Iraqi women cry over their brother's body, who was killed by a mortar shell fired by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on civilians who were gathered to receive aid, in Al-Risala neighbourhood on March 22, 2017, as an ongoing offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the city from the group continues. Iraqi forces launched a major operation to recapture west Mosul – the most-populated urban area still held by IS – on February 19, and have retaken a series of neighbourhoods from the jihadists. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

Some Iraqi candidates for Miss Iraq beauty contest pose in front of the Ishtar Gate at the ancient archaeological site of Babylon, outside the modern city of Hilla, south of the capital Baghdad on December 17, 2015. The beauty contest, which is the first one in more than 40 years, aims to boost tourism in the city and will take place on December 19, 2015. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

In this Monday, June 15, 2015 photo, Ahmad Abu Jereda, 16, carries Max, the male lion cub, as he passes by Palestinians at the main garden in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip. A pair of lion cubs are stuck at a Gaza-Israel border crossing en route to a Jordan animal sanctuary, after being kept for a year by a family in crowded Gaza. Saduldin al-Jamal had bought the cubs from the Gaza zoo, hit during last summer's Israel-Hamas war. His family would take them to parks or the beach and children – those brave enough – would come up to pet them. (Photo by Adel Hana/AP Photo)

An Israeli activist dressed as a clown runs around security forces as they arrest a protester near a police checkpoint at the entrance of the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in east Jerusalem, on June 25, 2021. Tensions between Israel and Palestinians that lead to 11 days of military violence last month, initially flared in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood where Israeli police cracked down on people protesting the planned expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes so Jewish settlers could move in. (Photo by Ahmad Gharabli/AFP Photo)

Iraqi boys swim with a herd of buffaloes in the Diyala River in the Faziliah district, east of Baghdad on August 2, 2021, amid extreme summer temperatures. As Iraq bakes under a blistering summer heat wave, its hard-scrabble farmers and herders are battling severe water shortages that are killing their animals, fields and way of life. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

Afghans hold placards shouting anti-Pakistan slogans during a protest in Kabul, Afghanistan, 07 September 2021.The demonstrations began after Ahmad Massoud, leading the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), 07 September, called for a national uprising against the Taliban and the alleged Pakistani interference. Panjshir was also the center of resistance against the Islamist group during the previous Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001. (Photo by EPA/EFE/Stringer)

People mourn as they receive the dead bodies of victims of an Israeli strike on March 3, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. As of Thursday February 29th, more than 30,000 people had been killed in Gaza since the start of the war on Oct. 7, according to the territory's health ministry. Also this week, more details have emerged of a potential new ceasefire deal that could start before Ramadan, pending further negotiations by Israel, Hamas and foreign mediators. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)

Officers react at their graduation ceremony during Iraqi Army Day anniversary celebration in Baghdad January 6, 2015. Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said on Tuesday that the Iraqi military has started rebuilding after its near total collapse last summer but that the effort is still in its initial phase. (Photo by Ahmad Mousa/Reuters)