Burning desert

Late 2016 // In August 2016, Iraqi forces, on an advance towards Mosul, liberated the oil-rich town of Qayyarah from the grip of the Islamic State group (ISIS), who had occupied it for the previous two years. As they fled north, the terror group lit several of the wells in and around the city to blackout the sky protecting them from drone- and airstrikes. It took a total of nine months to put out all the burning oilfields. The long term environmental and health impact, to the local population who lived for months under black clouds and ash-rain, is yet to be determined.