Council in charge of electing the new governor initially supported a candidate critical of Iran. However, Abu Mazen and Al-Khanjar invited 24 members of the council two days before the vote, to attend a meeting in a hotel in Erbil, near Mosul.
The sources added that the council members obtained promises to take up positions in the local government or to receive amounts of up to $ 300,000 per person if they voted for a different candidate, Mansour al-Muraid, a Sunni who was supported by Iran and its allies in Baghdad.
A council member told Reuters he accepted the money and used it to buy a new home.
Al-Merid was elected by a 28-vote majority of Council members.
Al-Khanjar confirmed that he and Abu Mazen met with members of the Council in Erbil to agree on the ruler and negotiate regional positions. He also confirmed that he supported al-Mirahid, but he denied buying votes.
For his part, the winning governor, Mansour Al-Muraid, said that he is not aware of any bribes presented to the members of the council, and denied that he is pro-Iranian in any way. "But I have no knowledge of this. Members of the Council are following. I am not surprised by this thing."
The Erbil meeting was not the only meeting held at that time. Three members of the Council described other meetings and contacts with senior Iraqi factions officials who were trying to win support for al-Maraid.
Another Nineveh Council member reported that he and one of his colleagues were invited to a hotel in Baghdad after the vote to meet a senior Iranian diplomat and a leader of the Iraqi factions loyal to Iran.
The member - who had previously raised his voice criticizing the appointment of Al-Meraid - said that he had received an offer for a position in the Nineveh government if he abandoned his opposition to the new governor. He added that he declined to accept the offer.
An American response
Within a few months, events unfolded in the opposite direction. The United States imposed sanctions on faction leaders allied with Iran and their Sunni Iraqi allies, including Abu Mazen in July, and Dagger in December.
The US Treasury said it had decided to freeze Abu Mazen's assets because he had protected his "personal interests and acted appropriately with Iranian-backed proxies operating outside of state control."
The ministry targeted the dagger in a round of sanctions against faction leaders backed by Iran, accusing him of bribery and said he spent "millions of dollars on Iraqi political figures in order to obtain their support."
Abu Mazen and al-Khanjar denied any wrongdoing at that time and denounced the US sanctions as interference in the internal affairs of Iraq.
A relative of Abu Mazen and five members of the Nineveh Council said that Abu Mazen felt under pressure as a result of the American move. They added that these measures contributed to persuading him to withdraw his support for Al-Maraid and the support of a former military commander who is an ally of the United States, Major General Najm al-Jabouri, in order to replace him as governor.
In November, 23 of the 39 members of the parliament voted to approve the dismissal of Al-Merid and the appointment of Jubouri.
Local officials say the appointment of Jubouri and pressure on Iran's allies across the country with US air strikes and sanctions has limited the activity of armed factions in Mosul.
The presence of the military factions has diminished in the internal streets of the city after Shiite banners and the faction's flags fluttered over the mosques at one time.
Pro-US officials in Mosul hope that Prime Minister al-Kazimi's government and divisions among Iranian-backed factions in the aftermath of Soleimani's killing will divert power from Iranian influence. Al-Kazemi is acceptable to the United States and Iran.
But these officials also complain that the governor of Jabouri has no power in confronting the factions of Iran and their political allies in Mosul, but Jabouri defended his record, indicating that any governor would face criticism, and recognized that political rivalries impede progress in rebuilding the city.
Four local officials said that some administrative positions had been replaced, and that these positions were no longer controlled by allies of Iranian-backed factions, but other positions were still held by officials linked to the faction groups.
The factions also have offices in Mosul and other business contracts, although these offices were canceled by decree of the central government last year.
A ruined city
A document appended to the signature of the mayor of Nineveh municipalities, Abdul Qadir Al-Dakhil, showed that the regional authorities had not resolved contracts for projects exceeding $ 200 million in Nineveh Governorate in 2019.
Al-Dakhil said that among these projects is a new emergency hospital, equipment for another hospital in a location near it, the purchase of additional vehicles for the civil defense services, and the repair of 13 schools.
Dr. Omar Hammoudat - who assists in managing the medical complex on the right side of Mosul - worked in the city's hospitals under international sanctions during the 1990s and under the control of the state organization. Hammoudat said the healthcare infrastructure was the worst he had ever seen.
He said that the hospital could at one time perform 200 emergency surgeries per day. Now the number is about 15 operations.
Before the organization reached the state, the total number of beds in Nineveh Governorate hospitals was about 4000 beds. Now the number is a little more than a thousand beds, including what Hammoud calls "caravans", referring to prefabricated structures.
The head of civil defense in Mosul, Hossam Khalil, said that the provision of emergency vehicles such as firefighters and ambulances was not achieved, although it was expected to take place in 2019.
Lingering influence
In the rest of the Sunni provinces between Nineveh and Baghdad, members of local councils, tribal leaders, and members of the Iraqi parliament say that Iran's efforts to strengthen the position of its domestic political allies will likely be more resilient than American methods of air strikes and economic sanctions.
America's potential friends bemoan what they see as the lack of interest or the ability of the American side to reduce the Iranian influence in Iraq that was invaded by the Allied forces 17 years ago.
In February 2019, the head of the Salah al-Din Provincial Council, Ahmed al-Karim, traveled to Washington to demand US support for his region and help counter Iran.
A senior Iraqi deputy, who was a relative of al-Karim, said the visit was not fruitful. He added that all of those he met did not show interest in his proposals to enhance the American military presence and investment.
In contrast, a Salahuddin province official said, "The Iranians, including diplomats at the embassy, are communicating with individuals that you do not expect to communicate with at a local level."