Visa pour l'Image returns for a 29th time with all the best photojournalism from around the world. This year, some of the best works at the two-week festival in the South of France offer a timely reminder of the human cost of war in Iraq.
During a brief ceasefire, civilians are fleeing the front lines hoping to find safety behind Iraqi Army positions, somewhere between the villages of Gozwali and Bazwaya, east of Mosul. The image was taken on November 6th 2016 by French photographer Alvaro Canovas' from a series called 'The Retaking of Mosul' for Paris Match.
In the Saddam neighbourhood of Mosul, civilians caught in the crossfire try to stay out of harms way during a military operation against ISIS by the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Force (ICTF), known as the Golden Division. The image was taken on November 6th 2016 by the Belgian photographer Laurent Van der Stockt for Le Monde.
Ali, a radio operator with the Emergency Reaction Division (ERD) of the Iraqi army, is in the midst of an ISIS attack on their position in a building at the entrance of the old city. The image was taken on March 19th 2017 by the Belgian photographer Laurent Van der Stockt for Le Monde.
Kurdish Yezedi women in a cemetery destroyed by ISIS. This image was taken in December 2017 by the Italian photographer Lorenzo Meloni for Magnum Photos.
Children play in Hammam Al-Alil, Iraq, in the rubble of a building used as an ISIS base and destroyed by a coalition airstrike. This image was taken in December 2016 by Lorenzo Meloni from a series called 'The Collapse of the Caliphate' for Magnum Photos.
A brother and sister watch on as forces from the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Force (ICTF) cross the courtyard of their home in Gogjali, Mosul, Iraq. These soldiers put themselves at the risk of sniper fire and suicide car bomb attacks by doing the rounds of the streets, checking houses, one after the other, and questioning men and boys for any information on ISIS. This image was taken on November 2nd 2016 by Laurent Van der Stockt from a series called 'The Battle of Mosul' for Le Monde / Getty Images.
While men from the first battalion of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF-1) led by Colonel Mohaned secure the streets of Gogjali, in eastern Mosul, a little girl emerges from her house carrying a white flag. This image was taken on November 2nd 2016 by Alvaro Canovas from a series called 'The Retaking of Mosul' for Paris Match.
A church detroyed by ISIS in Bakhdida, Qaraqosh, Iraq. This image was taken in November 2017 by Lorenzo Meloni from a series called 'The Collapse of the Caliphate' for Magnum Photos.