For Some Iraqis, the Battle to Retake Mosul is Personal

(QAYARA AIR BASE, Iraq) — For Saif, an Iraqi army corporal, the battle for Mosul is intensely personal. Over the course of two years of Islamic State rule, the extremists destroyed his home, arrested his father, killed his brother and forced his fiancee into a marriage with an IS fighter.

Now he's looking for revenge.

"I used to be a normal person.