Yannis Behrakis, award-winning Reuters photographer, dies aged 58

Yannis Behrakis, award-winning Reuters photographer, dies aged 58

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Yannis Behrakis, one of Reuters' most decorated and best-loved photographers, has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 58.

. Normandy, France. Handout/Enric Marti
Behrakis in Normandy.

After joining the news wire 30 years ago, Behrakis covered many of the most tumultuous events around the world, including conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya,a huge earthquake in Kashmir and the Egyptian uprising of 2011.

In the process, he won the respect of both peers and rivals for his skill and bravery. He also led a team to a Pulitzer Prize in 2016 for coverage of the refugee crisis.

Colleagues who worked with him in the field said Reuters had lost a talented and committed journalist.

"It is about clearly telling the story in the most artistic way possible," veteran Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic said of Behrakis’ style.

"You won't see anyone so dedicated and so focused and who sacrificed everything to get the most important picture."

. Misrata, Libya. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
Rebel fighters run for cover inside a building on the frontline in Tripoli street in central Misrata.

That dedication was striking. His friend and colleague of 30 years, senior producer Vassilis Triandafyllou, described him as a "hurricane" who worked all hours of the day and night, sometimes at considerable personal risk, to get the image he wanted.

When Behrakis wasn't absorbed in work, he was warm, funny and larger than life. He could also be fiery.

"One of the best news photographers of his generation, Yannis was passionate, vital and intense both in his work and life," said U.S. general news editor Dina Kyriakidou Contini.

"His pictures are iconic, some works of art in their own right. But it was his empathy that made him a great photojournalist."

What underpinned everything Behrakis did in his professional life was a determination to show the world what was happening in conflict zones and countries in crisis.

. Idomeni, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
Migrants and refugees beg Macedonian policemen to allow passage to cross the border from Greece into Macedonia during a rainstorm, near the Greek village of Idomeni.

He recognised the power of an arresting image to capture people's attention and even change their behaviour. That belief produced a body of work that will be remembered long after his passing.

"My mission is to tell you the story and then you decide what you want to do," he told a panel discussing Reuters Pulitzer Prize-winning photo series on the European migrant crisis.

"My mission is to make sure that nobody can say: 'I didn't know'."

. Baidoa, Somalia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
. Baidoa, Somalia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Left: A starving Somali child is given water near a refugee camp in Baidoa.
Right: A Somali aid worker carries a dead child for burial in a Baidoa refugee camp.

Behrakis was born in Athens in 1960.

He came across a Time-Life photography book as a young man, which prompted him to enrol in a private photography course. His love affair with the trade had begun.

. Durres, Albania. Reuters
An Albanian man carries a child to a US Marine CH53 Super Stallion helicopter as it lands at Golame beach near the port of Durres.

He worked in a photographic studio in the mid-1980s, but found the atmosphere stifling.

It was a 1983 movie, "Under Fire", about a group of reporters working in Nicaragua in the days leading to the 1979 revolution, that inspired him to take up journalism.

He started at Reuters in Athens as a freelancer in 1987, and in January, 1989, was sent on his first foreign assignment to Muammar Gaddafi's Libya.

He quickly displayed a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

When Gaddafi visited a hotel where journalists had been cooped up for several days, a scrum of reporters crowded around the Libyan leader to get pictures and soundbites.

"I somehow managed to sneak next to him and get some wide-angle shots," Behrakis wrote. "The next day my picture was all over the front pages of papers around the world."

. Isikveren, Turkey. Reuters
Frantic Kurdish refugees struggle for a loaf of bread during a humanitarian aid distribution at the Iraqi-Turkish border.

For the next three decades, Behrakis was regularly on the road covering violence and upheaval across Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The pictures he produced won awards and admiration among the tight-knit community of war correspondents, who noted his ability to find beauty amid chaos and for his courage to be at the heart of the action.

. Gercina, Yugoslavia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
An ethnic Albanian man places the body of two-year-old Mozzlum Sylmetaj into a coffin next to the coffins of three other family members killed by Yugoslav army troops as they were crossing into Kosovo from Albania.

The images captured the terror of battle, fear, death, love, intimidation, starvation, homelessness, anger, despair and courage.

One photograph from the wars in former Yugoslavia, taken in 1998, shows an ethnic Albanian man lowering the body of a two-year-old boy who had been killed in the fighting into a tiny coffin.

Behrakis took the picture from a high position and used a slow speed/zoom technique to create a dizzying sense of movement.

"The picture was very strong and the body of the boy almost floating in the air," he said of the image. "It almost looked like his spirit was leaving his body for the heavens."

. New York, United States
Sierra Leone. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Left: Reuters correspondent Kurt Schork and Yannis Behrakis at the Overseas Press Club (OPC) dinner in New York where Behrakis won an OPC award for his coverage of Kosovo, and he dedicated his award to Kurt Schork.
Right: Behrakis takes takes a self portrait after surviving an ambush by Revolutionary United Front rebels in the jungle of Sierra Leone when Kurt Schork and Miguel Moreno were killed.

In 2000, while covering the civil war in Sierra Leone, Behrakis was travelling in a convoy with Reuters colleagues Kurt Schork and Mark Chisholm, and AP cameraman Miguel Gil Moreno, when it was ambushed by gunmen, believed to be rebels.

Schork, one of Behrakis' closest friends, was hit and died instantly, and Moreno was also killed. Behrakis and Chisholm escaped.

Both survived the attack by crawling into the undergrowth beside the road and hiding in the jungle for hours until the gunmen disappeared.

Behrakis took a photo of himself just after the ordeal. The picture shows him staring up at the sky, his eyes dazed.

"I think that changed Yannis a lot," Chisholm said of the attack and Schork's death. The four reporters had got to know each other during the siege of Sarajevo in the mid-1990s and had become a "band of brothers".

"He was a great character, a brilliant photographer, a great colleague," Chisholm said.

Behrakis said he hated war, but, like many others, he loved the travel, adventure and camaraderie that came with it. Rather than putting him off, Schork's death drove him back to combat zones, at least for a while.

"His memory helped me to 'return' to covering what I consider the apotheosis of photojournalism: war photography," Behrakis later wrote.

. Athens, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
A group of riot policemen is engulfed in flames after protesters threw petrol bombs in Athens' Syntagma square during a 24-hour labour strike.

In recent years, Behrakis spent more time in his native Greece, where he recorded the impact of the financial crisis on the country and the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees entering Europe.

In 2015, Behrakis and a team of photographers and cameramen worked in relay for months to cover the thousands fleeing wars in Syria, Afghanistan and beyond.

. Kos, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
A red sun is seen over a dinghy overcrowded with Syrian refugees drifting in the Aegean sea between Turkey and Greece after its motor broke down off the Greek island of Kos.

He took a younger and less experienced photographer, Alkis Konstantinidis, under his wing at that time and the two became close.

Konstantinidis, also part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team, described Behrakis as a tough, demanding mentor who led by example.

"When you get close to him and he opens up, he is a person you want to sit next to and talk to for hours. You will always get something from him."

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For a proud Greek with a young daughter, the refugee crisis had a profound effect on Behrakis, causing guilt, insomnia and nightmares.

But it also brought out the best in a photographer who focused on the dignity of humans in distress rather than making them objects of pity.

Triandafyllou was with Behrakis when he took what many consider to be one of his best pictures - of a Syrian refugee carrying and kissing his daughter as he walked down a road in the rain.

"That morning we left the hotel and it was raining and Yannis was complaining," Triandafyllou recalled.

"On the way to the border we saw these refugees and he started taking pictures. After a while I said 'OK, let's go'. He said 'No, no, wait, I don't have the picture.' I was waiting in the car and he eventually came back and said 'OK, I have the picture.' He was looking for this picture."

Behrakis' description of the image was typically unorthodox.

"I would love to be this father; I think every child would love to have a father like this," he explained.

"This picture proves that there are superheroes after all. He doesn't wear a red cape, but he has a black plastic cape made out of garbage bags. For me this represents the universal father and the unconditional love of father to daughter."

In 2017, Yannis launched a project to help Reuters build a more diverse team of news photographers.

His appearances at photo festivals and events around the world inspired many young journalists to apply for a bursary from Reuters. He was very proud of this work, and was still looking for a new generation of talent right up until his death.

Behrakis is survived by his wife Elisavet and their daughter Rebecca and his son Dimitri.

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Slideshow

Iranian women pray at the site in Masala square where the body to Ayatollah Khomeini lies in state, in Tehran, Iran.
. Tehran, Iran. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Iranian women pray at the site in Masala square where the body to Ayatollah Khomeini lies in state, in Tehran, Iran.

A woman from an African Islamic country (in white) stands among Iranian women during the national anthem of Iran at the opening session of the 8th Islamic Conference Summit in Tehran's new conference building.
Teheran, Iran. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A woman from an African Islamic country (in white) stands among Iranian women during the national anthem of Iran at the opening session of the 8th Islamic Conference Summit in Tehran's new conference building.

A Somali driver is ordered to lie on the ground as U.S. Marines establish security in the port of Mogadishu during an amphibious assault named Operation Restore Hope, in Somalia.
. Baidoa, Somalia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Somali driver is ordered to lie on the ground as U.S. Marines establish security in the port of Mogadishu during an amphibious assault named Operation Restore Hope, in Somalia.

A Somali child is seen in a refugee camp in Baidoa, Somalia.
. Baidoa, Somalia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Somali child is seen in a refugee camp in Baidoa, Somalia.

A Chechen man sits by the ruins of his home which was destroyed by Russian bombs in a Grozny neighbourhood as a gas pipeline burns overhead.
. Grozny, Russia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Chechen man sits by the ruins of his home which was destroyed by Russian bombs in a Grozny neighbourhood as a gas pipeline burns overhead.

Chechen civilians run in front of a destroyed Russian army APC as they flee from central Grozny during fighting.
. Grozny, Russia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Chechen civilians run in front of a destroyed Russian army APC as they flee from central Grozny during fighting.

Rebel Chechens shoot against Russian soldiers during street fighting in central Grozny.
. Grozny, Russia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Rebel Chechens shoot against Russian soldiers during street fighting in central Grozny.

A Chechen fighter moves into firing position next to the Presidential Palace in central Grozny during heavy fighting.
. Grozny, Russia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Chechen fighter moves into firing position next to the Presidential Palace in central Grozny during heavy fighting.

The burned-out body of a Russian soldier appears from the top door of a destroyed Russian army APC in central Grozny.
. Grozny, Russia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

The burned-out body of a Russian soldier appears from the top door of a destroyed Russian army APC in central Grozny.

Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas advance to take positions at a forest west of Podujevo some 30 km north of Kosovo's provincial capital Pristina.
. Podujevo Area, Yugoslavia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas advance to take positions at a forest west of Podujevo some 30 km north of Kosovo's provincial capital Pristina.

Ethnic Albanian villagers form a line to pay their respects to the family of two victims of an outbreak of ethnic violence, in Kosovo.
. Yugoslavia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Ethnic Albanian villagers form a line to pay their respects to the family of two victims of an outbreak of ethnic violence, in Kosovo.

A Serb policeman removes an AK-47 assault rifle from a dead alleged Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla in Rogovo, some 65 km west of Pristina.
. Rogovo, Yugoslavia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Serb policeman removes an AK-47 assault rifle from a dead alleged Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla in Rogovo, some 65 km west of Pristina.

Emaciated Muslim refugees, recently released from a Croat prison in Dretelj, wait for lunch in a grammar school in Jablanica, central Bosnia.
. Jablanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Emaciated Muslim refugees, recently released from a Croat prison in Dretelj, wait for lunch in a grammar school in Jablanica, central Bosnia.

A Kosovar woman stands in front of more than 10,000 ethnic Albanian refugees and pleads for Macedonian policemen to let her walk into Macedonia from the buffer zone between Yugoslavia and Macedonia.
. General Jankovic, Macedonia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Kosovar woman stands in front of more than 10,000 ethnic Albanian refugees and pleads for Macedonian policemen to let her walk into Macedonia from the buffer zone between Yugoslavia and Macedonia.

A young Serbian refugee from the Krajina region rests in a sports complex which houses about 2.000 people.
. YUGOSLAVIA. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A young Serbian refugee from the Krajina region rests in a sports complex which houses about 2.000 people.

An infant is fed glucose via a syringe in medical tent in Isikveren refugee camp.
. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An infant is fed glucose via a syringe in medical tent in Isikveren refugee camp.

Ethnic Albanians hold onto to a trailer pulled by a tractor as they flee fighting in Pantina, 30km northeast of the regional capital Pristina.
. Pantina, Yugoslavia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Ethnic Albanians hold onto to a trailer pulled by a tractor as they flee fighting in Pantina, 30km northeast of the regional capital Pristina.

Kurdish refugees flee close to the Iraqi-Turkish border.
. Iraq. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Kurdish refugees flee close to the Iraqi-Turkish border.

An ethnic Albanian boy from Kosovo carries a refugee child into Albanian soil to escape fighting in Serbia's turbulent Kosovo province.
. YUGOSLAVIA. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An ethnic Albanian boy from Kosovo carries a refugee child into Albanian soil to escape fighting in Serbia's turbulent Kosovo province.

Albanian gunmen demand payment from civilians hoping to board a ship for Italy near the port of Durres, Albania.
. Durres, Albania. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Albanian gunmen demand payment from civilians hoping to board a ship for Italy near the port of Durres, Albania.

An ethnic Albanian woman cries at her husband's funeral in Kosovo.
. YUGOSLAVIA. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An ethnic Albanian woman cries at her husband's funeral in Kosovo.

An ethnic Albanian man mourns next to the body of his close friend Gasper Karaqi, 37, a local school teacher, who was shot dead, at a cemetery in Kosovo.
. YUGOSLAVIA. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An ethnic Albanian man mourns next to the body of his close friend Gasper Karaqi, 37, a local school teacher, who was shot dead, at a cemetery in Kosovo.

Albanians scramble over an old fishing boat in a desperate bid to board a Greek frigate which docked in the port of Durres to evacuate Chinese and Iranian diplomats. Thousands of Albanians stampeded through police lines in their unsuccessful effort to reach the Greek naval vessel.
. Durres, Albania. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Albanians scramble over an old fishing boat in a desperate bid to board a Greek frigate which docked in the port of Durres to evacuate Chinese and Iranian diplomats. Thousands of Albanians stampeded through police lines in their unsuccessful effort to reach the Greek naval vessel.

Revolutionary United Front rebel Obai Kanu, 18, (center) is surrounded by government troops after he was captured following heavy fighting in Rogberi junction some 100 km east northeast of Freetown, Sierra Leone.
. Rogberi, Sierra Leone. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Revolutionary United Front rebel Obai Kanu, 18, (center) is surrounded by government troops after he was captured following heavy fighting in Rogberi junction some 100 km east northeast of Freetown, Sierra Leone.

A pro-government fighter, loyal to Rt. Lt. Col. Johnny Paul Koroma, covers eleven corpses of killed RUF rebels in the centre of Masiaka, some 70kms northeast of Freetown.
. Masiaka, Sierra Leone. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A pro-government fighter, loyal to Rt. Lt. Col. Johnny Paul Koroma, covers eleven corpses of killed RUF rebels in the centre of Masiaka, some 70kms northeast of Freetown.

Sierra Leonean woman, Fatmata Conteh, lies helpless on the ground next to her six-week-old baby Fonteshay in the Cline town refugee camp in east Freetown. Fatmata fled her village of Masiaka during a rebel attack and joined thousands of civilian refugees in Cline's camp.
. Freetown, Sierra Leone. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Sierra Leonean woman, Fatmata Conteh, lies helpless on the ground next to her six-week-old baby Fonteshay in the Cline town refugee camp in east Freetown. Fatmata fled her village of Masiaka during a rebel attack and joined thousands of civilian refugees in Cline's camp.

An Afghan woman wearing a traditional Burqa walks on the side of a road as a Northern Alliance APC carrying fighters and the Afghan flag, drives to a new position in the outskirts of Jabal us Seraj, some 60kms north of the Afghan capital Kabul.
. Jabal Us Seraj, Afghanistan. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An Afghan woman wearing a traditional Burqa walks on the side of a road as a Northern Alliance APC carrying fighters and the Afghan flag, drives to a new position in the outskirts of Jabal us Seraj, some 60kms north of the Afghan capital Kabul.

Residents of Kabul celebrate and escort Northern Alliance fighters entering the Afghan capital Kabul. Forces of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance entered Kabul as reports from across the country pointed to a collapse of Taliban rule. Civilians greeted opposition fighters and celebrated in the streets of Kabul.
. Kabul, Afghanistan. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Residents of Kabul celebrate and escort Northern Alliance fighters entering the Afghan capital Kabul. Forces of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance entered Kabul as reports from across the country pointed to a collapse of Taliban rule. Civilians greeted opposition fighters and celebrated in the streets of Kabul.

An Afghan man and his son ride a bicycle past the body of a Taliban fighter killed early morning on the motorway three kilometres north of Kabul as Northern Alliance fighters approached the Afghan capital Kabul.
. Kabul, Afghanistan. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An Afghan man and his son ride a bicycle past the body of a Taliban fighter killed early morning on the motorway three kilometres north of Kabul as Northern Alliance fighters approached the Afghan capital Kabul.

An Afghan boy stands by a dead Taliban fighter killed on the highway nine km north of Kabul, Afghanistan.
. Karizimeer, Afghanistan. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An Afghan boy stands by a dead Taliban fighter killed on the highway nine km north of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Afghan villagers sit atop a hill to have a better view of Northern Alliance troop movements in the outskirts of Gulbahal, north of the Afghan capital Kabul.
. Jabal Us Seraj, AFGHANISTAN. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Afghan villagers sit atop a hill to have a better view of Northern Alliance troop movements in the outskirts of Gulbahal, north of the Afghan capital Kabul.

A Pakistani prisoner accused of fighting with the Taliban sits in his prison cell in the basement of department three of Kabul's Security Ministry, in Afghanistan.
. Kabul, Afghanistan. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Pakistani prisoner accused of fighting with the Taliban sits in his prison cell in the basement of department three of Kabul's Security Ministry, in Afghanistan.

A British army officer has her handgun cocked as Iraqi civilians flee fighting in Basra, Iraq.
. Basra, Iraq. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A British army officer has her handgun cocked as Iraqi civilians flee fighting in Basra, Iraq.

An Iraqi Shiite man carries a flag stained with the blood of men who wounded themselves to demonstrate their love to the Imam, as he walks along with tens of thousands of religious Iraqi's on their way to the central city of Kerbala through a sand storm.
. Najaf, Iraq. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An Iraqi Shiite man carries a flag stained with the blood of men who wounded themselves to demonstrate their love to the Imam, as he walks along with tens of thousands of religious Iraqi's on their way to the central city of Kerbala through a sand storm.

An Iraqi woman walks back home to the southern city of Basra as fires rage in the distance.
. Basra, Iraq. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An Iraqi woman walks back home to the southern city of Basra as fires rage in the distance.

Britain's Paula Radcliffe cries in a vehicle after retiring from the women's marathon in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
. Athens, GREECE. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Britain's Paula Radcliffe cries in a vehicle after retiring from the women's marathon in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

A Kashmiri earthquake survivor uses her sewing machine to sew up winter clothes, outside her shelter on the mountainous Buttlian area, some 25 km northeast of the earthquake-devastated city of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
. Buttlian, Pakistan. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Kashmiri earthquake survivor uses her sewing machine to sew up winter clothes, outside her shelter on the mountainous Buttlian area, some 25 km northeast of the earthquake-devastated city of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

A weapons system fired by Israeli forces explodes over the northern Gaza Strip.
. Gaza, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A weapons system fired by Israeli forces explodes over the northern Gaza Strip.

An Israeli soldier walks through a field near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, just outside the Gaza Strip.
. Nahal Oz, Israel. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An Israeli soldier walks through a field near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, just outside the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian man carries flour back home on his horse-drawn cart in the devastated village of Mughraqa following Israel's three-week long offensive in Gaza Strip.
. Gaza, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Palestinian man carries flour back home on his horse-drawn cart in the devastated village of Mughraqa following Israel's three-week long offensive in Gaza Strip.

Shanbo Heinemann, a pro-Palestinian activist from San Francisco, California, is tended to by Palestinian medics after he was shot in the head with a rubber bullet fired by Israeli troops during a violent protest against Israel's security fence in the West Bank village of Bilin.
. Bilin, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Shanbo Heinemann, a pro-Palestinian activist from San Francisco, California, is tended to by Palestinian medics after he was shot in the head with a rubber bullet fired by Israeli troops during a violent protest against Israel's security fence in the West Bank village of Bilin.

A man reads the Koran next to the body of Melad abu Alawayes, 21, during a funeral ceremony at the Al Amary refugee camp mosque in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
. Ramallah, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A man reads the Koran next to the body of Melad abu Alawayes, 21, during a funeral ceremony at the Al Amary refugee camp mosque in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Smoke rises from tyres set ablaze as a Palestinian throws a stone at Israeli soldiers during clashes at the Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
. Qalandiya, Palestinian Territories. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Smoke rises from tyres set ablaze as a Palestinian throws a stone at Israeli soldiers during clashes at the Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Bangladeshi evacuees carry their belongings as they walk away from the border area where they have been stranded for more than four days after crossing into Tunisia and fleeing the violence in Libya, at the border crossing of Ras Jdir, Tunisia.
. Ras Jdir, Tunisia. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Bangladeshi evacuees carry their belongings as they walk away from the border area where they have been stranded for more than four days after crossing into Tunisia and fleeing the violence in Libya, at the border crossing of Ras Jdir, Tunisia.

Rebel fighters run (left) as they launch rockets against Muammar Gaddafi forces in the front line along the western entrance of Ajdabiyah, Libya.
. Ajdabiyah, Libya. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Rebel fighters run (left) as they launch rockets against Muammar Gaddafi forces in the front line along the western entrance of Ajdabiyah, Libya.

A rebel fighter mans an anti-aircraft machine gun atop a pick-up truck as he scans the sky for NATO planes over the front-line along the western entrance of Ajdabiyah, Libya.
. Ajdabiyah, Libya. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A rebel fighter mans an anti-aircraft machine gun atop a pick-up truck as he scans the sky for NATO planes over the front-line along the western entrance of Ajdabiyah, Libya.

Doctors tend to a wounded Gaddafi soldier, captured earlier by rebel fighters, in Misrata hospital.
. Misrata, Libya. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Doctors tend to a wounded Gaddafi soldier, captured earlier by rebel fighters, in Misrata hospital.

Medics apply CPR to save the life of a severely wounded rebel fighter in the emergency ward of Ajdabiyah hospital in Libya. The rebel died moments later.
. Ajdabiyah, Libya. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Medics apply CPR to save the life of a severely wounded rebel fighter in the emergency ward of Ajdabiyah hospital in Libya. The rebel died moments later.

Civilians and rebels celebrate following Friday prayers in central Ajdabiyah. Some 2,000 people turned up for weekly Muslim prayers in Ajdabiyah's main square, including many residents who had fled after the uprising against Gaddafi began on Feb. 17.
. Ajdabiyah, Libya. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Civilians and rebels celebrate following Friday prayers in central Ajdabiyah. Some 2,000 people turned up for weekly Muslim prayers in Ajdabiyah's main square, including many residents who had fled after the uprising against Gaddafi began on Feb. 17.

Egyptian demonstrators brave police water canons and tear gas during a protest in Cairo after Friday prayers.
. Cairo, Egypt. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Egyptian demonstrators brave police water canons and tear gas during a protest in Cairo after Friday prayers.

An opposition demonstrator prays in front of army soldiers near Tahrir Square in Cairo.
. Cairo, Egypt. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An opposition demonstrator prays in front of army soldiers near Tahrir Square in Cairo.

An anti-government protester shouts for help to extinguish a burning container on Taksim square in Istanbul.
. Istanbul, Turkey. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An anti-government protester shouts for help to extinguish a burning container on Taksim square in Istanbul.

Armed policemen observe the area of Gezi Park in Istanbul's Taksim square.
. Istanbul, Turkey. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Armed policemen observe the area of Gezi Park in Istanbul's Taksim square.

A protester falls after being hit by a water cannon fired by riot police, as others take cover behind a makeshift shelter, during clashes at Taksim Square in Istanbul. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of protesters armed with rocks and fireworks as they tried to take back control of a central Istanbul square at the heart of fierce anti-government demonstrations.
. Istanbul, Turkey. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A protester falls after being hit by a water cannon fired by riot police, as others take cover behind a makeshift shelter, during clashes at Taksim Square in Istanbul. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of protesters armed with rocks and fireworks as they tried to take back control of a central Istanbul square at the heart of fierce anti-government demonstrations.

Anda, a local boy, looks out from his hut's window at the burial ground of late former South African President Nelson Mandela ahead of his funeral in Qunu.
. Qunu, South Africa. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Anda, a local boy, looks out from his hut's window at the burial ground of late former South African President Nelson Mandela ahead of his funeral in Qunu.

An injured man struggles to breathe as he is carried on a stretcher by anti-government protesters after clashes with riot police in the Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine.
. Kiev, Ukraine. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

An injured man struggles to breathe as he is carried on a stretcher by anti-government protesters after clashes with riot police in the Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine.

Yekaterina Len, 61, cries outside her destroyed house following what locals say was overnight shelling by Ukrainian forces in the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian town of Slaviansk.
. Slaviansk, Ukraine. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Yekaterina Len, 61, cries outside her destroyed house following what locals say was overnight shelling by Ukrainian forces in the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian town of Slaviansk.

Deserted grain silos are seen in front of the snowcapped Mount Olympus near the town of Larissa in Thessaly region, Greece. A 2,500 km trip from Athens to northeastern Greece and back via the Peloponnese region in the south shows the remnants of a once-flourishing Greek industry, which has suffered a 30 percent drop in production from its peak. Abandoned factories, previously making goods from timber to textiles and cooking oil, are often looted, adding to the scenes of desolation.
. Larissa, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Deserted grain silos are seen in front of the snowcapped Mount Olympus near the town of Larissa in Thessaly region, Greece. A 2,500 km trip from Athens to northeastern Greece and back via the Peloponnese region in the south shows the remnants of a once-flourishing Greek industry, which has suffered a 30 percent drop in production from its peak. Abandoned factories, previously making goods from timber to textiles and cooking oil, are often looted, adding to the scenes of desolation.

Greek parliament employees raise a mast after they replaced torn-off Greek flag with a new one atop the parliament in Athens Syntagma square.
. Athens, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Greek parliament employees raise a mast after they replaced torn-off Greek flag with a new one atop the parliament in Athens Syntagma square.

A pensioner leans against the main door of a branch of the National Bank as he waits to receive part of his pension in Athens.
. Athens, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A pensioner leans against the main door of a branch of the National Bank as he waits to receive part of his pension in Athens.

Former conservative minister Kostis Hatzidakis is covered with blood after about 200 leftists attacked him with stones and sticks, shouting: "Thieves! Shame on you!" in central Athens.
. Athens, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Former conservative minister Kostis Hatzidakis is covered with blood after about 200 leftists attacked him with stones and sticks, shouting: "Thieves! Shame on you!" in central Athens.

Riot police run past a burning building during violent protests in central Athens.
. Athens, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Riot police run past a burning building during violent protests in central Athens.

A protester wearing a gas mask walks beside a burning van during violent protests against austerity measures in Athens.
. Athens, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A protester wearing a gas mask walks beside a burning van during violent protests against austerity measures in Athens.

A man covered in his own blood, escapes after a group of leftist protesters tried to lynch him while accusing him of being a fascist during a protest in Athens' Syntagma square.
. Athens, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A man covered in his own blood, escapes after a group of leftist protesters tried to lynch him while accusing him of being a fascist during a protest in Athens' Syntagma square.

Marialena, a 42-year-old homeless AIDS sufferer and former drug addict who is on a methadone rehabilitation program, sleeps under a bridge in central Athens. Klimaka, a nongovernmental organisation, estimated there were around 20,000 homeless in Greece in 2012.
. Athens, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Marialena, a 42-year-old homeless AIDS sufferer and former drug addict who is on a methadone rehabilitation program, sleeps under a bridge in central Athens. Klimaka, a nongovernmental organisation, estimated there were around 20,000 homeless in Greece in 2012.

Hassan Mekki, a 32-year-old Sudanese migrant, shows scars on his back in Athens. He said he was attacked by black-shirted men on motorcycles holding Greek flags.
. Athens, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Hassan Mekki, a 32-year-old Sudanese migrant, shows scars on his back in Athens. He said he was attacked by black-shirted men on motorcycles holding Greek flags.

A young Kurdish refugee from Kobani holds a toy pistol at a Kurdish refugee camp in the border town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, Turkey.
. Suruc, Turkey. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A young Kurdish refugee from Kobani holds a toy pistol at a Kurdish refugee camp in the border town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, Turkey.

One of the older sisters of Perwin Mustafa Dihap, a 19-year-old fighter with the YPJ (Women's Protection Force), holds onto her sister's coffin during a funeral procession for two female Kurdish fighters killed during the battle for Kobani against Islamic State militants, in the Turkish town on Suruc.
. Suruc, Turkey. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

One of the older sisters of Perwin Mustafa Dihap, a 19-year-old fighter with the YPJ (Women's Protection Force), holds onto her sister's coffin during a funeral procession for two female Kurdish fighters killed during the battle for Kobani against Islamic State militants, in the Turkish town on Suruc.

A Syrian refugee holds onto his children as he struggles to walk off a dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Lesbos.
. Lesbos, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A Syrian refugee holds onto his children as he struggles to walk off a dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Lesbos.

Amoun, 70, a blind Palestinian refugee who lived in the town of Aleppo in Syria, rests on a beach moments after arriving along with another forty on a dinghy in the Greek island of Kos, crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.
. Kos, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Amoun, 70, a blind Palestinian refugee who lived in the town of Aleppo in Syria, rests on a beach moments after arriving along with another forty on a dinghy in the Greek island of Kos, crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.

A refugee keeps warm by an open fire at a make-shift camp close to a registration center on the Greek island of Lesbos.
. Lesbos, Greece. Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

A refugee keeps warm by an open fire at a make-shift camp close to a registration center on the Greek island of Lesbos.