QAIM, Iraq: More than a year after the Iraqi town of Qaim was freed from the Daesh group, booms from airstrikes still echo and columns of smoke rise beyond the berms and concrete walls marking the border with Syria. There, on the other side, the fight is raging to capture one of the militants’ last enclaves.
Iraqi troops and Shiite militiamen outside Qaim keep watch over a giant earth barricade topped with barbed wire that runs along the long desert border. Iraqi artillery and US-led coalition warplanes bombard Daesh positions inside Syria, while Iraqi militiamen along with allied Iranian troops cross the border to back Syrian troops.
The battle on the doorstep means life in Qaim is still on hold, with residents waiting for their town to be rebuilt.