Iraq: more than 128,000 people were infected with the virus

Iraq recorded an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases

Baghdad – Al Menasa Infographic Design by Ayoub Hassan In August 2020, Iraq recorded the highest number of Coronavirus cases since the beginning of the Pandemic, with a total of 110,325 cases, an increase of 34,825 compared to last July. The death rate decreased significantly in August, reaching 2% of the total number of cases,…

An Iraqi woman explains why it is so important for

By Manar Alzubaidy   It is hard for me to describe the joy I felt recently, when I saw that large crowd of Iraqi women, from many different age groups, standing together at the anti-government protests. The participation of this group of youthful and feminist women painted a beautiful picture of Iraqi womanhood, as the…

In Tikrit, Uncooperative Militias Prevent A Town’s Return To Normalcy

  By Ghazwan Al-Jibouri in Tikrit Sunni tribal elders and Shiite militias agreed that displaced locals could return to their homes in Al Awja. But militias are not going anywhere and nobody knows why.   Tikrit local Abdul-Rahman al-Nasiri has been waiting to return home for years. He left his hometown of Al Awja several…

Maritime researchers and companies are debating the fate of the

By Waheed Ghanem, in Basra   After three decades of cruising the open seas, the Iraqi government’s very own superyacht, the Basra Breeze, has come to a standstill. She is anchored in the Shatt al-Arab, in the city whose name she bears, while potential users and owners fight about who should be sailing her and…

The young locals in Dhi Qar’s capital have led the

By Murtada Alhudood, in Nasiriyah After nearly four months of anti-government protests in Iraq, the demonstrators in the city of Nasiriyah are perceived to be at the leading edge of anti-government action, a kind of unofficial spokesgroup for all of the others elsewhere in the country. The city of two million now counts over 100…

Meeting the Last Tobacco Hookah Smokers of Nasiriyah

By Haider al-Yaqoubi, in Nasiriyah As a pastime, the tobacco hookah is almost extinct. A hard corps of pensioners in Nasiriyah are keeping their habit alive. Nasiriyah local Haj Abdul Khader al-Sharifi has been coming to the same cafe in his city, every day since 1971. He comes because it is just about the only…

Mount Sanam makes for a surprising sight, rising out of

By Ahmed Taha Hajo, in Basra   Almost in the centre of the province of Basra, a long, flat stretch of desert is interrupted by a hump that the locals here have named Mount Sanam, after the camel’s hump. The people of Safwan, the area in which Mount Sanam rises, have invested the strange protuberance…

A Sense of Community on One of the World’s Narrowest

By Ayoub Hassan, in Baghdad No matter whether you are fat or thin, old or young, the same rules apply to anybody planning on going down the narrowest street in Iraq. At only 45 centimeters at its widest, the street commonly known as “darbounah” or “narrow” street, in central Baghdad, was noted in the Guinness…

A Stranger’s Tomb Draws Poets, Authors + Romantics

Dhi Qar - Ala’a Kole The grave, located about 300 meters from a military checkpoint in Tal Al Lahm, a district south of Nasiriyah, seems to be an ordinary burial site, marked only by a stone about 1.5 meters long. Yet somehow it has become a symbol of romantic tragedy and young Iraqis have been…