Retaking Raqqa

In June 2017, the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the US-led coalition, launched the offensive to take Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS. The battle lasted just over four months. ISIS had spent years preparing its defence: streets and buildings were rigged with explosives, snipers covered the main routes, and a network of tunnels let fighters move unseen. Small drones dropped explosives on the front lines, while coalition airstrikes hit the city day and night. When the fighting ended in October, most of Raqqa lay in ruins and hundreds of thousands of its residents had been displaced. I spent around three and a half months on the ground in Syria photographing this campaign.