A burning building crumbles. Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1972

The thirty-year civil war – a chaotic period known as “The Troubles” – officially began in 1968 but the bubbling violence which marked it was laden with deep-rooted divisions. Indeed, the conflict could be said to have begun 800 years prior, when the Normans first invaded Ireland and heralded centuries of direct English rule. Abbas went there to photograph it, capturing both the conflict and the broader background of what was going on. Said Abbas: “The war was more tribal than it was religious. Very often you wonder why they’re fighting because culturally they’re the same people. Religion was important but it was secondary to the tribal aspects of the civil war.” Pictured here, the façade of a building crumbles after it is set alight in a suspected IRA attack.