audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - On October 17, 2016 Iraqi government forces launched a major offensive to retake the city of Mosul from so-called Islamic State. The campaign brings a 100,000-strong U.S.-backed coalition of army troops, special forces, federal police, Kurdish fighters and the Popular Mobilisation forces against a few thousand militants in the city, forcing tens of thousands of Iraqis to abandon their homes. The offensive was launched more than two years after ISIS jihadists overran the city before seizing control of much of northern and western Iraq. Some 926 civilians were killed and 930 others were injured. According to analysis by IHS Conflict Monitor, ISIS fighters have lost territory since the offensive began. However, gains have slowed in recent days. Winter conditions will soon hit the nearly 80,000 people registered by the United Nations as displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign. With little food or fuel reaching distressed Mosul and the onset of rain and cold weather threatens a tough winter for more than a million people still in areas of the city still held by ISIS.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 23, 2016 - Qayyara, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Children play in the smoke and soot of the fires unaware of the damage that released carcinogens will do to their developing bodies for many years to come.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 3, 2016 - Hasansham, Ninewa Province, Iraq - The funeral rite and burial of Anis Mahmoud, 10 of Mosul. He lived for 5 days before succumbing to his wounds after a mortar strike that also killed his father.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 3, 2016 - Hasansham, Ninewa Province, Iraq - The funeral rite and burial of ANIS MAHMOUD, 10 of Mosul. He lived for 5 days before succumbing to his wounds after a mortar strike that also killed his father.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 3, 2016 - Hasansham, Ninewa Province, Iraq - The funeral rite and burial of Anis Mahmoud, 10 of Mosul. He lived for 5 days before succumbing to his wounds after a mortar strike that also killed his father.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

December 5, 2016 - Gogjali, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Residents of Gobjali cue up in long lines outside of the field hospital to receive a ration of fuel. Supplies have been slow to reach the civilian population during this early phase of the offensive.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - A man helps his injured friend make it to the field hospital at Gogjali in eastern Mosul.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 23, 2016 - Qayyara, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Fires have been burning for the last four months in the oil rich town of Qayyara, south of Mosul ever since ISIS retreated and set fire to the wells, creating a massive environmental disaster. These massive fires are now visible from space.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 23, 2016 - Qayyara, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Firefighters from the city of Kirkuk, who specialize in the disposal of oil field fires have been fighting The Qayyara fires for months. They claim that it will take many months more. These massive fires are now visible from space.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 23, 2016 - Qayyara, Ninewa Province, Iraq - A shepherd tends his sheep who were once white. However, after four months of burnt oil smoke their coats have turned black.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 23, 2016 - Qayyara, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Despite living under extraordinary circumstances, life is beginning to return to normal in the town and children have begun returning to school.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 25, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Residents of the newly liberated neighborhood of Aden peer outside from their homes as the Iraqi Army enters.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 25, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Members of the Iraqi Special Operations Force, Golden Division ISOF 2, Mosul Battalion conduct aerial reconnaissance with a drone in the neighborhood of Aden.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - An elderly man, WAJI MUHAMMED in the newly liberated Khadra housing complex.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 30, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - A family walks past a destroyed M-1 Abrams tank in Gogjali.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 30, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - People in the besieged neighborhood of Albakir receive food aid from the Iraqi army.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - MUNTASER KHALEEL who was suspected of being an ISIS spy waves a white flag in the newly liberated neighborhood of Aden. He was taken away for questioning and later cleared.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Residents of the Khadra housing complex which was liberated from ISIS only hours earlier wave the white flag of surrender to the passing Iraqi Special Forces.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province,Iraq - Members of the Iraqi Special Operations Force, Golden Division ISOF 2, Mosul Battalion clear a house in the Khadra housing complex which was suspected of harboring ISIS fighters or IEDs.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Members of the Iraqi Special Operations Force, Golden Division ISOF 2, Mosul Battalion roll through the streets of eastern Mosul.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - An elderly man (name withheld) dies of his wounds from a mortar strike at the field hospital in Gogjali in eastern Mosul.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 30, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - The body of a dead ISIS fighter who blew himself up while trying to attack Iraqi forces lies on the ground.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 23, 2016 - Qayyara, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Firefighters from the city of Kirkuk, Iraq who specialize in the disposal of oil field fires have been fighting The Qayyara fires for months. They claim that it will take many months more. These massive fires are now visible from space.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 23, 2016 - Qayyara, Ninewa Province, Iraq - An unexploded mortar lies close to the firefighting efforts.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 23, 2016 - Qayyara, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Children play in the smoke and soot of the fires unaware of the damage that released carcinogens will do to their developing bodies for many years to come.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 25, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - A family looks at a passing Special Operations Humvee through bullet shattered ballistic glass.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq - A resident of the Khadra housing complex which was liberated only hours earlier show off a citation he received days earlier from ISIS.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 30, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, IRAQ - A group of Iraqi Army soldiers show off an ISIS flag they captured in the neighborhood of Albakir.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 25, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province, Iraq- Lieutenant General ABDUL GHANI AL ASADI accepts a rose from a boy in the newly liberated neighborhood of Aden.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2016 - Mosul, Ninewa Province,Iraq - Members of the Iraqi Special Operations Force, Golden Division ISOF 2, Mosul Battalion.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 23, 2016 - Qayyara, Ninewa Province, Iraq - Fires have been burning for the last four months in the oil rich town of Qayarra, south of Mosul ever since ISIS retreated and set fire to the wells, creating a massive environmental disaster. These massive fires are now visible from space.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 20, 2016 - Bashiqa, Kurdistan, Iraq - A statue of a horseman was destroyed by ISIS due to it's perception as a false idol in the Yazidi town of Bashiqa which was liberated and left in ruins after months of fighting between Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers and ISIS fighters.
© Gabriel Romero/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire