A horse handler parades an Arabian horse during the Sumer International Festival in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, February 16, 2024. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)





An Iraqi farmer squats and checks an oil spill into an agricultural land in the region of Hamrin, north of Tikrit, in the province of Salaheddin, on February 19, 2024. Oil spills in Iraq – a country ravaged by decades of conflict, corruption and decaying infrastructure – have contaminated farmland in the northern province, especially during the winter rains. (Photo by Abdel Khalek Azzawi/AFP Photo)





Shi'ite pilgrims gather to celebrate the Sha'abaniya, the birth of the 12th Imam al-Mahdi, a Messiah-like figure revered by Shi'ite Muslims, who believe he disappeared centuries ago, but never died, in the holy city of Karbala, Iraq on February 25, 2024. Picture taken with slow shutter speed. (Photo by Alaa al-Marjani/Reuters)





A woman plays with a cat in a special cafe, which is the first of this kind in the city of Erbil, that allows customers to play with cats, and helps to raise and not harm them, in Erbil, Iraq on February 26, 2024. (Photo by Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters)





Men sit in a special cafe with cats, which is the first of this kind in the city of Erbil, that allows customers to play with cats, and helps to raise and not harm them, in Erbil, Iraq, on February 26, 2024. (Photo by Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters)





Traditional boats are bunched up in Iraq's central Mesopotamian marshes on Saturday, March 2, 2024. The marshes have seen abundant rainfall lately after a long period of drought. (Photo by Asaad Niazi/AFP Photo)





Construction workers carry out cement work on the outer courtyard of the “Ibrahim Al-Khalil” church, which is the first church built an in effort to attract tourists and Christian visitors to the ancient city, after the Pope's visit to Ur in 2021, Iraq, on March 3, 2024. (Photo by Forqan Salam/Reuters)





A picture taken on March 4, 2024, shows a view of the Mustansiriya School in Iraq's capital Baghdad. The school is the oldest Arabian-Islamic university for the studies of theology, astronomy, philosophy and maths. It was built by the Abbasid Khalif Abu Jaafar Mansur ibn al-Dahir Mohammad ibn al-Nasir, the 36th Khalif of Baghdad, also known as al-Mustansir Billah. The building was opened in 1233 AD. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)





A drone view shows cattle loaded into a truck after being unloaded from a Kuwaiti “death ship”, carrying thousands of cattle whose foul smell caused a stink in top tourist city Cape Town, at the Umm Qasr port, in Basra, Iraq on March 6, 2024. (Photo by Essam al-Sudani/Reuters)





Iranian Kurdish dance instructor Parang Jihani (C) performs during a Sufi dance training session in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, on March 11, 2024. (Photo by Safin Hamid/AFP Photo)





Members of Iraq's Sabean-Mandaean community perform rituals to celebrate the Eid Al-Khaliqah, the five-day Feast of Creation, on the bank of the Tigris river in Baghdad on March 13, 2024. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)





Mesaharty Ghofran Thamer, 32, carrying a drum, walks around the streets of the old city of Mosul at night to wake up Muslims to eat their meal before the beginning of the day's fast and the morning prayers during Ramadan, in Mosul, Iraq on March 15, 2024. (Photo by Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters)





Vehicles move beneath decorations set up for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan across the Hadarat (Civilisations) bridge amidst reduced visibility conditions due to a dust storm in Nasiriyah, the capital of Iraq's southern Dhi Qar province, on March 18, 2024. (Photo by Asaad Niazi/AFP Photo)





Iraqi men clean up muddy water following heavy rains in Dohuk in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdistan region on March 19, 2024. (Photo by Ismael Adnan/AFP Photo)





People clean after the floods that swept the city due to the heavy rain, in Duhok, Iraq on March 19, 2024. (Photo by Ari Jalal/Reuters)





People watch as fireworks light up the sky during celebrations for the Nowruz New Year festival in the town of Akre, about 100 kilometres north of Arbil, in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region on March 20, 2024. Millions of people across the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe celebrate Nowruz new year festival, which marks the start of spring. (Photo by Safin Hamid/AFP Photo)





Fireworks light the sky as Iraqi Kurds carry fire torches during the celebration of Nowruz Day, a festival marking the first day of spring and Persian New Year, in Akra, Iraq on March 20, 2024. (Photo by Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters)





Iraqi Kurds carry fire torches as they celebrate Nowruz Day, a festival marking the first day of spring, Kurdish and Persian New Year in Akre, Iraq on March 20, 2024. Newroz or Nowruz means “new day” in Persian, and is celebrated to mark the arrival of spring and the first day of the Iranian calendar. It is widely celebrated in Persian and neighboring regions and is recognized on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Human List. (Photo by Ismael Adnan/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





Iraqi singer Sara Mohammed performs on stage to animate an evening during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Iraq's southern city of Basra late on March 23, 2024. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)





Ramadan drummer Gufran Samer talks with a child as he walks down the streets while banging his drum to wake people up for sahoor (pre-dawn) meal, in Mosul, Iraq on March 23, 2024. Gufran Samer, who has been a mesaharati for 6 years, carries on tradition throughout Ramadan. (Photo by Ismael Adnan Yaqoob/Anadolu via Getty Images)