A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier, during a moment of leisure in the Yazidi town of Bashiqa. Nov. 20, 2016. Bashiqa, Iraq. ©Gabriel Romero 2016

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Liberation and Longing: The Battle for Mosul

Gabriel Romero | Iraq

The Battle of Mosul began on October 16, 2016 with forces besieging the Islamic State controlled areas in the Nineveh Governorate surrounding Mosul. The coalition forces fighting ISIS consist of elements of the Iraqi Army, Kurdish Peshmerga forces, Shia militias and United States, French, British and many other coalition partners. The city of Mosul fell to only an estimated 800 Islamic State fighters in June of 2014, due largely to the Iraqi Sunni populations deep distrust of the primarily Shia Iraqi government. South of the city, massive oil fires burn in the town of Qayyara, which were set ablaze by retreating ISIS fighters. Since June of 2014, thousands of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in what has become a massive humanitarian disaster.

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