On a baking hot Monday afternoon just before the start of Ramadan, a group of teenagers filed into a dilapidated sports hall in Kirkuk. There was no air-conditioning and no watercooler, and the sweat dripped down their faces as they started to dance. But they beamed ecstatic smiles despite the heat
Kirkuk, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraq’s oil infrastructure was subjected to repeated sabotage and theft in the months before the fall of Mosul, an industry insider has told Asharq Al-Awsat. “There was a sabotage on the pipeline from Baiji two weeks before the attack on Mosul,” said the source, who spoke to A
Kirkuk, Asharq Al-Awsat—With its crumbling ruins and ghostly relics of communities that have long since disappeared, Kirkuk’s ancient citadel tells the story of what may happen to Iraq in the near future as deftly as it illustrates the city’s past. We passed through the checkpoint at the citadel’s e
Jaloula, Asharq Al-Awsat—Intelligence and security officials in Iraq’s Kurdish region say they warned Baghdad and Western intelligence agencies six months ago about an impending attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Rooz Bahjay, a senior security official in the Kurdistan Regional Go
Gaziantep, Asharq Al-Awsat—Residents trapped in a rebel-controlled area of a major city in eastern Syria say they have been under siege since the country’s presidential elections earlier this month, and are running out of food and fuel. Speaking via Skype from the Al-Hamadiyeh neighborhood of Deir E
