Former University of Mosul student Yusuf al-Hamdani was not able to choke back his tears when he saw the Iraqi flag flying once more above his alma mater.

On January 14th, Iraqi forces announced the university had been restored to the control of the state and was firmly out of the hands of the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL).

Al-Hamdani told Diyaruna he had been a student at the university's Faculty of Education before he and thousands of fellow students had been forced to abandon their studies following ISIL's invasion of Mosul.

"I checked the university on January 22nd with a group of my colleagues and we were shocked by the scale of devastation left by the terrorists," he said. "ISIL elements made our university a centre to manage their terrorist operations and an impenetrable fortress that no one was allowed to enter or go near."

So when he saw that his country's national flag had replaced the group's black banner above the campus, "I cried with joy", he said, adding that happier memories of his time as a student there came flooding back to him.

"I will volunteer to participate in any campaign to remove waste from the university and reconstruct it," he said, adding that he and his colleagues hope to resume their studies there as soon as possible.

Lessons in destruction

After two days of fierce fighting, Iraqi counter-terrorism forces cleared the entire university, which extends over more than 20 square kilometres, of ISIL fighters.

ISIL had turned the university into its main base in Mosul, Ministry of Defence spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasul told Diyaruna.

The group's transformation of the university from a place of learning into a bomb workshop shows the extent of "their backward thinking, and that they are only an obscurantist group that hates science and light", he said.

Inside the university, Iraqi forces discovered that ISIL had set up "20 workshops to manufacture car bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs)", he said.

One section of the university had been used as "a large warehouse to store weapons and ammunition, as well as a headquarters used by the terrorists for meetings, management and planning of their attacks", Rasul said.

Iraqi forces also found a "treasure of information", he added, including records and maps containing the names and nationalities of ISIL elements, the weapons in their possession, as well as secret codes that define each one of their functions.

These documents have been handed over to Iraqi intelligence, Rasul said.

Library burned down

During its occupation of the university, ISIL set fire to the library, second deputy governor of Ninawa Hassan Allaf told Diyaruna.

The library contained thousands of books, he said, in addition to old and rare manuscripts in various fields of knowledge, including science and literature.

This was a "major disaster by any measure", he said.

"The criminality of the terrorists against this institution, which is the second largest and the oldest university in Iraq after Baghdad University, extended until the last day of their occupation," he said.

As a final show of defiance, he said, the group "set fire to some of its faculty buildings and its research centres".

Founded in 1967, the University of Mosul includes 23 colleges, 12 research centres and counseling offices, as well as five medical clinics, a hospital, six museums and a number of directorates and technical and administrative units, Allaf said.

Before ISIL seized control of it, there were 30,794 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate studies programmes, he said, as well as 4,281 faculty members.

Spirit of Mosul returns

ISIL turned the university into its main headquarters in eastern Mosul when it became clear that students would not return under its rule, he said.

"The university, over time, turned into a significant stronghold for terrorists," he said, adding that ISIL fighters made use of the laboratories and equipment in the science and engineering faculties to manufacture car bombs and explosives.

Now that the group has been banished from the campus, the Ninawa local government has confirmed it will do what it can to rehabilitate the university and enable students to resume their studies.

The destruction and vandalism inflicted on the University of Mosul at the hands of ISIL was a "brutal and barbaric act", said Duraid Hikmat, an adviser to the Ninawa governor.

"This university has been credited for the graduation of thousands of scientists and researchers and provided Iraq and the world with scientific studies and distinguished contributions in all disciplines," he told Diyaruna.

The rehabilitation of the university will require significant effort from the government, he said, which will need to assess the extent of the damage and identify the requirements for reconstruction.

"Its restoration means the return of the spirit of the city of Mosul," he said.