[Published here on July 27, 2017]
Beirut (AFP) – A US-backed alliance has ousted Islamic State group jihadists from half of their Syrian bastion Raqa, a monitor said Wednesday, as the escalating fighting drove up the civilian death toll.
ISIS
In IS-held Raqa, parched civilians risk lives for water | AFP
[Published here July 8, 2017]
Beirut (AFP) – Syria’s Raqa once thrived on the banks of the gushing Euphrates River, but dire shortages in the Islamic State group stronghold are forcing desperate civilians to risk their lives for water.
Syria army retakes ancient Palmyra from IS | AFP
[Published here on March 2, 2017]
Beirut (AFP) – Syrian troops backed by Russian jets completed the recapture of the historic city of Palmyra from the Islamic State group Thursday, the Kremlin and the army said, in another blow to the jihadists.
Mosul battle leaving legacy of environmental damage | AFP
[Published here on December 12, 2016]
Qayyarah, Iraq // The battle to retake Mosul from ISIL is leaving a legacy of environmental damage and health risks that will pose dangers to people for years to come.
Iraqi firefighters battle to tame IS oil well fires | AFP
[Published here on November 20, 2016]
Clad in red helmets and surgical masks, the firefighters emerged exhausted from the massive column of smoke streaming almost incessantly out of an oil well in northern Iraq.
Informants and interrogations crucial to Mosul advance | AFP
[Published here on November 19, 2016]
Identification cards and cell phones in hand, dozens of Iraqi men and boys trudge down a dusty road in eastern Mosul towards intelligence officials waiting apprehensively outside the neighbourhood mosque.
Mosul mechanics fight IS with wrenches | AFP
[Published here on November 18, 2016]
They are armed with wrenches instead of rifles and are rarely found on the front lines, but Mosul’s mechanics say they are indispensable to the fight against the Islamic State group.
