Photography: The Offensive

In October 2016, a large military operation to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second city, from the grip of IS, began to unfold. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen, assisted by US-led coalition warplanes and military advisers, took part in the fighting. After eight months of warfare, the government forces retook control of the city, putting an end to IS control of northern Iraq.