The fall of the Caliphate

• Prize
  Silver in Press/War
• Photographer
  Sam Tarling, Lebanon
• Date of Photograph
  Feb-March 2019
• Socials
• Website
  https://samtphoto.com

I was sent on a short assignment to interview and photograph the first civilians to leave the last ISIL outpost in northern Syria. The few thousand people thought to be living in Baghuz, a tiny village on the Euphrates near the Iraqi border, turned out to be tens of thousands, who streamed out almost daily, exhausted and malnourished, overwhelming the Kurdish forces tasked with taking them to safety. The short assignment transformed into a 45-day stake-out, as ISIL took it's last stand as a territory-holding power in Syria.

• Biography
  I am a freelance photo journalist based in the Middle East, covering the region for the past 10 years. Currently mostly working with Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal and Getty Images. Clients include The New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post, CNN, BBC, UNHCR, Oxfam, Save The Children.
• Awards
  Tokyo International Foto Awards 2017: Conflict first place winner