A man stands on the balcony of a stone building in the Kurdish town of Akre, 500 kilometres north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, on September 14, 2022. Concrete houses are nearly everywhere in Iraq, but the northern city of Akre likes to do things differently, opting for stone instead, reaping benefits in the fight against climate change. (Photo by Safin Hamed/AFP Photo)





Men ride on a donkey in the Kurdish town of Akre, 500 kilometres north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, on September 14, 2022. (Photo by Safin Hamed/AFP Photo)





A partial view shows a stairway in the Kurdish town of Akre, 500 kilometres north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, on September 14, 2022. (Photo by Safin Hamed/AFP Photo)





People shop at a market decorated with banners and garlands ahead of celebrations marking the birth of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, known as “al-Mawlid al-Nabawi” in Arabic, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, on October 5, 2022. (Photo by Ismael Adnan/AFP Photo)





A youth walks on cracked and dried up soil at the Hawizeh marshes, which straddle Iraq's border with Iran, in the southeastern Maysan province on October 8, 2022. (Photo by Asaad Niazi/AFP Photo)





An aerial picture shows the capsized hull of “Al Mansur”, the private yacht of toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, formed at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, in Iraq's southern city of Basra, on October 9, 2022. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)





An aerial picture shows the capsized hull of "Al Mansur", the private yacht of toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, formed at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, in Iraq's southern city of Basra, on October 9, 2022. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)





Iraqi security forces block a road leading to the Green Zone in Baghdad on October 13, 2022 as lawmakers gather for their fourth attempt this year to elect a new state president and break political gridlock that has sparked deadly violence. Rocket fire targeting Baghdad's Green Zone wounded 10 people as lawmakers gathered in a bid to elect a new president, a security official said. Nine Katyusha-style rockets targeted the capital's fortified government and diplomatic district, the security forces said in a statement (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)





This aerial view shows Iraqi civil defence members riding in an inflatable boat as they take part in life-saving drills in Lake Najaf, east of the central Iraqi shrine city on October 18, 2022, in preparation for expected winter flooding in the nearby area. (Photo by Ali Najafi/AFP Photo)





An Iraqi worker excavates a rock-carving relief recently found at the Mashki Gate, one of the monumental gates to the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, on the outskirts of what is today the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on October 19, 2022. (Photo by Zaid Al-Obeidi/AFP Photo)





An aerial view taken on October 20, 2022, shows the breakwaters of the Grand Faw Port project, which is under construction, in the southern city of Basra. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)





Security forces try to disperse anti government protesters during a demonstration to mark the third anniversary of the anti-government protests of Tahrir Square in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, October 25, 2022. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)





Iraqi people inspect the site where an explosive device attached to a vehicle detonated, leading to another explosion of a gas tanker that was close by, in Baghdad, Iraq on October 29, 2022. (Photo by Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)





Iraqis stand on the shore of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, formed at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, as the sun sets over Iraq's southern city of Basra on October 30, 2022. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)





A man wearing a costume poses for a picture during a Halloween celebration at Al Faisaliah Cafe in Baghdad, Iraq on October 31, 2022. (Photo by Saba Kareem/Reuters)





Followers of the ancient Sabean Mandaean religious sect pray alongside the Tigris river during the Prosperity Day celebration in the Tigris River in central Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, November 1, 2022. Mandaeism follows the teachings of John the Baptist, a saint in both the Christian and Islamic traditions, and its rites revolve around water and prosperity. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)





A woman in the Sabean Mandaean community takes part in a ritual during the Prosperity Day celebration in the Tigris River in central Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, November 1, 2022. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)





A general view shows boats during a sandstorm in Iraq's southern city of Basra, on November 2, 2022. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)





A spider crawls on face of a young Iraqi man at the Baghdad zoo in the Al-Zawraa Gardens area of the capital on November 11, 2022, during an event aimed at familiarising people with snakes and other crawling animals. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)





A fisherman casts his net into the Euphrates river in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah in the Dhi Qar province, about 360 kms southeast of the capital, on November 13, 2022. (Photo by Asaad Niazi/AFP Photo)