Welcome to the cities that have been liberated from Islamic State’s reign of terror

WOMEN burn their veils on the ground as men cut their beards off. Welcome to the cities that have been liberated from Islamic State.

Welcome to the towns that have been freed from Islamic State’s reign of terror.

MASSIVE crowds of people are dancing on the streets, singing triumphant songs and clapping while they jump.

They’ve just been liberated from more than two years of oppression under Islamic State, and words can’t even begin to describe their joy.

Last week, Nineveh Council announced Iraqi forces had fully liberated the north city of al-Qayyarah from IS control and raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings.

In these cities, Islamic State has been overthrown.

In a statement, council member Hossam El Din al Abbar said: “Iraqi Army, supported by the Iraqi Air Force, liberated the northern city of al-Qayyarah from IS control and raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings”.

“The sappers units have started dismantling the improvised explosive devices from roads and dismantling the booby-trapped houses.”

He said 25,000 civilians were liberated during the operation, which saw the death of dozens of members of the notorious terror group.

It’s a huge shift from years of oppression and destruction, where a random suicide bombing could kill hundreds without warning, and rapes and beatings were omnipresent.

Iraqis inspect the damage at the site of a suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group on July 3, 2016 in Baghdad's central Karrada district, roughly 330km north of al-Qayyarah.

The blast, which ripped through a street in the Karrada area where many people go to shop ahead of the holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, killed hundreds of people.

In this photo, people light candles at the scene of the car bomb attack to pay their respects.

The devastating aftermath of a suicide car bomb attack in Baghdad’s eastern Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City.

The change in the liberated zones is staggering, as we see the difference between those lucky enough to still be alive observing scenes of chaos and destruction, to people experiencing pure joy as they celebrate in the streets.

Smiling citizens take to the streets to celebrate the end of Islamic State’s rule in their town.

People are raising their arms in joy in the middle of the road.

Meanwhile, the people of Manbij in Syria have also been liberated from the terror group.

Women are triumphantly ripping off their niqabs — the black face veil they were forced to wear under IS rule — and burning them on the ground.

Men are cutting each other’s beards off with scissors in rejection of the terror group’s decree ordering all men to stop shaving under sharia law.

A woman removes a Niqab in her village after Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) took control of it, on the outskirts of Manbij city, Aleppo province.

A woman burns her Niqab on the ground to celebrate freedom.

A man cuts the beard of a civilian who was evacuated with others by the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters from an Islamic State-controlled neighbourhood of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria.

A young girl rips off her niqab triumphantly.

In the image below, a Manbij school that was once used by the terror group to manufacture explosives can be seen completely deserted.

It’s eerie to look at.

Over in Fallujah, pro-government forces fighters celebrate in the al-Sejar village, in Iraq's Anbar province.

But in the Iraqi city of Qayyarah, thick dark clouds of smoke are billowing into the sky.

Right before they abandoned the city, IS militants set fire to several of the region’s oil wells, creating an apocalyptic scene.

Since its capture of the town, IS had been using the oil wells to help finance its activities.

The smell of petrol now overwhelms the area. More than a few minutes in the area leaves one’s throat burning, and children walking the streets have quickly developed coughs.

Abdel Aziz Saleh, a 25-year-old Qayyarah resident, said he wants Baghdad to put out the fires as soon as possible.

“They are suffocating us,” he told Reuters. “The birds, the animals are black, the people are black. Gas rains down on us at night. Now the gas has reached the residential areas.”

Iraqi firefighters battle large fire at oil wells as they trying to prevent the flames from reaching the residential neighbourhoods in Qayara, Iraq.

The scene is apocalyptic.

But despite the well fires, Qayyarah remains full of inhabitants. Whereas civilians in most other areas recaptured from Islamic State fled ahead of or during government offensives the majority of Qayyarah’s roughly 20,000 residents have stayed put.

With no power and no more fear of punishment from Islamic State’s harsh rule, much of the population was in the streets on Monday, waving to military vehicles that handed out basic supplies like cooking oil, sugar and canned food.

Many neighbourhoods in Qayyara appear mostly or completely intact, and civilians, many of whom appeared to have recently shaved the beards that Islamic State requires men to grow, said they feel safe in their homes.

— with Reuters