AP News • 29th June 2024

UNESCO finds Islamic State group-era bombs in Mosul mosque walls, years after the defeat of IS

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.N. cultural agency has discovered five bombs hidden within the walls of the historic al-Nouri Mosque in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, a remnant of the Islamic State militant group’s rule over the area, UNESCO said in a statement Saturday.The mosque, famous for its 12th-century leaning minaret, was destroyed by IS in 2017 and has been a focal point of UNESCO’s restoration efforts since 2020.The U.N. agency said that five large-scale explosive devices, designed for signi...

AP News • 27th June 2024

A leading human rights group calls on Iraq to halt deportations of Syrian refugees

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities in Baghdad and the administration in the semi-autonomous northern Iraqi Kurdish region have been arbitrarily detaining and deporting Syrian refugees to their country, a leading international rights group said Thursday.The New York-based Human Rights Watch said it has documented cases in which Iraqi authorities deported Syrians even though they had legal residency or were registered with the U.N. refugee agency. The Syrians reported being arrested in raids at thei...

AP News • 7th June 2024

Attacks on businesses linked to US brands rattle Baghdad as anger over the war in Gaza surges

BAGHDAD (AP) — A dozen masked men jump out of two SUVs and a white pickup and storm a KFC in Baghdad, smashing everything in sight before fleeing the scene. A few days earlier, similar violence played out at Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken and Chili House — all American brands popular in the Iraqi capital. Though no one was seriously hurt, the recent attacks — apparently orchestrated by supporters of Iran-backed, anti-American militias in Iraq — reflect surging anger against the United States, Israe...

AP News • 13th May 2024

Notorious people smuggler wanted in Europe arrested in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — One of Europe’s most notorious human smugglers was arrested Monday in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, security officials said.The regional government’s security agency said it had arrested Barzan Majeed, known as “the Scorpion,” in the area of Sulaymaniyah, upon a request from Interpol and “after the exchange of intelligence information.”He was handed over to the regional justice department, it said.The U.K.'s National Crime Agency announced Majeed’s arrest on...

AP News • 10th May 2024

Iraqi government asks the United Nations to wind down its political mission in the country

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi government has requested that the United Nations end a mission set up to promote governance and human rights reforms in the country by the end of 2025, the latest in a series of international bodies operating in the nation that Iraq has sought to wind down.The letter sent Wednesday by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that there is “no need for the continuation” of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UN...

PBS News • 28th April 2024

Iraq passes harsh anti-LGBTQ+ law imposing up to 15 years in prison, drawing backlash

BAGHDAD (AP) — Human rights groups and diplomats criticized a law that was quietly passed by the Iraqi parliament over the weekend that would impose heavy prison sentences on gay and transgender people.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that the law passed Saturday "threatens those most at risk in Iraqi society" and "can be used to hamper free-speech and expression." He warned that the legislation could drive away foreign investment.
"International business co...

PBS News • 3rd February 2024

Iranian-backed militia official in Iraq downplays U.S. retaliatory strikes, hints at de-escalation

BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi militia official on Saturday hinted at a desire to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East following retaliatory strikes launched by the United States against dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
WATCH: U.S. strikes Iran-backed militias in retaliation for deadly attack on American troops
Hussein al-Mosawi, spokesperson for Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the main Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, in an interview w...

AP News • 8th January 2024

Four premature babies die in hospital fire in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — A fire erupted Monday evening at a hospital in southern Iraq, sending smoke through a maternity ward and killing four babies who had been born prematurely, health officials said.The fire started at a pile of debris belonging to a construction company working on renovations at Women and Children’s Hospital in Diwaniyiah, Iraqi Health Minister Saleh al-Hasnawi told journalists at the scene. The hospital building did not burn but it was filled with smoke, and the four infants died of...

Al Jazeera • 31st October 2023

Spooky Arab tales for Halloween: Iraq’s shape-shifting Tantals

Iraq’s ancient Marshes abound with tales of the Tantal, a trickster that delights in its trickery.The Middle East abounds in tales of spirits and their antics. Today, Al Jazeera brings some of these tales to life.Myths and legends, whispered under the veil of night from elder to child, offer glimpses into a culture’s most profound fears, dreams, and values.In Iraq, the enigmatic Marshes resonate with tales of the Tantal, an elusive creature that can shape-shift – from man to beast to inanimate o...

AP News • 19th July 2023

Iraqis are furious over their government's demolition of a minaret that stood for nearly 300 years

BASRA, Iraq (AP) — For three centuries, the al-Siraji Mosque, with its minaret fashioned from weathered bricks and its pinnacle inlaid with blue ceramic tiles, was a distinctive feature of the city of Basra in southern Iraq. In recent years, it was one of the few tourist attractions in the oil-rich but neglected city, although locals complained that the minaret jutted out into the street, snarling traffic.In the early hours Friday morning, the 11-meter-high (33-foot-high) minaret was razed to th...

AP News • 7th July 2023

Iraq opens an investigation into the kidnapping of a missing Israeli-Russian academic

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq opened an investigation into the case of a dual Israeli-Russian academic who has been missing in Iraq since March, a government spokesman said Friday.Bassem al-Awadi’s comments were the first official Iraqi statements since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive “and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being.”Netanyahu said Tsurkov is being held by the Shiite group Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Bri...

Al Jazeera • 28th June 2023

‘How would you survive?’: Desperation grows in Iraq water crisis

Parched communities, once displaced by the ravages of ISIL, can barely survive the decimation of their water supplies.Ramadi, Iraq – The most precious resource in the villages of al-Ankour is water, and it’s gone. Many of the area’s 13,000 residents want to leave but don’t have the means to escape.Habbaniyah Lake, once a sprawling body of water spanning 140sq km (55sq miles) with a capacity of 3.3 billion cubic metres (4.2 billion cubic yards), is rapidly shrinking as a devastating water crisis...

Al Jazeera • 17th March 2023

Mutanabbi Street: An intellectual haven overcomes Iraq’s pain

The booksellers of Baghdad’s Mutanabbi Street have faced invasion and bombings, two decades on from the war in Iraq.Baghdad, Iraq – Haj Mohammed al-Khashali has outlived four sons and one grandson, killed together when a car bomb tore through Mutanabbi Street in 2007.Sixteen years later, and 20 years after the United States-led invasion of his country, 89-year-old Haj Mohammed is still serving tea in the Shabandar coffee house, on the corner of the historic street he first encountered as a child...

AP News • 12th January 2021

Pandemic restrictions a business boon for some Iraqi women

BAGHDAD (AP) — Fatima Ali was in her final year studying to become a medical analysis specialist when Iraq imposed a full lockdown in March. Forced by a raging pandemic to stay home, she spent her days on social media, looking for something to do with her time. Then an idea came to her: Six years ago, visiting America on a young leaders exchange program, she and other students toured a Vermont cheese factory where aged cheese platters were displayed on wooden boards so inviting they looked like...