Less than a year ago I stood in the ruined Old City of Mosul, standing next to the mosque where the Caliphate had been proclaimed by ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. There was a large hole in the roof, and the whole area around it had been bombed to rubble. Apart from the corpses of ISIS fighters which were still being removed from the area, the only other physical sign of their recent presence, apart from their graffiti on buildings, were piles of facial hair on the floor of many of the buildings; they had shaved off their beards in a vain attempt to avoid being identified.