Iraq: ISIL's Smouldering Footprint in Qayyara

Aug 19, 2017 | Dorian Geiger, Al Jazeera
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Qayyara had been a strategic stronghold for ISIL where oil was a crucial source of income. But torching the wells was also strategic. It offered the group cover from coalition air attacks for their withdrawal to Mosul. In that, they succeeded: The towering plumes of smoke were so monstrous, they could be observed from space by a NASA satellite.