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CENGIZ YAR

documentary photographer
  • battle for mosul
  • dear father
  • syria's children
  • bashoor
  • rojava
  • his will be done
  • one nation under
  • dark phantom
  • echo chamber
  • humanitarian
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The battle for Mosul stalls: 'we are fighting the devil himself' - for The Guardian

December 06, 2016 in tearsheets

Work covering the Mosul offensive for The Guardian as the fight between Iraqi forces and ISIS continues. Read the article here.
Tags: mosul, iraq, iraqi, fighting, battle, battle for mosul, war, conflict
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Civilians flee fighting in Mosul, Iraq on June 23, 2017. (© UNHCR/Cengiz Yar) #Iraq #Iraqi #ISIS #battleformosul #conflict #civilians #displacement #children
A young boy walks up a city street while fleeing fighting in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq on June 24, 2017. (© UNHCR/Cengiz Yar) #Iraq #Iraqi #ISIS #battleformosul #conflict #civilians #displacement #children
Tabarek stands outside her family's tents in Hamam al-Alil IDP Camp on July 4, 2017. (Cengiz Yar for @wsjphotos) #children #war #iraq #iraqi #conflict #isis #battleformosul #afterisis #displacement
A mother and son embrace after being seperated while fleeing fighting in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq on June 24, 2017. (© UNHCR/Cengiz Yar) #Iraq #Iraqi #ISIS #battleformosul #conflict #civilians #displacement
Ahmed Suleiman Abdullah, 45, used to drive a taxi service between Mosul and Tikrit. He wants to return to Mosul, but he's waiting for city services to get back up and running again at his house, which wasn't heavily damaged in the fighting. "My main concern now is the water," he said, although it wasn't clear when it would be restored. "Whenever the water is back I can get my family back. I don't feel comfortable here." (Cengiz Yar for @wsjphotos) Posed portrait taken in Hamam Al-Alil IDP Camp on July 4, 2017. Read more from this report with @asafitch on the last days of the battle for Mosul here https://graphics.wsj.com/glider/mosulfall-3062b335-3752-414a-98fb-024dde158813 #war #iraq #iraqi #conflict #isis #battleformosul #afterisis #displacement
Members of the Iraqi Army's 16th Division and Iraqi Civil Defense clear a house along a frontline with ISIS in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq on June 25, 2017. #mosul #iraq #battleformosul #isis #conflict #iraqis
Hussien Abu Wasan, shown here carrying a woman through rubble in the Old City, was killed by a sniper this week.
Out of the desert they walked, trudging through the sand and dust kicked up by Iraqi special forces Humvees. Some carried small bags of clothing. Others held sticks with white cloth tied to the end. Mohamed carried the tiny body of his two-month-old daughter wrapped in bloodied linen. It was Feb. 23 on the southwest outskirts of Mosul, the day before Iraqi forces began their campaign to retake the western half of the city. Their attack prompted thousands of civilians like Mohamed and his family to flee. They had been sheltering inside that morning when some sort of munition hit their house. The explosion killed his wife, their infant and an unconfirmed number of other civilians nearby. Security forces clustered Mohamed’s group together near a concrete home where his family sought out water. First they gulped desperately, then they washed the child’s body. Two women joined by the girl’s elderly uncle stripped the body in the shade behind the house. Holding the lifeless form by one leg, they poured water from plastic bottles over it. No one spoke as the artillery and explosions echoed from the distance. I watched with a young Iraqi soldier, who looked at me and shook his head in sadness. After re-wrapping the body in the linen, the girl’s uncle walked back out with a broken pickaxe and a shovel. He and other men from the family selected a small spot in the earth and began to dig. Tired and exhausted from their journey, and frail from the months of siege, they struggled to make a dent. Each took turns before collapsing beside the hole in the earth. After digging for about 45 minutes they lowered the body. The flow of civilians passed by as smoke from the fighting rose behind them. Stacking stones over the corpse, they then used water from the bottles to make clay with the earth and seal in the body. Kneeling, the men shoveled the remaining bits of dirt into the holes with their hands and placed a gravestone at the top. On it, along with the girl’s name and the year, was scratched: “This is a child’s grave.” Link in bio for a @katzandrew @timelightbox piece including this and other photographer's images and backstories covering the Mosul offensive. #battleformosul
Smoke rises from fighting over the Old City of Mosul, Iraq on June 23, 2017. This photo was taken as a flare dropped from the sky, illuminating the city. (© UNHCR/Cengiz Yar) #Iraq #Iraqi #ISIS #battleformosul #conflict
A family flees fighting in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq on June 23, 2017. (© UNHCR/Cengiz Yar) #Iraq #Iraqi #ISIS #battleformosul #conflict #civilians #displacement

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