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TAL AFAR, Iraq — Along a strategic road linking Mosul to Syria and near Sinjar in northern Iraq, the predominantly Turkmen city of Tal Afar has seen relatively few of its inhabitants return over a year and a half after liberation from the Islamic State (IS).
The former Ottoman stronghold — with an estimated pre-war population of 300,000 and near both a vast desert and mountains containing IS tunnels upon which airstrikes continue to be conducted — has for years been a source of tension between Iran and Turkey.
