Forgotten Victims of War

When he was 8 years old, Muhammad says, he watched as fighters from the Islamic State dragged his father from their house in the Iraqi city of Mosul and shot him dead in the street.

“I was crying and screaming to leave him alone, to leave my house,” says Muhammad,* now 10. “But they didn’t listen.”

After the militants seized his mother, Muhammad and his two younger brothers and sister ended up at the city’s orphanage. They’re among the tens of thousands of Iraqi children who lost their parents under the brutality of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) and the battle to retake Iraqi territory from its rule. And they’re at risk of becoming forgotten casualties of the war.

“These children, they have suffered the most,” says Amal Abdullah, the deputy director of the Mosul orphanage. “It’s our duty now to try to return some happiness and comfort to them.”

When he was 8 years old, Muhammad says, he watched as fighters from the Islamic State dragged his father from their house in the Iraqi city of Mosul and shot him dead in the street.

“I was crying and screaming to leave him alone, to leave my house,” says Muhammad, now 10. “But they didn’t listen.”

Then the militants seized his mother. Muhammad and his two younger brothers and sister ended up at the city’s orphanage. They’re among the tens of thousands of Iraqi children who lost their parents under the brutality of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) and the long battle to take back Iraqi territory from its rule. And they’re at risk of becoming forgotten casualties of the war.

“We all have seen so much suffering in these past years; each one of us has our own tales of loss,” says Amal Abdullah, the deputy director of the Mosul orphanage. “But these children, they have suffered the most. It’s our duty now to try to return some happiness and comfort to them.”

Iraq has essentially been at war since the United States invaded in 2003. U.S. forces quickly ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, whom American officials had accused—in error, it turned out—of harboring weapons of mass destruction. But that did not bring peace or stability to the country, which had long suffered under Hussein’s savage rule. The new, U.S.-backed Iraqi government was fragile, and before long, American troops were fighting a war against insurgents that dragged on until 2011, when most U.S. troops left. In the chaos, the Islamic State, a terrorist group, gained significant power and took control of a third of Iraqi territory, starting in the summer of 2014.

The Islamic State ruled the areas it controlled with incredible cruelty that included public executions, torture, and slavery. By the time Iraqi forces, with U.S. help, retook most of the Iraqi territory from extremists in late 2017, some 20,000 children had been orphaned in and around Mosul. And that’s just a fraction of the 800,000 to 3 million children orphaned in the entire country since the Iraq war began. That includes children who have lost just one parent, who Iraqis also classify as orphans because a single parent in Iraqi culture can’t simultaneously serve as breadwinner and caregiver.

Iraq has essentially been at war since the United States invaded in 2003. U.S. forces quickly ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. American officials had accused him of harboring weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be an error. But that did not bring peace or stability to the country, which had long suffered under Hussein’s savage rule. The new, U.S.-backed Iraqi government was fragile. Before long, American troops were fighting a war against the rebels. The war dragged on until 2011, after which most U.S. troops left. In the chaos, the Islamic State gained significant power. The terrorist group took control of a third of Iraqi territory, starting in the summer of 2014.

The Islamic State ruled the areas it controlled with incredible cruelty. Their brutal rule included public executions, torture, and slavery. Iraqi forces, with U.S. help, retook most of the Iraqi territory from extremists by the end of 2017. By then, some 20,000 children had been orphaned in and around Mosul. And that’s just a fraction of the 800,000 to 3 million children orphaned in the entire country since the Iraq war began. That includes children who have lost just one parent. Iraqis also classify these children as orphans because a single parent in Iraqi culture can’t be both the breadwinner and caregiver.

Most of these children have been placed with their extended families. Some without any family live at the Mosul orphanage. The orphans there include children of victims of the Islamic State, like Muhammad, as well as children of dead Islamic State fighters.

“No child is responsible for his parents’ actions,” says Iman Salim, a social worker at the orphanage. “Each of our children are victims. Each needs our love.”

Many child advocates in Iraq worry about the huge number of orphans who lack support systems and what that might mean for the country down the line.

“If you don’t reach these kids and put them on a good track, they’re going to be vulnerable to being recruited for future violence,” says Cindy Fogleman, director of the Iraqi Children Foundation.

Most of these children have been placed with their extended families. Some without any family live at the Mosul orphanage. Some orphans there are children of victims of the Islamic State, like Muhammad. Others are children of dead Islamic State fighters.

“No child is responsible for his parents’ actions,” says Iman Salim, a social worker at the orphanage. “Each of our children are victims. Each needs our love.”

Many child advocates in Iraq worry about the huge number of orphans who lack support systems. They wonder what it might mean for the country down the line.

“If you don’t reach these kids and put them on a good track, they’re going to be vulnerable to being recruited for future violence,” says Cindy Fogleman, director of the Iraqi Children Foundation.

Even those orphans placed with their extended families continue to suffer. Many families live on the brink of poverty, having lost most of their possessions in the war.

One of those now living with relatives is 10-year-old Nour, whose favorite game used to be pretending to be a princess. She stopped playing make-believe in July 2017, when she lost 19 members of her family as they tried to escape Mosul’s besieged Old City, where the Islamic State was making its last stand.

Her family had decided to leave the makeshift bomb shelters where they had been cowering for days and run for the safety of the Iraqi Army lines. As they dodged bullets and stumbled through mounds of rubble, an Islamic State suicide bomber ran at them and detonated her bomb.

Nour remembers being blown into the air, but nothing else. Her parents, her little sister, six cousins, six aunts and uncles, and her grandmother were killed.

Her surviving relatives, a 63-year-old great-aunt and her 21-year-old married sister, found her at a field hospital, where an American military medic had saved her life. They took her, frail and bandaged, to her aunt’s home.

But her family had no way to nurse the painful scars on her face, hands, and arms, or the emotional pain she carried. Nour had second- and third-degree burns from her fingertips to her elbows and across her cheeks, as well as severe nerve damage in both hands.

Even those orphans placed with their extended families continue to suffer. Many families live on the brink of poverty, having lost most of their possessions in the war.

One of those now living with relatives is 10-year-old Nour. Her favorite game used to be pretending to be a princess. She stopped playing make-believe in July 2017. That month, she lost 19 members of her family. They had tried to escape Mosul’s besieged Old City, where the Islamic State was making its last stand.

Her family had been cowering for days in makeshift bomb shelters. They decided to leave and run for the safety of the Iraqi Army lines. As they dodged bullets and stumbled through mounds of rubble, an Islamic State suicide bomber ran at them and detonated her bomb.

Nour remembers being blown into the air, but nothing else. Her parents, her little sister, six cousins, six aunts and uncles, and her grandmother were killed.

Her surviving relatives, a 63-year-old great-aunt and her 21-year-old married sister, found her at a field hospital. An American military medic there had saved her life. They took her, frail and bandaged, to her aunt’s home.

But her family had no way to nurse the painful scars on her face, hands, and arms, or the emotional pain she carried. Nour had second- and third-degree burns from her fingertips to her elbows and across her cheeks. She also had severe nerve damage in both hands.

Her great-aunt, Sukaina Muhammad, who lost her husband in the same blast, makes ends meet with food donations from a local charity. She spent the family’s meager savings on two surgical operations to help Nour regain the use of her arms, but she can’t afford reconstructive surgery.

Last spring, they enrolled Nour in school, hoping a regular routine would help her cope with her sadness. But her first week in class, her classmates and teachers laughed at the claw-like appearance of her burned hands.

“Can you imagine anything as cruel as that?” her aunt asks.

Nour stopped going to class. She now spends her day helping her great-aunt with household chores. Her favorite toy is a stuffed Mickey Mouse. She prefers that over the pretty dolls her cousins have.

“It’s hard to pretend like that,” Nour says. “I’m not beautiful like them.”

Her great-aunt, Sukaina Muhammad, lost her husband in the same blast. She makes ends meet with food donations from a local charity. She spent the family’s meager savings on two surgical operations to help Nour regain the use of her arms. But the family can’t afford reconstructive surgery for Nour.

Last spring, they enrolled Nour in school. They hoped a regular routine would help her cope with her sadness. But her first week in class, her classmates and teachers laughed at the claw-like appearance of her burned hands.

“Can you imagine anything as cruel as that?” her aunt asks.

Nour stopped going to class. She now spends her day helping her great-aunt with household chores. Her favorite toy is a stuffed Mickey Mouse. She prefers that over the pretty dolls her cousins have.

“It’s hard to pretend like that,” Nour says. “I’m not beautiful like them.”

*Only first names of the children are being used to protect their privacy.

Margaret Coker is a reporter for The New York Times. Additional reporting by Patricia Smith.

Margaret Coker is a reporter for The New York Times. Additional reporting by Patricia Smith.