Baghdad Hosts First Fashion Show Since 1988

An Iraqi model presents a dress during the 2015 Baghdad
Fashion Show at the Iraqi capital's Royal Tulip Hotel

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iraqi capital harks back to liberal days of the 1980s with fashion show at luxurious Royal Tulip hotel as war with Isil goes on to the north

Models in designer clothes strutted down a catwalk in front of Baghdad's high society on Friday for a fashion show that tickled one generation's nostalgia and filled the next one with hope.

Umm Mustafa and her husband cancelled all their family duties, bought new clothes and spent a whole week preparing for the first edition of the Baghdad Fashion Show.

"The last show we saw was in 1988 at the Palestine hotel," she said, wearing a burgundy suit with flowery prints and candy floss pink nail varnish assorted to her smartphone cover.

"We love fashion and design... It's the security situation that has affected everything. There's development here but no opportunity to show the world," said her husband, also in his late forties.

Despite Iraq's eight-year war with Iran, Baghdad in the eighties had a vibrant cultural life and its society was less religiously conservative.

Around 500 people turned out in their best attire to watch 16 young Iraqi women model collections by six home-grown designers Friday as an oriental beat shook the walls of the luxurious Royal Tulip hotel's gala hall. » | AFP | Saturday, March 14, 2015

Iraq Asks for US Ground Troops as Isil Threaten Baghdad

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Islamic State jihadists move within eight miles of the Iraqi capital, sparking calls for America to return to the country

Iraqi officials have issued a desperate plea for America to bring US ground troops back to the embattled country, as heavily armed Islamic State militants came within striking distance of Baghdad.

Amid reports that Isil forces have advanced as far as Abu Ghraib, a town that is effectively a suburb of Baghdad, a senior governor claimed up to 10,000 fighters from the movement were now poised to assault the capital. » | Alastair Beach | Saturday, October 11, 2014

Inside ISIS' Threat to Baghdad

Oct. 10, 2014 - 3:33 - ISIS has shoulder-fired missiles and has shot down Iraqi helicopters. Why Baghdad is in potential peril

Is Baghdad At Risk of Falling to ISIS?

Oct. 01, 2014 - 8:52 - Terror group advances, Christians in peril

Uncut Chronicles: ISIS/ISIL Forges Bloody Caliphate in Iraq (RAW Timeline)

Radical Sunni militants of Al-Qaeda offshoot, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL) are advancing and capturing cities in the north of Iraq. The jihadists have declared the capture of the capital Baghdad as their top priority objective.

Islamic Army of Iraq Founder: Isis and Sunni Islamists Will March on Baghdad

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Exclusive: Founder of Islamic Army of Iraq who was once described by the US as a top terrorist target, explains how the fight against 'American or Iranian occupation’ has united Isis and other Sunni Islamists in the Battle for Baghdad


A top commander of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq has told The Telegraph how his men are fighting alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham to take back Baghdad, even if it means pushing the country to civil war.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Dabash, 47, a founder of the Islamic Army of Iraq, who fought the allied invasion in 2003, has told how thousands of his men are participating in the Isis-led insurgency that swept across northern Iraq, and which now threatens the gates of the capital.

The Islamic Army, however, does not share the same extremist ideology of Isis, Mr Dabash said in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, and raised the prospect of his faction one day turning its guns on their jihadist comrades.

“If Maliki [the Iraqi prime minister] does not step down, then there is no doubt that we are moving on Baghdad,” said Mr Dabash. “We will go all the way.” » | Ruth Sherlock, and Carol Malouf in Erbil | Friday, June 20, 2014

Iraq Crisis: Fighting Moves Closer to Baghdad as Iraq's Biggest Oil Refinery Shut Down – Live

Nearly 300 American forces positioned in and around Iraq, Barack Obama tells Congress, as overnight Isis attack on Baquba - just 37 miles from Baghdad - repelled

Live feed here | Andrew Marszal | Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Is It Possible for ISIS to Overrun Baghdad?

Jun. 13, 2014 - 6:36 - Major towns reportedly fall to extremists

Does Obama Understand Iraq May Soon Be an Islamist State?

The White House should be facing up to the fact that it may soon be staring at a contiguous Islamist state smack dab in the middle of the Middle East.
FOX NEWS: Iraq is a shambles. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Al Qaeda off-shoot that now controls nearly a third of the nation, continues to run amok.

It’s way past time for the White House to get its head in the game. The disaster unfolding in Iraq and Syria could very quickly spiral into a much, much bigger problem. And some problems are so big that even our president can’t spin his way out.

At the top of the list of what the administration should be worrying about—and preparing to deal with—is the potential for an endless three-way civil war in Iraq. With Sunni, Shia and Kurds fighting one another, it would look something like the civil war in Syria—on steroids. » | James Jay Carafano | FoxNews.com | Thursday, June 12, 2014

Iraq Crisis: Baghdad Prepares for the Worst as Islamist Militants Vow to Capture the City

THE INDEPENDENT: Collapse of Shia-dominated regime could provoke Iranian intervention

Iraq is breaking up. The Kurds have taken the northern oil city of Kirkuk that they have long claimed as their capital. Sunni fundamentalist fighters vow to capture Baghdad and the Shia holy cities further south.

Government rule over the Sunni Arab heartlands of north and central Iraq is evaporating as its 900,000-strong army disintegrates. Government aircraft have fired missiles at insurgent targets in Mosul, captured by Isis on Monday, but the Iraqi army has otherwise shown no sign of launching a counter-attack.

The nine-year Shia dominance over Iraq, established after the US, Britain and other allies overthrew Saddam Hussein, may be coming to an end. The Shia may continue to hold the capital and the Shia-majority provinces further south, but they will have great difficulty in re-establishing their authority over Sunni provinces from which their army has fled. » | Patrick Cockburn | Thursday, June 12, 2014

Exodus of US Troops from Iraq as Chaos Spreads

An ISIL militant posing with the trademark Islamists' flag after
they allegedly seized an Iraqi army checkpoint in the northern
province of Salahuddin

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A sense of crisis is gripping Baghdad as radical jihadists make ground at rapid speed across northern Iraq on the roads towards the capital

A growing sense of panic was gripping Iraq last night as the al-Qaeda uprising in the country’s north led to US contractors being evacuated from the region and European countries ordering their citizens to leave Baghdad.

With militants threatening to advance on the capital, signs emerged of diplomats making preparations to leave the country in the event of civil war erupting.

Three planes carrying American diplomats and contractors stationed at a training mission at an Iraqi airbase in Balad, north of Baghdad, flew out amid fears that the base could be surrounded by the militants. Germany ordered all its citizens to leave the Iraqi capital, as did Turkey, which has already had 80 people kidnapped by the militants, including the consul to the northern city of Mosul.

British officials said they had no immediate plans to evacuate staff from Baghdad’s heavily guarded “Green Zone”. As troops stood guard at the city’s northern flanks, queues formed at the main airport while banks saw large number of customers attempt to withdraw money. Last night the internet also went down in Baghdad for an hour, adding to the atmosphere of unease. » | Colin Freeman | Thursday, June 12, 2014

Militants Take Major Iraqi Cities, Vow March On Baghdad

Jun. 12, 2014 - 2:18 - Conor Powell reports from Jerusalem

New Wave of Bombings Tears through Baghdad

A string of bombings have hit several neighbourhoods in Baghdad, killing at least 40 people and wounding 170 others.

Fresh Iraq Violence Claims More Lives

Shootings and bombings kill seven more, a day after wave of car bombings left scores dead.

Shiites in Iraq Support Bahrain’s Protesters
THE NEW YORK TIMES: BAGHDAD — The violent suppression of the uprising in Bahrain has become a Shiite rallying cry in Iraq, where the American war overturned a Sunni-dominated power structure much like the one in place in Bahrain.

Ahmad Chalabi, an erstwhile American partner in the period before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and a Shiite member of Parliament, on Friday denounced what he called a double standard in the Western powers’ response to the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East — particularly in Bahrain, where a Sunni minority dominates a vast and restive underclass made up of his Shiite brethren.

“They called for international action in Libya,” Mr. Chalabi said in a meeting hall on the grounds of his farm outside Baghdad. “But they kept their mouths shut with what is happening in Bahrain.”

The Iraqi Parliament briefly suspended its work to protest Bahrain’s crackdown on largely peaceful protesters, and the prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, also a Shiite, recently said in an interview with the BBC that the events in Bahrain could unleash a regional sectarian war like the one that menaced Iraq just a few years ago. » | Tim Arango | Friday, April 01, 2011

Iraq Fears Repression and Intolerance
As change sweeps the Middle East, there are fears of a new crackdown in Iraq. After anti-government demonstrations last week, security forces beat and arrested hundreds of protestors. Although officials have since apologised, but protesters fear that further repressive measures may be on the way. Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf reports from Baghdad

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Baghdad Attacks on Christians Prompt Archbishop's Call for Mass Exodus
THE GUARDIAN: Survivors of today's attacks have been contacting foreign embassies, saying that they will be killed if they remain in Iraq

Iraqi Christians are becoming more fearful for their lives after targeted attacks last week and today. Photograph: The Guardian
The martyr in their midst was known all around the area. But in case anyone had missed it, a mourning sign had been posted outside Saad Adwar's house in the Baghdad suburb of Kampsar, revealing exactly where he lived.

It said simply that Adwar had been killed "by the hand of a spiteful and hateful enemy while he prayed to his holy God in Our Lady of Salvation church" nine days ago.

This morning, the terrorists who had killed 44 of Baghdad's Christians at their place of worship, came hunting them once more – this time in their homes.

They struck 10 times just after 7am in six different places in Baghdad, almost all of them Christian houses.

Mortars damaged two homes in the south. Improvised bombs damaged four in the north of the city and four in the east. A total of four people were killed and 25 injured. Worse was the effect on the city's already traumatised Christian minority, which now seems more fearful than ever – and potentially poised for another mass exodus.

"We are shocked these days about our situation," said Raad Yacoub Khuanum as he repaired his kitchen, damaged by a bomb outside his house in the central suburb of al-Sana'a. "Now I am terrified."

The family car was a burned-out hulk, destroyed by a bomb that had been placed by men who briefly stepped from a passing car just after dawn. A distinctive Jerusalem cross had hung from the rear vision mirror. No other car in the neighbourhood was damaged.

"The church attack had a psychological effect on us," he said. "Now we know al-Qaida will kill us all." >>> Martin Chulov in Baghdad | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Baghdad Church Hostage Drama Ends in Bloodbath
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Up to 25 hostages were killed during a shoot-out between US and Iraqi forces and al-Qaeda-linked gunmen in a Catholic church in Baghdad on Sunday.

American soldiers and Iraqi security forces had entered the church in the centre of the city to free 40 worshippers being held by eight gunmen.

Seven members of Iraq's security forces, police and at least five of the attackers were also killed during the joint rescue operation in the Sayidat al-Nejat church.

The gunmen had stormed the church in the Karrad neighbourhood during evening mass after killing two guards at the nearby headquarters of the Baghdad stock exchange.

At least one of the deaths came before the rescue operation. One of the freed hostages, an 18-year-old man, said the first thing the gunmen did when they entered the church was to shoot the priest.

"They entered the church with their weapons, wearing military uniforms. They came into the prayer hall, and immediately killed the priest," said the young man who declined to give his name.

All the hostages had been huddled into the main prayer hall when the gun battles began with security forces, he said.

"We heard a lot of gunfire and explosions, and some people were hurt from falling windows, doors and debris," he added. >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Sunday, October 31, 2010

Suicide Bombers Kill 26 in Crowded Baghdad Street
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Suicide bombers in two cars killed 26 people and wounded 53 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday.

Iraqis gather at the site of two car bombs in Baghdad's Mansur district. Photo: The Sunday Telegraph
The attackers drove down a crowded street and blew themselves up simultaneously.

The morning bombings followed attacks late on Saturday that killed seven people, underlining the dangers of a resurgence of violence in the face of a persistent political vacuum more than three months after a general election.

The bombers targeted the Baghdad branch of the Trade Bank of Iraq, the conduit for much of the government's foreign exchange transactions and its dealings with investors.

The bank is on a busy thoroughfare through the mainly Sunni Arab Mansur district that provides access from western Iraq to the fortified Green Zone government and embassy compound in the city centre.

The twin bombs marked the deadliest day in Iraq since May 10 when four bombs in the mainly Shia central city of Hilla and other attacks killed more than 100 people - the highest toll of this year. >>> | Sunday, June 20, 2010

Dozens Killed in Baghdad in 'Revenge al-Qaeda Attacks'
BBC: A wave of bombings in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, has killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 100.

Most of the attacks occurred near Shia mosques during Friday prayers. At least two went off near the offices of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.

A top official blamed al-Qaeda, which in the past has targeted Shia areas.

He said the bombing had been carried out in revenge for the recent killing of three senior al-Qaeda leaders by security forces.

There were at least six bombings in Baghdad on Friday, with some reports putting the total at 13.

The targets included mosques and a market, as well as Mr Sadr's offices in the mainly Shia area of Sadr City. Read on (with video) >>> | Friday, April 23, 2010