A member of Iraq's government-sanctioned paramilitary forces, made up mainly of Shiite militiamen, fires towards ISIS militants during a battle west of Mosul, Iraq on Feb. 22, 2017.
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launched a major air-and-ground offensive Sunday to retake western Mosul from ISIS militants and drive the extremist group from its last major urban bastion in Iraq.
Mosul fell into the hands of the extremists in the summer of 2014, during a shocking blitz that captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq. The battle for the city has already driven the militants from the eastern half of the city, which is divided roughly in half by the Tigris River.
A crocodile rests at the "El Tronador" Wildlife Rescue Center in Berlin, El Salvador on Feb. 20. Endangered species and victims of trafficking, are rescued and rehabilitated at the shelter supported by a Salvadorean geothermic energy company, with the aim of releasing them into the wild and contribute to the conservation of native species.
An injured woman comforts a child at a hospital, after jets believed to belong to the Russian or Syrian Air Forces pounded the Barzeh and Qaboun neighborhoods in the northeast corner of Damascus, Syria on Feb. 20.
Airstrikes in the Syrian capital left at least seven people dead Monday as activists reported a third straight day of escalations by pro-government forces. The side-by-side Barzeh, Qaboun, and Tishreen neighborhoods form one of the last two footholds of the Syrian opposition inside the Damascus city limits.
A Hindu man dressed as Lord Shiva holds a lit candle in his mouth as he takes part in a religious procession ahead of the Maha Shivratri Festival in Jalandhar, India on Feb. 22. Hindus mark the Maha Shivratri festival by offering special prayers and fasting to worship Lord Shiva, the lord of destruction.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket disappears into clouds after it lifted off on a supply mission to the International Space Station from historic launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Feb. 19.
A SpaceX rocket soared from NASA's long-idled moonshot pad Sunday, sending up space station supplies from the exact spot where astronauts embarked on the lunar landings nearly a half-century ago.
It was the first flight from NASA's legendary Launch Complex 39A since the shuttle program ended almost six years ago, and SpaceX's first liftoff from Florida since a rocket explosion last summer.
A woman cries near the coffin containing the body of a relative who died at the country's largest prison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Feb. 21. Relatives wailed in grief or stared stoically as flowers were placed on 20 caskets at a mass funeral for the latest group of inmates who died miserably in Haiti's largest prison, most without ever having been convicted of any crime.
A migrants stands on deck of a boat sailing towards the Italian port of Pozzallo after being rescued by Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean off the Libya on Feb. 19.
Proactiva Open Arms are a Spanish charity based out of Malta who provide search and rescue assistance to migrants in distress at sea. They patrol the SAR and Rescue Zone off the coast of Libya running rescue missions for the hundreds of migrants who continue to make perilous journey across the Mediterranean in hope of reaching the European mainland.
Children eat porridge as the World Food Program distributes hot meals at a settlement in Imvepi, Uganda on Feb. 23.
The continuing flow of refugees from South Sudan is putting pressure on the many humanitarian partners and their capacity to cope with the crisis. The United Nations said that more than 1.5 million asylum seekers have taken refuge in Uganda since civil war erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, with 100,00 entering in 2017 this far.
Uganda continues to see a flow of between 1000 to 4000 people crossing the border every day. A famine was declared in South Sudan this week which is likely to lead to an increased flow of people seeking help into the north of the country.
Campers set structures on fire in preparation of the Army Corp's deadline to leave the Oceti Sakowin camp on Feb. 22 in Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
Some of the last remnants of the Dakota Access pipeline protest camp went up in flames Wednesday as opponents of the project set fire to makeshift wooden housing as part of a leaving ceremony ahead of a government deadline to get off the federal land.
The Oceti Sakowin camp had been home to demonstrators for six months as they tried to thwart construction of the pipeline. Many of the protesters planned to go peacefully, but authorities arrested others who said they would defy the deadline in a final show of dissent.
A female Kurdish fighter and member of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, made up of an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters, adjusts her head scarf in the village of Sabah al-Khayr on the northern outskirts of Deir Ezzor as they advance to encircle an ISIS bastion in Raqqa, Syria on Feb. 21.
A Ford Bronco sits in floodwaters in San Jose, California on Feb. 22.
Some San Jose residents returned home to sort through waterlogged furniture, toys and clothing after being abruptly evacuated when a surging creek carrying engine fuel and sewage water inundated thousands of California homes. With water levels from Coyote Creek receding late Wednesday, officials said some of the 14,000 evacuated residents would be allowed to return home.
The water level in 30-mile long Coyote Creek reached a 100-year high during this week's storm. Downpours in the past few weeks have saturated the once-drought-stricken region and wreaked havoc for residents.
