Iraq/Kurdistan: In the Aftermath of Islamic State's Retreat in Iraq: Destruction, Fire and Toxic Fumes

Oct 26, 2016 | Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
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A coordinated campaign by Iraqi and Kurdish forces to retake the city of Mosul has left more than 20,000 people stranded here near the west bank of the Tigris River, caught between the advancing army and Islamic State holdouts who have left an apocalyptic twilight of burning oil fields and toxic fumes in their wake. The destruction of the sulfur plant has engulfed the area in rotten egg fumes. The oil field fires were first set months ago, both to obscure the terrain from potential airstrikes and to render the oil wells — which Islamic State had been using to finance its religious empire — useless for any new conquerors.