The sound of suicide bombs and gun fire were replaced by colourful fireworks as citizens were finally able to celebrate the start of a new year
Residents of Mosul enjoy their first New Year's Eve celebration in years after being freed from the tyranny of ISIS.
In Mosul, the city centre was once used as an execution site by ISIS fanatics. Pictures released by the Mosul Eye Twitter feed now showed crowds of people on those same streets enjoying a spectacular December 31 display.
Thanks to a 100,000-strong coalition of Iraqi government units, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shi'ite militias who launched the offensive to recapture the city ten months earlier.
ISIS swept across much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland in a lightning offensive in mid-2014, proclaiming a 'caliphate' straddling Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
The terrorists have since been swept back with their other stronghold of Raqqa in Syria having also been recaptured last year.
The anonymous blog Mosul Eye became a fascinating insight into life in the Iraqi city.
It revealed horrendous atrocities being committed by ISIS in the city of Mosul, from human rights abuses to beheadings.
Although many celebrated New Year's Eve there are still huge challenges facing the city which must rebuild after years of ISIS rule
