A child runs towards Mohamed Maarouf, 28, as he walks with a sack of gifts while dressed in Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) costume in a slum near the centre of Iraq's southern city of Basra on December 24, 2021. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

A clothing shop displays its merchandise in the rebel-controlled city of Idlib, Syria November 7, 2015. (Photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)

A mourner reacts as bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes lie at a hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

Vian Salman, center, smiles with fellow contestants after she was crowned the new Miss Iraq during the Miss Iraq contest in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 25, 2017. (Photo by Karim Kadim/AP Photo)

A man dressed as Santa Claus arrives to distribute toys on children living in an impoverished neighbourhood in Iraq's southern city of Basra on December 26, 2020. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

Shiite Muslim pilgrims march with flags en route to Karbala from Nasiriyah in Iraq's southern Dhi Qar province on September 5, 2022, ahead of the holiday of Arbaeen. (Photo by Asaad Niazi/AFP Photo)

Japanese football fan during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group E match between Japan and Costa Rica at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on November 27, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

Students walk to school on the first day of their new school year in Giza, south of Cairo, Egypt September 25, 2016. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)