Owner Government of Iraq Elevation AMSL 719 ft / 216 m 8̶,̶6̶9̶5̶ 2̶,̶6̶5̶0̶ Code OSM | Location Mosul 1̶5̶/̶3̶3̶ 8̶,̶6̶9̶5̶ Address Mosul, Iraq Elevation 216 m | |
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Airport type Unknown (previously Public / Military) Similar Mosul Museum, الحدباء مدرسه المهج الابتدائيه, معسكر الغزلاني, Mosul Municipal, Al Hadba University College | ||
Mosul International Airport (IATA: OSM, ICAO: ORBM) is an airport located at Mosul, capital of Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. It became a civil airport in 1990 with the rebuild of the runway (from asphalt to concrete) and construction of a new terminal. After undergoing major renovations to be able to reach international standards and category 1 status, it reopened as a civilian airport on 2 December 2007. On 9 June 2014, it was captured by militants from ISIL.
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In February 2017, the Iraqi government recaptured the airport from the ISIL militants.It took Iraqi forces just 4 hours to battle the retreating ISIL opponent and clear them off the airport. The retaking of the airport is part of an offensive, that started on 19th February 2017 to retake Western Mosul from ISIL.
History
The airfield was used by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) at the end of the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I and from 1920 RAF aircraft squadrons (and from 1922 also Royal Air Force Armoured Car Companies) were based there while Iraq was under the League of Nations British Mandate. RAF Mosul was handed over to the Royal Iraqi Air Force in 1936 under the terms of the 1931 Mandate but was used again by the RAF during World War II. It subsequently became a major Iraqi Air Force base, with at least a squadron of MiG-21s stationed there.
The military air base was one of several Iraqi Air Force airfields in the mid-1970s which were re-built under project "Super-Base" in response to the experiences from Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973.
It was seized by Coalition forces in 2003 after Operation Iraqi Freedom. It became a United States Army facility. The 101st Airborne was the first Army Unit to occupy the base in 2003. The Base was divided into two FOB's. FOB Marez to the West and FOB Diamondback to the East which incorporated the Airfield.
On 21 December 2004, fourteen US soldiers, four American employees of Halliburton, and four Iraqi soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a dining hall at the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Marez, East of the main US military airfield at Mosul. The Pentagon reported that 72 other personnel were injured in the attack carried out by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest and the uniform of the Iraqi security services. The Islamic terrorist group Army of Ansar al-Sunna (partly evolved from Ansar al-Islam) declared responsibility for the attack in an Internet statement.
In 2006, the U.S. Government invested millions of dollars restoring the airfield lighting and built a brand new "state of the art" air traffic control tower for the airfield. The Iraqi passenger terminal was also restored and reopened for a flight in late 2007.
In 2007, during the surge the base was downsized and consolidated into one FOB (Marez) even though the footprint did not change.
In 2011, the airfield and facility were turned back over to the Iraqi Government.
On 9 June 2014, the airport was captured by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as part of the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive. Satellite images taken on 31 October 2016 shows that the airport runways have been damaged, with wide trenches carved into them and rubble placed along their lengths, according to Stratfor. Taxiways and aprons have also been sabotaged by ISIL militants.
The airport was recaptured by U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces on 23 February 2017.
Airlines and destinations
Due to the current state of affairs in Iraq caused by ISIS, all flights have been suspended to and from the airport.