Photo of the Day: February 17, 2016

SAFIN HAMED / AFP

An Iraqi soldier guards the entrance of the Nineveh base for liberation operations in Makhmur, about 280 kilometres (175 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, on February 11, 2016. The Iraqi army is deploying thousands of soldiers to a northern base in preparation for operations to retake the Islamic State (IS) group's hub of Mosul, according to officials, as IS still holds Fallujah, east of Ramadi, and Mosul, Iraq's second city that is located in the north. But even where weapons darken the sky, there are still rays of hope! Photo by Safin Hamed