Landmines and Ruins Block Return to Northern Iraq

Years after the territorial defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq, thousands of displaced residents remain unable to return to their homes in the country’s rural northern provinces, according to reporting by The Guardian. While military campaigns dismantled the extremist group’s physical caliphate, former residents now face a secondary barrier preventing resettlement: unexploded ordnance, widespread infrastructural destruction, and lingering security restrictions.

The Scale of Displacement in Northern Iraq

Entire communities across northern governorates have languished as uninhabited ghost villages since military operations drove out militant forces. Displaced families continue to live in displacement camps or rented accommodations in urban centers rather than attempting to rebuild their properties. According to humanitarian assessments, returning to these agricultural areas presents immediate physical risks due to heavy contamination from landmines and improvised explosive devices left behind during the conflict.

Agriculture, which historically served as the economic backbone for these rural settlements, remains largely paralyzed. Fields that once yielded seasonal crops are littered with unexploded munitions, rendering farming perilous. Furthermore, the systematic destruction of homes, electrical grids, and water pumping stations during the conflict has left returning families without the basic utilities required to sustain daily life.

Security Hurdles and Reconstruction Delays

Beyond physical hazards, administrative and security vetting processes create additional delays for displaced populations seeking permission to return. Local security forces frequently enforce strict clearance procedures to prevent the resurgence of militant cells, yet these measures often result in prolonged bureaucratic stalemates for applicants. Humanitarian organizations note that limited funding for large-scale clearance operations and reconstruction projects has further slowed the rehabilitation of damaged villages.

Without coordinated international and domestic funding to clear hazardous remnants of war and restore basic infrastructure, these northern settlements face the prospect of remaining permanently abandoned. Former residents report that despite wishing to reclaim their ancestral lands and farming livelihoods, the combination of physical danger and bureaucratic obstacles makes permanent return unfeasible under current conditions.