SWINISH BEHAVIOUR: How to deal with ‘rogue gangs’ of Iraqi marsh pigs terrorizing farmers?
By Alaa Koli // In Iraq's southern marshes, farmers are confronting a growing challenge that is changing daily life and agriculture: Wild pigs. There has been an increase in wild pig populations and, along with that, their potentially destructive behaviour. What was once a manageable animal in the wetlands has become a nightly threat to…
21/08/2026
HISTORY IN SONG: Visiting the largest private archive of Kurdish music
By Salam Hanadani in Hawraman, Iraqi Kurdistan // The moment the door opens, sound pours out. Melodies drift, notes are carried from a distant era, and shelves are crowded with cassette tapes and aging recorders, a vast musical memory that preserves decades of Kurdish artistic heritage. At the centre of this musical world is Ibrahim…
14/08/2026
MOURNING THE SHADOWS: A writer’s lament for the lost trees
By Nagham Makki in Basra // I walk along the Shatt al‑Arab corniche to clear my mind and to take a few photos for one of the reports I’m working on. I search for a corner that might shield me from the unbearable summer sun but all I find are scattered palm trees planted along…
TROUBLED WATERS: Al Faw’s fishing industry, caught between borders and
By Saad Nadhim in Basra // Before dawn breaks over Iraq’s southern coastline, fisherman Ahmed al-Janoubi is already preparing for another journey into the Gulf. At 53, the father of five has spent most of his life at sea, in a profession his family has undertaken for generations. But these days, every fishing trip carries…
‘WE CAN’T BREATHE’: How the Iran war is poisoning Iraqi
By Bwar Qadir in Sulaymaniyah // In one of the quiet alleys of the Bakhtiari neighborhood in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, Rankin Mahmoud, 61, complains that she must once again deal with thick black smoke and polluted air. The pollution is due to the many large diesel-powered generators that provide electricity to private…
THE LOST WOMEN: Why Basra locals don’t reveal their mother’s
By Nagham Makki in Basra // A black mourning banner hangs on the brick wall inside this Basra home. The banner lists the names of a deceased woman's sons, one after another. But the recently deceased woman's name isn't on the banner. She is only identified as “the mother of …” as though she doesn’t…
A LIFE DEVOTED TO DANGER: The Kurdish humanitarian they call
By Salam Hanadni in Halabja // In the countryside that stretches between Halabja, Hawraman and Penjwen in the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan, danger lies under the soil. Decades after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, landsmines and unexploded armaments continue to threaten ordinary people there. Hoshyar Ali Biaweli, who's known around the region…
INSIDE BZEIBIZ CAMP: When ‘temporary displacement’ lasts 12 years
By Ahmed Kawkab in Anbar // On the edge of Anbar province in central Iraq, the Bzeibiz camp for displaced people looks like many similar camps set up in Iraq when the extremist group known as the Islamic State, or IS, was fighting government forces. That is, there are rows of faded tents, dusty paths…
CULINARY CONTRADICTIONS: Syrian food is prospering in Iraq —but the
By Draf Alla in Erbil // At night in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, the streets are filled with the smell of grilled food and the buzz of lively conversation around café tables. Syrian restaurants have become a constant in this scene. Restaurant names from Syria, like Damascene Paradise, are…
IRAQ’S ‘LIVING WATER’ IS DYING: How climate change threatens Mandaean
By Nagham Makki in Basra // On a quiet morning along the banks of the Shatt al-Arab, beneath a bridge, Mazen al-Naif, the spiritual leader of the Mandaean religious community in the southern province of Basra, steps into the water wearing the traditional white garments of his faith. The “rasta” robe clings to the 55-year-old’s…
ON THE FRONTLINES OF CLIMATE CHANGE: How Iraqi women are
By Mawj Iyad in Baghdad // On the outskirts of Baghdad, the landscape is shifting in ways that are impossible to ignore. Soil once rich and fertile is turning salty. Water sources are drying up or becoming too polluted to use. Smoke from refineries, burn pits and trash fires hangs low over villages, forming a…
BREAKING WITH BARBER’S TRADITION: A young Iraqi combines mobility with
By Mustafa Jmal Murad in Baghdad // The rest of his family used to love football and in the neighborhood where he grew up, the Dora district in Baghdad, the alleys often came alive with the shouts of children chasing a ball or each other. But Saif Saad, 23, didn't often join them. Instead he…
