Last year during Ramadan, the upmarket Karrada district in Baghdad was full of families shopping and socialising when ISIL detonated a suicide truck bomb, killing 324 civilians. It was the single biggest loss of life in an attack since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
This week, ISIL struck again, in the same, majority-Shia, district, killing more than a dozen people, including children in the ice-cream parlour the group targeted. A second bomb during rush hour killed at least 14 people.
Both attacks were made during Ramadan and explicitly targeted civilians. Both were also making a similar point: that ISIL, as much as it is being driven out of Mosul and other places in Iraq, remains a force to be reckoned with. Last year’s attack on Karrada came a week after Iraqi forces seized the city of Falluja from ISIL. The attack was a way of showing that the group was far from finished, and could still target the heart of the capital.
The same message was being relayed this time, as Iraqi troops surround the group in their last major Iraqi stronghold of Mosul. But the attack also raises serious questions for Iraq’s security services, who stepped up their presence in Karrada after last year’s attack.
The fact is this is unlikely to be ISIL’s last attack. The entire focus has been on ridding Iraq’s second city of the ISIL scourge, but rebuilding Mosul, returning refugees to their homes, and making sure the remnants of ISIL have no chance to rebuild the group will be difficult.
What has been destroyed in Iraq is any lingering belief that ISIL are the saviours of Iraq’s Sunnis. Some, seeing the open sectarianism of previous Iraqi governments, thought that ISIL, which set itself up as defenders of the Sunni community against Shia domination, could help them. That turned out to be a catastrophic error.
As the brutality of life in Mosul has shown, ISIL’s vision of the world is warped, but the reality of life under its dysfunctional rule has been ugly and painful. The same applies to its other claim of representing Islam – any group that targets civilians must lose its claim to be acting according to Islamic principles; the same applies to any group targeting other Muslims or staging attacks during Ramadan. ISIL did all three, in one day.
The ISIL scourge has not been defeated in Iraq, but it will be. For the sake of Iraqis, that day cannot come soon enough.
Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.
The car
Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
Parks and accommodation
For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.
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MATCH INFO:
Second Test
Pakistan v Australia, Tuesday-Saturday, 10am daily at Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Entrance is free
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
The five pillars of Islam
Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide
Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.
The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.
Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years.
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
