The following images are scenes from the Middle East East region during the week of July 15-2, 2017, as seen through the lenses of Associated Press photographers.
We begin near Mosul, where The Associated Press found more than a hundred men, suspected of Islamic State ties, crammed in a small, dark room where they are detained.
Suspected Islamic State members sit inside a small room in a prison south of Mosul, Tuesday, July 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Hundreds of suspected Islamic State members swept up by Iraqi forces in Mosul are being held in a cramped and stifling prison just outside Mosul, Tuesday, July 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Earlier this month, Iraq’s Prime Minister declared the “total liberation” of the country’s second largest city, but long-simmering tensions between the country’s majority Shiite security forces and the Sunni population are just beginning to bubble up as reports of extrajudicial killings and harsh detention conditions of suspected IS fighters are coming to light.
Anti-IS operations have recently shifted to Raqqa, where thousands are seeking refuge.
A US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighter looks through a hole from his position into an Islamic State controlled street on the front line on the western side of Raqqa, northeast Syria, Monday, July 17, 2017. US-backed Syrian fighters fought Islamic State militants in the heart of Raqqa, the extremists’ self-styled capital, as scores of civilians fled areas controlled by the group. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Syrian family who fled from Raqqa and the battle between US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and the Islamic State militants, sit outside their tent at a refugee camp, in Ain Issa town, northeast Syria, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. The US military is supporting local Syrian forces in a campaign to drive IS from Raqqa. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Syrian youths who fled with their families the battle between US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and the Islamic State militants from Raqqa city, hold their pots as they wait to receive food at the entrance of the main kitchen of a refugee camp, in Ain Issa town, northeast Syria, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. The U.S. military is supporting local Syrian forces in a campaign to drive IS from Raqqa. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Syrian Internal Security Forces dance during their graduation ceremony, at Ain Issa desert base, in Raqqa province, northeast Syria, Thursday, July 20, 2017. Some 250 residents of Syria’s Raqqa province are the latest batch to graduate from a brief US training course that is preparing an internal security force to hold and secure areas as they are captured from Islamic State militants. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Next, we visit Jerusalem’s Old City, where three Palestinian assailants opened fire from a sacred site inside the Old City – known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount – killing two Israeli police officers before being shot dead.
Israeli border police officers stand guard as Muslim men pray outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem, Sunday, July 16, 2017. Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem, said Sunday that arrangements at the Muslim-administered holy site need to return to how they were before a deadly attack last week, in which three Arab Israelis shot dead two police officers before being killed. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli border police officers detain a Palestinian youth in Jerusalem’s Old City, Monday, July 17, 2017. Islamic leaders called on Muslims on Monday to boycott a Jerusalem holy site at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a gesture of protest after Israel set up metal detectors at the site’s entrance gates following a deadly Arab attack there last week. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli border police officers stand guard at the Lion’s Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, Monday, July 17, 2017. Islamic leaders called on Muslims on Monday to boycott a Jerusalem holy site at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a gesture of protest after Israel set up metal detectors at the site’s entrance gates following a deadly Arab attack there last week. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Memers of Palestinian military wings hold a press conference against the Israeli measures of putting metal detectors at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, at the main square in Gaza City, Tuesday, July 18, 2017. Islamic leaders called on Muslims on Monday to boycott a Jerusalem holy site at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a gesture of protest after Israel set up metal detectors at the site’s entrance gates following a deadly Arab attack there last week. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
Palestinians run away from stun grenades thrown by Israeli border police officers during a protest against the metal detectors placed at the entrance to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. A dispute over metal detectors has escalated into a new showdown between Israel and the Muslim world over a contested Jerusalem shrine that has been at the center of violent confrontations in the past. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli police officers detain a Palestinian man outside the Lion’s Gate, following an appeal from clerics to pray in the streets instead of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. A dispute over metal detectors has escalated into a new showdown between Israel and the Muslim world over the contested Jerusalem shrine that has been at the center of violent confrontations in the past. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)A Palestinian man walks towards a metal detector at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. A dispute over metal detectors has escalated into a new showdown between Israel and the Muslim world over the contested Jerusalem shrine that has been at the center of violent confrontations in the past. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
An Israeli soldier aims his weapon during clashes with Israeli troops at Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. A dispute over metal detectors has escalated into a new showdown between Israel and the Muslim world over the contested Jerusalem shrine that has been at the center of violent confrontations in the past. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
In Egypt, people carried the body of Sayed Tafshan, who died during clashes between security forces and residents of al-Warraq island, on the northern fringes of Cairo. Egypt’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and 19 injured in clashes after police attempted to remove illegal buildings on state land on the island. Egypt’s Interior Ministry said 31 policemen were injured.
Al-Warraq island, on the northern fringes of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, July 16, 2017. Egypt’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and 19 injured in clashes after police attempted to remove illegal buildings on state land on the island. (AP Photo/Mostafa Darwish)
People carry the body of Sayed Tafshan, who died during clashes between security forces and residents of al-Warraq island, on Sunday, July 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Mostafa Darwish)
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the country’s two-month annual festival takes place. The festivities include concerts by local and international singers as well as plays and activities.
Fireworks explode over the coastal town of Jounieh, Lebanon, Saturday, July 15, 2017, during the city’s international festival. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
In this Friday, July 14, 2017 photo, Muhannad Khaled Omar, right, prepares an image of US President Donald Trump on the back of a customer’s head at his barber shop in Burj al-Barajneh, southern Beirut, Lebanon. In a city full of hair stylists, Omar stands out. He is a 26 year-old Palestinian-Syrian hair stylist known for shaving celebrity portraits into clients’ hair. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
