Rebuilding Mosul: The daunting mission to bring the demolished city back from the dead - LA Times

Rebuilding Mosul: The daunting mission to bring the demolished city back from the dead - LA Times

Thousands of buildings have been reduced to rubble, more than 120 miles of roadways have been damaged, and the city’s airport, railway station and at least one university are wrecked.

As the militants retreated after 2½ years of occupation, they intentionally targeted infrastructure, demolishing vital bridges, attacking the water and sewage systems and tearing down electricity lines. They also laced neighborhoods with booby traps and homemade bombs.

“The destruction is massive,” said Saroj Kumar Jha, who oversees Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon for the World Bank. “It will be a very big reconstruction effort.”