With the threats posed by al-Qaeda and its affiliates, Empire discusses the significance of this episode.
![Ain al-Asad houses US and other foreign troops in the western Iraqi province of Anbar [File: Ayman Henna/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_1NO34I.jpg?resize=170%2C113)
![Mobeen, 19, became famous after her five-second video went viral [Akhtar Soomro/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-02T100416Z_135452219_RC2Y2M9Z2O6X_RTRMADP_3_PAKISTAN-INDIA-SOCIALMEDIA-TREND.jpg?resize=170%2C113)
![Representative Ilhan Omar speaks at a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire, on December 13, 2019 [File: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2019-12-14T012423Z_1954462116_RC2PUD9RWMHC_RTRMADP_3_USA-ELECTION-SANDERS.jpg?resize=170%2C113)
![Children look at a member of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after leaving the ISIL group's last holdout of Baghouz in Syria's northern Deir Az Zor province [File: Bulent Kilic/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_9396F9.jpg?resize=170%2C113)