In today's episode our reporter Meng Qingsheng explores the aftermath of the conflict, with the focus being on Iraq's second largest city - Mosul.

Two months after returning to the Old City of Mosul, Khaled Ibrahim is now able to restart his appliance repair business. The shop was destroyed and looted during a nine-month battle to retake Mosul from ISIL control.

KHALED IBRAHIM MOSUL RESIDENT "My shop was so badly damaged by the fighting. I simply cleaned it up and repaired only the most important parts. I have no money to fix a door here and buy a gas stove. Who will compensate for the loss but God? The government will not compensate for anything, as you know."

Khaled says business is not good, as most people in the neighborhood have little money to spend. Shatha Khaleel has custody of 10 orphans. Her family was either killed by airstrikes or taken away by ISIL fighters.

SHATHA KHALEEL MOSUL RESIDENT "We need aid. All those who promised us aid did not come back. We need mattresses and stoves. We are completely deprived, we came back to our houses and found nothing left. For each family here, only one or two members survived."

The battle to recapture Mosul, launched by Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led coalition, lasted from October 2016 until July the following year. We drove through the narrow streets. It's difficult to spot a fully intact building. The U.N. estimates that more than 20-thousand homes were destroyed or damaged in the battle, some of them historic sites like the al-Nuri Mosque. The brutal fight displaced nearly half of the city's 1.8 million people, with an unofficial death toll of around 10 thousand.

MENG QINGSHENG MOSUL, IRAQ "Most of the buildings in the old city of Western Mosul still lie in ruins, and under the rubble are rotting corpses of the dead militants and civilians. There are also unexploded mines and booby traps set by ISIL militants. The dangers are still there, hindering the reconstruction process."

The Iraqi government has worked out a multi-year plan to reconstruct the city. Khaled Ibrahim, like many others, is eager to make a quick turnaround.

KHALED IBRAHIM MOSUL RESIDENT "I don't think it would take so much time. Money is what is needed to rebuild. The workforce is available; all we need is money to complete the work. But without any money, we can only bemoan our lot."

Officials have put the initial cost to repair Mosul at 50 billion dollars. For many, the practical challenge ahead is how to settle into an old place when everything has changed. Meng Qingsheng, CGTN, Mosul, Iraq.