Sarah Benhaida

This picture taken on March 24, 2021 shows a view of a close-up view of a marker on a grave at the Habibiya Jewish cemetery in Iraq's capital Baghdad (Sabah ARAR / AFP)

March 28, 2021, 6:36 am

On Passover 2021, Iraq’s Jewish community dwindles to fewer than five

A community that once thrived is all but gone; Baghdad’s lone synagogue only opens occasionally and has no rabbis

By Salam Faraj and Sarah Benhaida

Pope Francis arrives at Baghdad's international airport, Iraq, Friday, March 5, 2021. Pope Francis heads to Iraq on Friday to urge the country's dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution, brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

March 5, 2021, 4:55 pm

In historic first visit to Iraq, Pope Francis calls to end violence, extremism

Pontiff’s trip to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities comes despite ongoing conflict, pandemic lockdown; aims to deepen dialogue with Muslim world

By Sarah Benhaida and Catherine MARCIANO

Fighters from the Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades militia, inspect the destruction of their headquarters in the aftermath of a US airstrike in Qaim, Iraq, December 30, 2019. (AP Photo)

January 16, 2020, 3:42 pm

Iraq ouster of foreign troops would show US ‘failure,’ Mideast experts say

Exiting forces would leave behind a country with inefficient institutions and rampant corruption, sectarian politics and cities still flattened by bombardment

By Sarah Benhaida

Iraqis walk in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on January 3, 2020. (AFP)

January 3, 2020, 11:20 am

Analysts say Iraq could ‘pay price’ for US strike on Iranian commander

‘Heads will roll,’ says one expert regarding political repercussions of Soleimani’s killing in Iraq, which has become battlefield between Washington and Tehran

By Sarah Benhaida

In this photo taken on April 12, 2015, an Iraqi man cries over body bags containing the remains of people believed to have been slain by Islamic State jihadists at the Speicher camp in the Iraqi city of Tikrit. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

July 29, 2019, 3:29 pm

Head of UN investigators: Put Islamic State members on trial like Nazis

High-profile hearings, like those in Nuremberg after World War II, would ensure the jihadists’ ideology ‘debunked’ and their victims heard, says leader of probe into IS crimes

By Sarah Benhaida

In this file photo taken on June 21, 2016, human rights activist Nadia Murad arrives at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (AFP Photo/Getty Images North America/Mark Wilson)

October 5, 2018, 1:21 pm

Nadia Murad: From jihadists’ slave to global champion for women

At 25, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate has become a renowned campaigner against sexual violence as a weapon of war, and for fellow Yazidi victims of Islamic State

By Sarah Benhaida

Iraqi electoral commission employees examine electronic counting machine print-outs in the holy city of Najaf on May 13, 2018, for the special round of voting that took place for the police and military on May 10 in the country's first parliamentary election since declaring victory over the Islamic State terror group. (AFP Photo/Haidar Hamdani)

May 14, 2018, 12:47 am

Iraqi PM appears to hold lead after vote in first post-IS election

While his political alliance is likely to win the most seats, Haider al-Abadi to face lengthy haggling to cobble together government

By Sarah Benhaida

An Iraqi man, from the Shabak community, stands amidst the rubble of a house which was destroyed by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in the village of Baz Gerkan east of Mosul on January 10, 2018. (AFP Photo/Ahman Al-Rubaye)

January 16, 2018, 1:15 pm

Minorities in north Iraq look to post-jihadist future

With victory declared against the Islamic State group, ethnic and religious minorities are reclaiming their place within the country’s fractured society

By Sarah Benhaida

A general view shows Mosul's Old City, on January 8, 2018 (AFP Photo/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)

January 10, 2018, 6:35 am

Mosul’s old heart in ruins six months after IS ousted

For many residents, the euphoria at the city’s liberation from jihadist rule has been replaced by uncertainty about the future

By Sarah Benhaida

An Iraqi man weaves a carpet at his textile workshop in the Iraqi city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, on October 12, 2017. (AFP Photo/Sabah Arar)

November 5, 2017, 11:38 am

Traditional carpet weaving in central Iraq unravels

Hit by years of war and cheap imports, Iraqi rug makers now struggling to keep historic craft alive

By Sarah Benhaida

Members of the Iraqi armed forces backed by paramilitary fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces pose for a photograph in Hawija on October 5, 2017, after retaking the city from the Islamic State terror group. (AFP Photo/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)

October 5, 2017, 3:52 pm

Iraq forces retake Islamic State bastion Hawija

Iraqi PM calls latest victory one ‘for the whole world’ while spokesman for US coalition says terror group ‘close’ to defeat in country

By Ahmad Al-Rubaye and Sarah Benhaida

In this Thursday, May 4, 2017 photo, a boy walks by graffiti of Palestinian flags with Arabic reading: "The flag is four colors that shine on the face of the sun" in the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

June 1, 2017, 9:32 am

Palestinian refugees’ dreams of returning home fade

As time passes since 1948 and 1967 wars, frustration at entrenched status quo grows among those who fled and their descendants

By Mussa Hattar and Sarah Benhaida

Young men sit on a ledge past campaign posters displaying an electoral list ahead of municipal elections in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, on May 10, 2017. (AFP/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

May 11, 2017, 5:49 pm

Palestinian elections highlight Hamas-Fatah division

Municipal voting being held Saturday in West Bank only; turnout expected to be only some 42%

By Sarah Benhaida

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas greets his supporters following a trip to Washington DC, on March 20, 2014, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (photo credit: Issam Rimawi/Flash90)

May 1, 2017, 10:38 am

Trump, Abbas gear up for White House meeting

PA leader to meet US president for first time Wednesday in expected bid to revive peace talks amid conflict with Hamas, US criticism over stipends to terrorists

By Sarah Benhaida

Foreign students of the Bethlehem Icon Center work on their painting during their course, in the biblical West Bank city of Bethlehem on April 11, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / THOMAS COEX)

April 13, 2017, 8:03 am

Ancient sacred art resurrected in city of Jesus’s birth

In Bethlehem, a group of enthusiasts specializing in the sacred craft of iconography work to keep the 2,000-year-old tradition alive

By Sarah Benhaida