Pyrrhus (Mosul, Iraq - 2017)
The battle for the recapture of the city of Mosul, fallen to the hands of the Islamic State jihadi who proclaimed it their capital in June 2014, was long and harsh. Nine months of siege, of daily fights and constant airstrikes.
Given the balance of forces on each side, it made no doubt that the Iraqis and the international coalition would achieve victory. But the Islamic State opposition, aware of the territorial defeat and keen to make a stand as well as an impression, was fierce.
Trapped in the battle, civilians paid the heaviest price. Starved, isolated, first used as human shields by the Jihadi and then suspected of collusion with the enemy once they managed to reach the Iraqi frontlines, the number of victims amounts to the thousands and the UN estimates at nearly one million the number of displaced civilians.
Military victory was achieved, that's a fact, but it's a victory that Iraq's second city will have a hard time to recover from.