I watched ISIS conquer Mosul and recorded everything I saw

Key Points:

• On June 10, 2014, Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city with nearly two million people, fell to ISIS in a single night as the Iraqi Army collapsed and soldiers fled, leaving the city under militant control.
• A historian inside Mosul chose to stay and document the occupation anonymously through a blog called "Mosul Eye," aiming to provide an accurate record of events amid widespread misinformation and fear.
• ISIS imposed strict control, including forced recruitment, public executions, and destruction of historical and religious sites, such as the shrine of al-Fatih al-Mosuli, to erase the city’s diverse cultural memory.
• The historian’s work focused on resisting both ISIS propaganda and external sensationalism by recording detailed facts about daily life, violence, and the dismantling of Mosul’s social fabric under occupation.
• The article highlights the importance of preserving truthful memory in conflict zones, emphasizing that the battle for Mosul was not only military but also a struggle over the city’s history and identity.