This series of photographs contains images of death, dying and (some of) the realities of war.
An Iraqi man carries his son into a Trauma Stabilization Point (TSP), a mosque turned makeshift medical facility, following an airstrike on the night of June 12, 2017 in West Mosul, Iraq.
Lina, age 4, is treated at a medical Trauma Stabilization Point (TSP) in West Mosul, Iraq on the night of June 12, 2017. A (coalition) airstrike hit the building where Lina, her family and several others were seeking shelter. With injuries to her face and torso Lina survived the blast; several others sustained serious injuries and at least two died.
An airstrike hits near the Al Nuri mosque within the Old City of West, Mosul Iraq on June 1, 2017. Less than three weeks later, on June 21, 2017, the Al Nuri Mosque would be destroyed when Islamic State fighters packed the building with explosives and reduced it to a pile of rubble. The mosque, a historic landmark for the city of Mosul, is also known as the site where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ascended a pulpit and declared a caliphate in the summer of 2014.
Zeinab, age seven, is carried into a hospital outside of Mosul, Iraq. The young girl was rushed to the hospital, itself partially destroyed by airstrikes, after medics at a Trauma Stabilization Point (TSP) determined that she needed advanced care.
Following an airstrike on the afternoon of May 31, 2017, Zeinab, age seven, whose feet are seen in this photograph, is transported to Mosul Hospital. Her mother, grandmother and younger sibling accompany her.
A road sign indicating the direction for the cities of Erbil and Mosul is seen through a dust-covered windshield. Though in the same direction and less than 90 minutes from one other Mosul was reduced to rubble with dead bodies still in the street while Erbil boasted modern a nightlife, numerous shopping malls and modern conveniences.
Medics treat Ammar at a medical Trauma Stabilization Point (TSP) following an airstrike on the night of June 12, 2017 in West Mosul, Iraq. Inconsistent electricity sources often required medics to improvise, using headlamps or lights from cellphones in order to treat patients.
A doctor performs chest compressions on Zeinab, age seven, on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 in West Mosul, Iraq. Zeinab was injured after her family's home was hit by a (coalition) airstrike; she died as a result of her injuries.
By June 2017 the majority of buildings in West Mosul, Iraq were destroyed, a result of airstrikes and street warfare.
Ali, age 7, is wrapped in preparation for burial. The young Moslawi died from blunt force trauma following an airstrike on the night of June 12, 2017 in West Mosul, Iraq.
Ali’s mother, Noor, grieves over the body of her son as his sister, Amal, looks on. On the night of June 12, 2017 an airstrike hit Ali's neighborhood in West Mosul, Iraq. The young Moslawi died from blunt force trauma and arrived at the Trauma Stabilization Point (TSP) "dead on arrival."
Ali's body sits outside Trauma Stabilization Point #2 in West Mosul, Iraq. The young Moslawi died from blunt force trauma following an airstrike on the night of June 12, 2017. Reports as recent as November 2017 assert that one in five coalition airstrikes in Mosul resulted in civilian death, a rate more than 31 times that initially acknowledge by the coalition. This disparity in civilian deaths, in conjunction with consistent failures to properly investigate claims of death or to keep thorough records, makes the battle to liberate Mosul one of the least transparent wars in recent American history. (New York Times, The Uncounted, November 16, 2017)
To many, war has become an abstract burden. To Ali and other young victims in the efforts to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, the burden of war is all they have known. For those that perish, they become a statistic, at best. In the battle to liberate Mosul, the record keeping was so poor that many did not even become that.