my father told me
A year after the liberation of Mosul, Iraq's boys find themselves in a series of dead ends: separated from family members, rejected from the economy, and at risk for recruitment.
Boys like Ahmad Shaker, who was separated from his family in the final days of the assault on Mosul's Old City, used as a human shield by ISIS. He now lives in an orphanage.
Or those like Saqer, barely born when ISIS takes over, who still has nightmares nearly every night.
Boys like Dilshad, kidnapped by ISIS from Sinjar and taken to Syria to live as a slave, finally bought back by his uncle years later. Boys like him have little access to services. Where do these boys go from here?
The lucky ones like Ali, who lost his arm in the battle, still have their families to support them, and homes waiting for them.
But for children of ISIS - boys like Mohammad living in a camp where Iraqi soldiers regularly incite him to fight them and call him "son of a terrorist". What place is there for them in post-ISIS Iraq?
Reported for the Pacific Standard with support from the James W. Foley Foundation Middle East Reporting Grant by the Ground Truth Project. Listen to the radio version of this story here.
Iraqi boys walk through Qayyara Jaddah camp after school gets out for the afternoon. Many families suspected of supporting ISIS are housed in Camp 6.
A clocktower in the Old City of Mosul is seen through the destruction near the center of the city. ISIS took many families and used them as human shields, occasionally releasing the children to the streets while holding the parents.
Two boys play outside a tent while their older relatives rest at Shahama Camp in Tikrit. Also known colloquially as "ISIS Camp", it houses thousands of people with direct connections to ISIS fighters.
Dilshad sits in a cafe outside Dohuk while his uncle and father look on. Dilshad was kidnapped with his mother and sisters from Sinjar Mountain, and his uncle was able to buy him back three years later.
Barbed wire surrounds a playground near the river on the East side of Mosul. Two children with developmental disabilities were found wandering the playground alone, either orphaned or abandoned.
An Iraqi young man at an orphanage puts his arms around two boys with developmental disabilities recently found wandering around a Mosul playground alone, dirty and malnourished. They were either abandoned or orphaned as their parents have not been found.
Dust covers the tents at Shahama Camp in Tikrit, where families with ties to accused ISIS fighters are housed. Very few international organizations have access here, and families are not allowed to leave.
Saqer was barely a toddler when ISIS came and took over his village in the Jazeera region, west of Tel Afar. His parents say that the whole village was forced to watch executions and other punishments dolled out by ISIS. He has nightmares nearly every night, and still wets the bed.
A barbed wire fence runs around the juvenile prison in Erbil where boys under 18 accused of ties with ISIS reside. Some of them came forward voluntarily after the Peshmerga liberated their villages near Makhmour, and others were found out later. Many have been imprisoned beyond their term.
Ali lost his arm during the Battle for Mosul while walking outside with his cousin. Doctors were able to save his arm, and is one of the lucky few who escaped Mosul with his entire family intact. Still, he struggles to see a future where he can't be like other boys - without an arm.