Paolo Pellegrin IRAQ. Basra. 04/03/2003. British forces made further advances on Basra, taking a strategic target, the Basra technical institute, right on the southern edge of the city, previously to taking this p (...)
osition, pro Saddam militia had used it to fire RPG's and mortar rounds at the british forces. Today after this battle, the corpse of several dead pro Sadddam militia forces have been found laying next to the school with RPgG rocket launchers strewn around them. At one point during the day several peolple came to recover the body of the dead soldiers. An elder woman was present and one could assume from her emotion that she was a relative of the dead man. Until now there have been frequent artillery exchanges between the British and the pro Saddam militia. The pro Saddam militia have used mounted artillery pieces on mobile trucks firing from civilian neighbourhoods. This has seriously impeded the British advances as they would be obliged to level whole neighbourhoods in order to take out the enemy artillery; and the British have not been willing to risk such large casualties to civilians in order to accomplish thier mission. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin Wakaz Mohammed Hassan Mutashar, an ISIS prisoner in an ASAISH (Kurdish intelligence agency) run secret prison on the outskirts of Kirkuk. Kirkuk, Iraq. 2015. © Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos with s (...)
upport from the Pulitzer Center. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum photos © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin IRAQ. Sulemaniya. 2015. Islamic State (and islamic radical) members being held in the Kanigoma prison.
Several ISIS operatives, both Kurdish and Iraqi Arabs, are being held in a holding facility n (...)
ear Kanigoma while they await trial.
They are ISIS sympathizers and recruiters that were arrested by the Kurdish anti terrorism squads following information by Kurdish intelligence in Sulimaniyah and sorrounding villages.
Accoring to officials they are the most dangerous and most difficult to catch because they operate underground and look for recruits and to prepare attacks. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin Kurdish Peshmerga in a front line position inside the town of Sinjar. Sinjar has been captured by ISIS but the Peshmerga have managed to regain a portion and currently hold two positions in the tow (...)
n. The lines between ISIS and the Peshmerga are very close, in some cases roughly a 100 meters and there are frequent exchanges of fire. Sinjar, Kurdistan, Iraq. 2015. © Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos with support from the Pulitzer Center. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin Refugees wait outside of the police booth in the Mytilini port area for their turn to be registered by the Greek police. Registration is necessary to travel to the mainland.
Due to the long hour (...)
s of waiting in extreme heat conditions and the general exhaustion, refugees sometimes collapse and faint.
In early September 2015, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 refugees, roughly 70% are Syrians, wait to complete their registration with the authorities in Mytilini, capital city of the Greek island of Lesbos. For most the living conditions are miserable: sleeping on the ground, no access to toilets and extreme temperatures.
The Greek authorities have been overwhelmed by the number of refugees and according to this, the registration process has slowed down enormously. It takes 7 to 10 days for refugees to get their document ready that allow them to buy a ferry ticket and be transferred to the mainland. From there, the majority will continue towards north, to the Macedonian border. Afterwards, they will continue their journey towards western Europe.
Lesbos, Greece. 2015. © Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos with support from the Pulitzer center. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin Due to the long hours of waiting in extreme heat conditions and the general exhaustion, refugees sometimes collapse and faint.
In early September 2015, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 refugees, rou (...)
ghly 70% are Syrians, wait to complete their registration with the authorities in Mytilini, capital city of the Greek island of Lesbos. For most the living conditions are miserable: sleeping on the ground, no access to toilets and extreme temperatures.
The Greek authorities have been overwhelmed by the number of refugees and according to this, the registration process has slowed down enormously. It takes 7 to 10 days for refugees to get their document ready that allow them to buy a ferry ticket and be transferred to the mainland. From there, the majority will continue towards north, to the Macedonian border. Afterwards, they will continue their journey towards western Europe. Lesbos, Greece. 2015. © Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos with support from the Pulitzer center. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin GREECE. Lesbos. 2015. The body of a drowned migrant is seen floating in the waters near Skala Mineas on the island of Lesbos, Greece.
According to the UNHCR, in 2015 3,700 people were missing, bel (...)
ieved drowned, trying to reach European coasts. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin GREECE. Lesbos. 2015. Refugees come ashore near the village of Skala Sikaminias on the northern tip of the Greek island of Lesbos, around eight nautical miles from the Turkish coast.
According to (...)
UNHCR of the 850,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Greece in 2015 more than 500,000 disembarked on the island of Lesbos. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin IRAQ. Baghdad. 2016. The Al Kasnzan IDP camp in Baghdad. The camp hosts roughly 10,000 people mainly from the Al Ambar province. During the festivities of the Eid at the end of Ramadan the camp was (...)
attacked with mortars and 4 people where killed and many injured. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin Thousands of Iraqi civilians fleeing from the ISIS controlled cities of Sherkat and Gwer as well as surrounding villages arrive in a holding and processing area controlled by the Iraqi Army and the (...)
Hashed militias in Hajjej. Hajjej, Iraq. 2016. © Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos with support from the Pulitzer center © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin Thousands of civilians fleeing from the ISIS controlled cities of Sherkat and Gwer as well as surrounding villages arrive in a holding and processing area controlled by the Iraqi Army and the Hashe (...)
d militias in Hajjej. Hajjej, Iraq. 2016. © Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos with support from the Pulitzer center © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos
Paolo Pellegrin Refugees come ashore near the village of Skala Sikamineas on the northern tip of the Greek island of Lesbos after travelling on an inflatable raft from Turkey. After reaching the island they have t (...)
o walk for 55 kilometers to the town of Mytilini to start the registration process with the Greek authorities. Once they are registered they can board a ferry that will take them to the mainland. Since the very high numbers of arrivals, the registration process takes at least one week or more. During this time, the living conditions of the refugees are extremely difficult.
Thousands of refugees are coming into Lesbos every day in these last days of summer. Syrians make up for roughly 70% of arrivals.
According to numbers released by the UNHCR so far in 2015 ( July 2015), over 225,000 refugees and migrants have arrived by sea in the Mediterranean and around 2,100 are estimated to have died or gone missing while trying to reach Europe.
Lesbos, Greece. August, 2015 © Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos with support from the Pulitzer center. © Paolo Pellegrin | Magnum Photos