[Published here on December 2, 2019]
Baghdad (AFP) – Iraq has been rocked by two months of anti-government protests that brought down premier Adel Abdel Mahdi on Sunday, but its lucrative oil industry has been curiously insulated from the turmoil.
Middle East
Iraqis shatter taboos in rage at Iran, but bloodshed may follow | AFP
[Published here November 29, 2019]
Baghdad (AFP) – By torching Tehran’s consulates and slapping their muddy shoes against photographs of top Iranian officials, Iraqi protesters have shattered a taboo on public criticism of their influential eastern neighbour.
Washington silent as US-crafted regime under fire in Iraq | AFP
[Published here November 18, 2019]
Baghdad (AFP) – It posted tens of thousands of troops in Iraq, huddled with its leaders and helped craft its laws — but with the country swamped by deadly protests, Washington is staying out of the fray.
In Iraq’s Baiji, mines turn farms into killing fields | AFP
[Published here on September 3, 2019]
One man lost his uncle. Another is mourning for two sons. Farmers and herders in Iraq’s Baiji say mines left by the Islamic State group turned their beloved orchards into killing fields.
Iraq finds Israel behind ‘some’ base attacks | AFP
[Published here August 31, 2019]
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s government is preparing a complaint to the U.N. after finding Israel is “certainly” behind several attacks on Al-Hashd al-Shaabi bases, a parliamentarian and leading member of the force said.
Our Tales of Two Cities | AFP
[Published on AFP’s Correspondent Blog on May 24, 2019]
Mosul — “There are families living in this alleyway.” The Arabic words were hand-painted in red, black, and blue on a tattered canvas, pinned up where a small side street led off a main thoroughfare in Iraq’s Mosul. The alleyway looked anything but livable — bullet holes and craters from mortar rounds still scarred the walls around it nearly two years after the fighting had stopped, and sewage water gurgled down the cracked pavement. The banner, my AFP colleagues said, was hung to alert passing aid groups to needy residents eking out a living, unseen, in the battered labyrinth of west Mosul.
Don’t ‘politicise’ electricity, Iraq minister urges as summer nears | AFP
[Published here May 15, 2019]
Baghdad (AFP) – With temperatures rising on both the weather and security fronts across the region, Iraq’s freshman electricity minister is warning that politicising his country’s power sector could have ripple effects around the world.
