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Pentagon releases photos tied to Afghan, Iraq detainee abuse

The Pentagon on Friday released 198 photographs linked to allegations of abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them showing close-ups of cuts and bruises to arms and legs of prisoners held in U.S. facilities. The Pentagon said the photos came from criminal investigations into 56 allegations of misconduct by U.S. personnel. It said […]

25 years later: photos from the first time we invaded Iraq

Twenty-five years ago, former President George H.W. Bush took to the airwaves to announce the launch of what is now known as Operation Desert Storm, a US-led military operation to drive Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait. "Just two hours ago, allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait," Bush said on […]

AP PHOTOS: Iraqi special forces share treasured possessions

Sgt. Ahmed Abdelaziz, with Iraq's special forces, has been almost continually deployed fighting the Islamic State group ever since the militants overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014. Now he's on the front lines of Fallujah, a city declared "fully liberated" on Sunday by the commander leading the fight against IS. […]

AP PHOTOS: Iraqis displaced from Mosul marry in refugee camp

A bleak refugee camp in northern Iraq saw a rare outpouring of joy on Thursday as Hussein Danoon and Shahad Abed celebrated their wedding less than a month after fleeing the fighting in Mosul. Before their wedding, the 25-year-old Danoon and his 16-year-old bride were taken to a beauty salon outside the camp and dressed […]

Exclusive Photos Show Destruction of Nineveh Gates by ISIS

National Geographic has received exclusive photographs that appear to confirm the destruction of the Mashki and Nergal Gates by the Islamic State (ISIS) at the ancient site of Nineveh in Iraq. Unconfirmed reports of the destruction of Nineveh's iconic gates began to emerge late last week but were just confirmed by Michael Danti, professor of archaeology at Boston University and co-director of the Cultural Heritage Initiative (CHI) at the American Schools of Oriental […]

Photos: An abandoned school in Iraq has become a city of refugees

Displaced by war and unable to find room in overcrowded refugee camps, Iraq’s Yazidis are increasingly taking shelter in abandoned buildings. Living in the concrete skeletons of unfinished structures and shielded from the rain by little more than a patchwork of tarps, countless families from this embattled ethnic minority struggle daily for access to clean water and […]

Side-by-side photos show Iraq pre-US invasion

Last week marked the 13th anniversary of when UN inspectors agreed to enter Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction the US said were being massed and readied by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. From Nov 27, 2002 until March 2003, inspectors poured over 900 surveys at 500 different sites and turned up nothing. Nevertheless, US […]

IS insurgency exploits Baghdad-KRG conflict

Thousands of federal and Kurdish soldiers are pointing their weapons at each other, leaving volatile territory inadequately guarded and vulnerable to an emboldened IS insurgency.

Iraq: Isis cruelty graphically revealed in gay man’s savage rooftop execution in Mosul

The Islamic State [IS] group has released photographs that allegedly show the final moments before a man is thrown from the roof of a building in the Iraqi city of Mosul as punishment for being gay. The photos were uploaded to Justpaste.it by jihadists and circulated on social media sites by IS-affiliated accounts. The photo shows […]

Welcome to the ISIS fanatics’ fairground

Perhaps inspired by Banksy's bemusement park Dismaland, ISIS have bemused social media users by showing off pictures of two new fairgrounds in its territory in Syria and Iraq. The new theme parks were opened near ISIS's self-styled capital of Raqqa in Syria and the Iraqi city of Fallujah. The propaganda photos attempt to portray the apparent normality of life […]

Iraq sentences Islamic State militants to death for Tikrit massacre

A court in Iraq has sentenced 24 suspected members of Islamic State (IS) to death for their role in the massacre of hundreds of soldiers in June 2014. As many as 1,700 soldiers, most of them Shia Muslim recruits, were killed when the jihadist group overran the Camp Speicher military base near Tikrit. IS posted graphic photos […]

Baghdad musicians play ancient oud to soften din of war

In a Baghdad workshop plastered with black-and-white photos from a more peaceful time, Mahmoud Abdul Nabi hand-carves a wooden oud, a string instrument with ancient roots that has fallen silent in much of the war-torn country. “The oud is different than other musical instruments,” said Abdul Nabi, who has crafted ouds played by some of […]

Iraqi army comes under attack in Haditha

The Islamic State's Anbar Division released a series of photos that purport to document the overrunning of Iraqi Army bases in the city of Haditha. Nineteen photographs captioned with "Charging at a number of barracks of the Savafid army in the city of Haditha" were released yesterday on the jihadist group's Twitter feed. At least […]

As Shiite militias return to the fight, Iraqi politicians worry about sectarian war

Mohamed Thaban al Shiblawy was prepared for this moment from the time he was a boy, with lessons about the protocols of battle from tribal lore and old photos that show his rifle-toting grandfather astride a horse during the 1920 uprising against the British occupation of Iraq. Shiblawy, 46, is now emir of his ancient […]

Elections unleash political flux in Kurdistan

The upstart Gorran party is likely to take control of key posts, upending the old political order and marking a new era of intra-Kurdish volatility.

Panel investigating Hawija raid needs better backing

Human Rights Watch on Saturday urged Iraqi authorities to give more financial and political backing to a government panel probing a deadly raid by security forces at a protest camp last week to find out who is responsible for what it alleged was an unlawful use of lethal force. The group said it received photos […]

On Iraq’s campaign trail, candidates break all the rules

The streets and storefronts of Baghdad are covered in banners and photos, festooned with coloured balloons. Handsome candidates smile prettily from the pictures and banners, enticing locals into voting for them in the upcoming provincial elections, which are to be held in April 2013. Campaigning for Iraq’s provincial elections officially started on March 1 and […]

ISW: Iraq moves toward civil war

Thousands of Iraqis gathered in Fallujah on Saturday, 26 January, to bury the protesters killed the day before by Iraqi Army fire. At a protest following the funerals, demonstrators denounced the government in language reminiscent of the early stages of the uprising in Syria, chanting "Listen Maliki, we are free people" and "Take your lesson […]

Photographers detained, harassed in Iraq

Cameras scare the security forces more than arms. This fact is being echoed on a daily basis by photographers in Iraq. Cameras have led to punishment and detainment at the hands of Iraqi security services, which turned Iraq into a large barracks that no one is allowed to approach. Taking photos there is not an option, under […]

Iraq revisits its royal history

More than half a century after Iraq’s monarchy was toppled in a violent coup, Iraqis are coming to grips with a controversial part of their history that some consider the country's golden age. Tamara Dhagastani, a family friend of the Iraqi royal family, looks at part of her collection of thousands of photos of palace […]

Iraq war wounds still fresh for Falluja

They came on Wednesday to bury the war: clerics and sheiks, children and widows from across this scarred city. In the shadow of an overpass, they waved banners, burned an American flag, displayed photos of their dead and shouted well-worn denunciations of departing American forces. Once an inner ring of Iraq’s wartime inferno, Falluja is […]

With camera, Iraqi boy celebrates life

The boy angled his camera upward and the jumbled world slid into focus. Giant men lumbered under high brick ceilings. They slouched on padded wooden benches, crossing and uncrossing their legs, nearly knocking him over. The boy steadied himself to take photos of the bustling scene at the century-old Shahbandar Cafe. Kamer Hashim’s head barely […]