In Iraq, survivors of the U.S.-led battle to recapture Mosul from ISIS say hundreds of thousands of the city’s displaced residents have been slow to return home. The United Nations estimates Mosul needs more than $1 billion just to restore electricity, sanitation, water and other basic infrastructure. This is West Mosul resident Abdelfattah.

Abdelfattah: “We want life to return here, not for us elderly, but for these children, the new generation. What fault have they committed? They have no schools, no education, no healthcare, nothing. Here there is nothing. We want life to return here so people will come back. We want them to ask about us, what we need. We have nothing. We just sit here daily, patiently waiting.”

An estimated 700,000 residents fled the nine-month-long battle to recapture Mosul. Iraqi intelligence reports claim more than 40,000 civilians died in the fighting.