Photos: The battle against Islamic State

A member of Iraqi pro-governement forces flashes the sign of victory atop an armoured vehicle on Feb. 8, 2016, in the Jwaibah area, on the eastern outskirts of Ramadi, after Iraqi troops retook it from Islamic State.

Iraqi pro-governement forces flash the sign of victory on a tank on Feb. 8, 2016, in the Jwaibah area, on the eastern outskirts of Ramadi, after they retook it from Islamic State.

An Iraqi soldier holds a national flag in the government complex in central Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015.

Iraqi soldiers hold national flags in the government complex in central Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015.

In this Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015 photo, Iraqi security forces search a building in the government complex in central Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq.

A member of the Iraqi pro-government forces stands amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Hoz neighborhood in Ramadi, Iraq, on Dec. 27, 2015.

Members of Iraq’s elite counterterrorism service secure a neighborhood in Ramadi, Iraq, on Dec. 27, 2015

Members of Iraq’s elite counterterrorism service search a heavily damaged building Dec. 27, 2015, in the Hoz neighborhood in Ramadi, Iraq.

Members of Iraq’s elite counterterrorism forces search a heavily damaged building Dec. 27, 2015, in the Hoz neighborhood in Ramadi, Iraq.

Members of Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service search buldings in Ramadi, Iraq, on Dec. 27, 2015.

Members of Iraq’s elite counterterrorism service secure a neighborhood in Ramadi, Iraq, on Dec. 27, 2015.

An Iraqi pro-government fighter watches smoke billowing in Ramadi’s Hoz neighborhood on Dec. 27, 2015.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin enter a hall during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Oct. 20, 2015.

Photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, southeastern Turkey on June 15, 2015.

An image grab taken from a video made available by Jihadist media outlet Welayat Homs on July 4, 2015, allegedly shows Islamic State fighters gesturing as they leave Tadmur’s notorious prison.

Iraqi Shiite fighters hold a position on April 14, 2015, north of al-Karma village, near the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, an area where Iraqi government forces retook three villages from Islamic State.   (Ahmad Al-Rubaye, AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi Shiite fighters launch rockets towards Islamic state fighters holed up in the center of Tikrit on March 12, 2015 during a military operation to retake the city.   (Ahmad al-Rubaye, AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi pro-government fighters celebrate March 11 as they advance into Tikrit during a military operation to regain the city from Islamic State.   (Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi fighters of the government-controlled Popular Mobilisation units take part in a military operation to take control of Tikrit from Islamic State on March 11.

Smoke rises from an area in the northern Iraq city of Tikrit on March 5.

A volunteer Shiite Muslim fighter, a member of what is known as the Popular Mobilization Units, gathers with others in the city of Samarra on March 5 ahead of moving out toward Tikrit.   (Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP / Getty Images)

Iraqi pro-government forces hold a position in Alam village near the multi-ethnic city of Tikrit on March 8.  (Younis Al-Bayati/AFP/Getty Images)

An Iraqi woman holding a white flag stands next to pro-government forces in Alam, northeast of Tikrit, on March 8.  (Younis Al-Bayati/AFP/Getty Images)

Fighters from the Iraqi Imam Ali Brigade take part in a training exercise in Iraq’s central city of Najaf on March 7, 2015.  (Haidar Hamdani/AFP/Getty Images)

A fighter from the Iraqi Imam Ali Brigade takes part in a training exercise in Iraq’s central city of Najaf on March 7, 2015.  (Haidar Hamdani/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi Shiite fighters fire Howitzer Cannons toward positions of the Islamic State group on March 7, 2015, on the outskirts of the Iraqi town of Ad-Dawr.

Students rally at the University of Jordan in Amman on Feb. 4, 2015, to condemn the killing of Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh by Islamic State militants.  (AFP/Getty Images)

An ambulance transports the bodies of Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouly, two Iraqis linked to al-Qaida, after their executions at Swaqa prison in Jordan on Feb. 4.  (Raad Adayleh/AP)

Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, center, the father of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh, is surrounded by family members and security forces during a mourning ceremony at the headquarters of the family’s clan in the Jordanian city of Karak on Feb. 4, 2015.  (Khalil Mazraawi, AFP/Getty Images)

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter stands guard near the frontline in Gwer district, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq on Jan. 9, 2015, as they continue to battle Islamic State.  (Safin Hamed, AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi Kurdish fighters arrive Dec. 20 in the Iraqi city of Sinjar, where their forces have been battling Islamic State militants.  (Safin Hamed / AFP/Getty Images)

Smokes rises from the Syrian border town of Kobani as seen from the Turkish town of Suruc, in Sanliurfa province, on Nov. 3, 2014.  (Stringer, AFP/Getty Images)

Smoke rises after an U.S.-led air strike in the Syrian town of Kobani Ocotber 10, 2014. Islamic State fighters advanced deeper into the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish border on Friday, taking almost complete control of an area where the local Kurdish administration is based, a group monitoring the violence reported. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CONFLICT)   (UMIT BEKTAS / REUTERS)

A handout picture taken Oct. 16 by the French Army and released on Oct. 21 by French Army Communications shows two Rafale fighter jets each equipped with 4 laser guided bombs GBU-12 flying over the Persian Gulf on their way for a reconnaissance mission over Iraq after taking off from the Al-Dhafra base in the United Arab Emirates.  (Handout, AFP/Getty Images)

Smoke rises over the Syrian town of Kobani near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border, as seen from the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 22, 2014.   (Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters)

Smoke rises over the Syrian town of Kobani near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border, as seen from the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 22, 2014.   (Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters)

A man holds prayer beads as Turkish Kurds watch the Syrian town of Kobani from a hill near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 22, 2014.   (Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters)

Smoke rises over the Syrian town of Kobani near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border, as seen from the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 22, 2014.   (Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters)

A boy plays soccer as smoke rises over the Syrian town of Kobani near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 22, 2014.   (Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters)

A Kurdish refugee woman from the Syrian town of Kobani prepares tea in front of her family tent in a camp in the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province October 22, 2014.   (Gokhan Sahin / Getty Images)

Tracer rounds light the sky over the Syrian town of Kobani during heavy fighting downtown, as seen from the Mursitpinar crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, October 21, 2014.   (Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters)