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BAGHDAD, Dec. 31-- As the new year is around the corner, residents in Mosul, northern Iraq, are yearning for a better life in 2020. Two years after Iraq declared full liberation of the city from the Islamic State (IS), life is getting back to normal in the area, yet at a snail's pace. Ali Saadi, a 44-year-old butcher, said that he would have to keep working hard in 2020 in order to fulfill his wishes. "My wishes for the New Year is to finish rebuilding my destroyed house and to see my 17-year-old daughter able to walk again after being injured in the battles," Saadi said, standing near his under-construction house in the devastated neighborhood of the old city center in western Mosul. Saadi also hoped that his old neighborhood can be rebuilt and neighbors could return to their homes to live together again as their ancestors had been doing for hundreds of years. Also in the devastated old city center, Bashar Hazim, in his 40s, said, "My wish for 2020 is to see life flourishing again in Mosul, particularly in our historic markets and all the houses of the old city center, which represents the heritage and identity of Mosul." At the old al-Attareen market, which has been under reconstruction during the past three months, Hashim Walid, a restaurant owner, said, "The market is now clean and is ready to receive its people back." Walid's restaurant was damaged and abandoned during the battles. | 
