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Iraq

The exterior of the Ancient Church of the East in Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 27, 2023.

A newly launched news channel in Iraq tries to preserve the ancient Syriac language

Language

Al-Iraqiya news recently started a Syriac-language broadcast in an attempt to preserve the ancient language, which derives from Aramaic, the original language of the Bible and Jesus. They are based in Baghdad. People at the network and in the Iraqi Christian community talk about what this means for them.

Salah Fareeq Al-Feroun's farm sits unattended without the necessary water to cultivate Iraq's signature anbar rice, Al-Meshkhab, Najaf Province, Iraq, Aug. 30, 2023.

Iraq’s signature anbar rice is disappearing amid water shortages

Food
people with boat

Parts of Iraq are drying up, impacting already vulnerable communities

Environment
Ayyad Mohmmed Ali works on his farm where he grows date palm trees and vegetables, Iraq.

This startup is fighting to keep Iraq’s palm trees alive

The Big Fix
Young men chat near Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023.

Young Iraqis reflect on the US-led invasion, its aftermath and their hopes for the future

Conflict & Justice
Iraqi cellist and conductor Karim Wasfi leads a performance at the National Theatre in Iraq, Baghdad, March 11, 2023.

Iraq’s revived art scene is helping to heal the country’s wounds

Music

Years of war and violence have interrupted and undermined Iraq’s music scene, with many musicians fleeing the country. But the current relative stability has created a space for its revival.

President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast. But the war dragged on for many years after that.

Citizen pain: Part II

Critical State

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into how the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 not only dismantled the government but destroyed an entire nation, forcing a mass exodus of certain ethnic and religious minorities.

Fighters from the Saraya Salam (Peace Brigades) loyal to influential Shia Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr deploy in Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 30, 2022.

Instability in Iraq has created a ‘culture of fear,’ experts say

This week, the announcement of the resignation of a powerful cleric in Iraq sparked deadly clashes in the capital, Baghdad. On Monday, Moqtada al-Sadr said he is stepping away from politics. In response, his supporters stormed the Green Zone. 

Fishermen navigate on the Shatt al-Arab waterway during a sandstorm in Basra, Iraq, Monday, May 23, 2022.

‘It’s a mass ecological crisis’: Extreme weather in Iraq hits those already struggling the hardest

Environment

About a dozen dust storms have blown across Iraq this year with increased frequency and intensity. Experts say that it’s due to climate change, drought and desertification.

Samira Abbas, whose activist son Ehab al-Wazni was assassinated in May, attends a demonstration in Karbala on Nov. 18, 2021, with other women protesting the impunity Iraqi activists face.

Iraqi mothers risk it all to bring justice for their slain activist sons

Violence

Since the murder of a prominent activist in the Iraqi city of Karbala, his mother has become the public face of a youth-led protest movement. She is inspiring a new movement of mothers in the country seeking justice and demanding change. 

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