These aerial photos show the terrifying devastation in Mosul

Political scientist Marcel Dirsus is one of many people who has shared two contrasting satellite images of Mosul, Iraq.

Before and after the battle for the city:

The photos come from a series of before and after satellite images collated by the New York Times.

On 9 July, Iraq's prime minister Haider al-Abadi entered the city and declared victory after the nine month offensive.

Officially the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had been occupying Mosul since 2014. An offensive began in October 2016 to reclaim it was undertaken by the Iraqi army, with US air support.

The series in the New York Times compared five locations in Mosul in November 2015, and after the air strikes in 2017.

Mosul has been a battleground in Iraq at various times between the US, coalition forces, Isis, Al-Qaeda, and Iraqi government forces.

9 July 2017.  Children and soldiers celebrate the liberation of the city. (Picture: FADEL SENNA/AFP/Getty Images)

12 July 2017. A man walks along a damaged street in west Mosul. (Picture: FADEL SENNA/AFP/Getty Images)

The Associated Press quotes a survey by U.N. Habitat that estimates more than 5,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed in the last three weeks of bombardment. The survey is based on satellite imagery, and also reports that 10,000 buildings were damaged over the course of the war.

In May, the Pentagon confirmed the US had conducted one particular air strike on a truck in Al-Jadida district, which resulted in the deaths of 105 civilians.

It was believed the air strike triggered explosives in a nearby building, and local officials reported as many as 240 people were killed in the blast.

However not all of the destruction can be blamed on anti-Isis efforts.

Isis has also used explosives to devastate parts of the city it occupied.

In June, Isis destroyed the very Mosque from which its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had previously declared the new caliphate.

The Al-Nuri mosque, once famed for its leaning minaret, was damaged by explosives.

Picture: MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images.

HT New York Times

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