Iraq can restore many of the heritage sites destroyed during decades of conflict and put the focus back on rebuilding communities, a conference in Abu Dhabi has heard.
With the help of international funding, many of its ancient sites will over the next five to six years be restored to their former glory.
The work will help put the spotlight back on culture and communities, experts said.
Women are celebrating embroidery as their heritage and these works are a living library of life that is lost
Anisa Mehdi,
Abrahamic Path Initiative
Dr Laith M Hussein, head of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage Iraq, told the Aliph 2023 Forum that projects such as the $50 million restoration of the 12th century Al Nuri Mosque in Mosul — undertaken by the UAE in co-operation with Unesco — is scheduled to be completed by next year.
The mosque and its famous leaning minaret were destroyed by ISIS in 2017 as government forces closed in on the last fighters from the terrorist group that once held much of north-west Iraq.
“That was a very generous contribution by the UAE,” Dr Hussein said. "The destruction is huge and there is a lot of work still to be done. But we hope Al Nuri Mosque can be completed by 2024."
With the help of the international community, Iraq has rebuilt several monuments and retrieved thousands of stolen artefacts.
Al Nuri Mosque renovations in Mosul
The forum in Abu Dhabi was organised by the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (Aliph) and the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi.
Aliph was co-founded by the UAE and France in 2017 in response to the massive destruction of cultural heritage over the past two decades, predominantly in the Middle East and the Sahel.
Based in Geneva, Aliph has supported nearly 200 projects in 31 countries on four continents.
It supports the restoration and reconstruction of many buildings in Iraq, including the sixth-century Arch of Ctesiphon, or Taq Kasra, 40km south of Baghdad.
Part of the Sasanian Palace complex, it is the world’s largest brick-built arch at 37 metres high and 26 metres wide.
“Part of the arch collapsed because of bad conservation work done earlier,” Dr Hussein said.
“Aliph sent an expert team and now the first phase of the work is over and the arch is stabilised.”
Iraq is home to more than 15,000 cultural and heritage sites dating back to the 5,500-year-old city of Sumer and archaeological remains of the Babylonia, Assyrian and Abbasid cultures.
He said there are plans to convert Saddam Hussein’s palace in the ancient city of Babylon into a public museum.
“We are hopeful that we will have enough funds,” he said.
Building communities
Anisa Mehdi, president of the Abrahamic Path Initiative, a US-based international NGO that strives to develop walking trails to promote cultural connections, said building communities went hand-in-hand with heritage conservation.
In Mosul and Sinjar — areas ravaged by ISIS — Ms Mehdi said the group was reviving heritage through embroidery.
The project organises workshops with displaced Iraqis to help them protect their heritage by passing on stories, songs and recipes.
“After ISIS, the designs have become narratives of the city as it was before it was destroyed," Ms Mehdi said.
“Women are celebrating embroidery as their heritage and these works are a living library of life that is lost.”
Alessandra Peruzzetto, regional director of the Middle East and North Africa at the World Monuments Fund, said it was encouraging to see how the youth in Iraq were engaging with heritage preservation.
“Building capacities locally is important as the community involvement is crucial long term,” she said.
Baptiste Violi of the French NGO La Guilde Europeenne du Raid, which is involved in several restoration projects in Iraq, said communities rediscover pride in their own heritage when they are engaged in conservation.
“We are currently restoring two mosques and two churches in old Mosul,” Mr Violi said.
"The areas around these sites were heavily shelled and many private houses were destroyed.
"We think it is important to speak to the local authority and rebuild these houses so that people can live in Old Mosul and there is a community around the heritage sites we are rebuilding."
Daniele Morandi Bonacossi, a professor of Near Eastern archaeology at the University of Udine in Italy, who is involved in the Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project, said one of the main challenges in Iraq was vandalism.
“There are several challenges but vandalism is one big problem,” said Mr Bonacossi.
"After we restore and conserve a site, within two months, somebody comes and vandalises it with a spray of black paint or scribblings."
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
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Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
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Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
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TV: BeIN Sports
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Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
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Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
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Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
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His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
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Arrived in the UAE: 1976
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Roger Federer's record at Wimbledon
Roger Federer's record at Wimbledon
1999 - 1st round
2000 - 1st round
2001 - Quarter-finalist
2002 - 1st round
2003 - Winner
2004 - Winner
2005 - Winner
2006 - Winner
2007 - Winner
2008 - Finalist
2009 - Winner
2010 - Quarter-finalist
2011 - Quarter-finalist
2012 - Winner
2013 - 2nd round
2014 - Finalist
2015 - Finalist
2016 - Semi-finalist
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Series information
Pakistan v Dubai
First Test, Dubai International Stadium
Sun Oct 6 to Thu Oct 11
Second Test, Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tue Oct 16 to Sat Oct 20
Play starts at 10am each day
Teams
Pakistan
1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Bilal Asif, 9 Yasir Shah, 10, Mohammed Abbas, 11 Wahab Riaz or Mir Hamza
Australia
1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jon Holland
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
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- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
