Iraq reopens strategic highway after three-year closure

By Mohamed Walid

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) - Iraqi authorities on Thursday reopened the highway linking the city of Dohuk in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region to Mosul, regional capital of Nineveh province, according to a local official.

“The highway has been tentatively reopened for local officials," Hossam al-Din al-Abbar, a member of Nineveh’s provincial council, said in a press statement.

"Iraqi authorities are now coordinating with Peshmerga officials with a view to reopening the road to the wider public,” he said.

The Mosul-Dohuk highway, which passes over the Mosul Dam, “was reopened after three and a half years of closure due to the war against the Daesh terrorist group,” al-Abbar said.

According to the same official, the highway represents an important artery for trade between Turkey, the northern Kurdish region and the rest of Iraq.

All roads linking Mosul and Nineveh to other parts of the country were cut by Iraqi security forces after Daesh overran the area three and a half years ago.

In August, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that the northern Nineveh province had been “entirely liberated” from Daesh.

The terrorist group has recently suffered a string of crushing defeats in both Iraq and Syria after overrunning vast territories in both countries in mid-2014.