Late last week, Iraqi Kurdish militias, backed by a U.S.-led air campaign, launched an assault to retake the town of Sinjar in northern Iraq. The Islamic State's capture of Sinjar in August of 2014 left many people dead, and caused tens of thousands of Yazidis to flee into the neighboring mountains. Thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga and Yazidi fighters entered Sinjar last Thursday after the airstrikes. Yazidis celebrated the news, but photographs show that months of warfare have left little of the town standing intact. Kurdish forces are now taking efforts to set up a wide buffer zone to try and protect Sinjar from future attacks.
The Re-Taking of Sinjar, Iraq
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Read moreSmoke believed to be from an airstrike billows over the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar on November 12, 2015. #
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Read moreA Kurdish Peshmerga fighter pauses during an operation to retake the Iraqi town of Sinjar on November 12, 2015. #
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Read moreIraqi Kurdish forces take part in an operation backed by US-led strikes in the town of Sinjar, Iraq, on November 12, 2015, to retake the town from ISIS and cut a key supply line to Syria. #
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Read moreHeavy smoke covers the town of Sinjar during an operation by Iraqi Kurdish forces on November 12, 2015. #
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Read moreA Kurdish Peshmerga soldier passes by tires set afire days before by ISIS extremists to hinder airstrikes on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreA Kurdish Peshmerga soldier passes through the rubble of a Sinjar neighborhood on November 15, 2015. #
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Read moreIraqi autonomous Kurdish region's Peshmerga forces and fighters from the Yazidi minority, enter the town of Sinjar, on November 13, 2015. #
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Read moreKurdish Peshmerga fighters enter the town of Sinjar on November 13, 2015, after they took it from ISIS in a joint operation with coalition forces. #
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Read moreA house burns on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreFormer Yazidi resident Khalaf Halti, 62, walks through the rubble of his neighborhood on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read morePeople remove household goods from the rubble of their town as a house burns on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreA Peshmerga soldier aims a Milan anti-tank missile towards an ISIS position, as a bulldozer builds berms and trenches on the new front line, on November 15, 2015, near Sinjar, Iraq. The German Bundeswehr gave Kurdish Peshmerga troops the wire-guided missiles to protect themselves against explosive-packed armored vehicles, which Daesh suicide bombers drive into Kurdish forces and detonate. #
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Read moreA Peshmerga soldier walks past the rubble of a neighborhood on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read morePeshmerga forces take positions on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreA family photo album sits in the rubble of a home on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreA deflated soccer ball lies next to a building hit by an airstrike on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreA Kurdish Peshmerga fighter flashes the victory sign as he walks through the town of Sinjar after it was retaken from ISIS, on November 13, 2015. #
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Read morePeshmerga forces patrol on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreYazidi refugees celebrate news of the liberation of their homeland town of Sinjar from ISIS extremists, while at a refugee camp in Derek, Rojava, Syria, on November 13, 2015. #
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Read moreYazidi refugees celebrate news of the liberation of Sinjar from ISIS extremists, while at a refugee camp in Syria on November 13, 2015. #
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Read moreIraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani announces the liberation of the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar from ISIS during a press conference held on the outskirts of the town, on November 13, 2015. #
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Read moreFormer Yazidi resident Khalaf Halti, 62, walks through the rubble of his neighborhood on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreYazidi soldiers cheer for a fallen comrade on November 15, 2015, near Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreA Peshmerga enters a former ISIS tunnel on November 15, 2015 in Sinjar, Iraq. #
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Read moreKurdish Peshmerga show what they say is a mass grave of more than 50 Yazidis killed by ISIS, on November 15, 2015, in Sinjar. #
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