On Sunday 9 July, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Christos Stylianides hailed the liberation of the Iraqi city of Mosul by Iraqi armed forces with the support of the global coalition for countering so-called Islamic State (Da'esh).
"The recovery of Mosul from the hands of Da'esh marks a decisive step in the campaign to eliminate terrorist control in parts of Iraq and to free its people", they said in a joint press release. Mogherini and Stylianides also paid tribute to the courage of the people of Iraq, its government and the armed forces, and to the "sacrifice in military and civilian lives" that the Iraqi people have made to achieve this victory. They reiterated "the importance of protecting civilian lives for the success of the campaign and for the reconciliation of the population afterwards, both in Mosul and in the campaign to liberate the remaining areas of resistance elsewhere in the country".
Mogherini and Stylianides added that it is "now essential that a process of return and the re-establishment of trust between communities begins, and that all Iraqis are able to start building a shared future". The EU pledges to continue its support to Iraq in the humanitarian, security, stabilisation and reconciliation challenges it still faces, they added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)