Iraqi forces enter Al Jazeera neighborhood in Tal Afar

As French President Emmanuel Macron wraps up his first official visit to Baghdad, former Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi speaks to FRANCE 24 about his country's difficulties. He says the government of the current prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, is "the victim of a political system and situation in Iraq", adding that he does not think Kadhimi will be able to succeed. Allawi also regrets increasingly complex relations with Iran, saying Tehran's interventions "weaken the whole region". He also discusses the planned redeployment of US troops within Iraq.

Sixteen Iraqi women hope being part of a wrestling team in the city of Basra can fight stereotypes in conservative Iraqi society.

He sought safety. She wanted freedom. They were dreams they could have died for. From a first date that ended in bloody carnage in Baghdad, to finally receiving the keys to a new home in The Netherlands, theirs is an epic tale of courage, survival and love.

Over the next five years, 26-year-old Delband Rawanduzi and her volunteers aim to plant one million oaks to repopulate forests in Iraqi Kurdistan depleted by war, illegal logging and fires. The resilient trees can endure both the cold of northern Iraq and the dry spells of one of the world's hottest countries.

After decades of #conflict, #terrorism and government mismanagement, #Baghdad's monumental buildings are increasingly dilapidated and under threat. Many fear that without laws and protection, they could gradually perish, taking much of Iraq's cultural heritage with them. Our correspondents Jack Hewson and Lucile Wassermann report.

Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza Wael al-Dahdouh speaks in front of the rubble of Jala Tower, a 13-floor building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera television and the US news agency the Associated Press in the Gaza Strip, which collapsed following an Israeli air strike on May 15.

Rewaz Faiq is just one of two women serving as parliament speaker in the Middle East, where politics is a man's world, but the Iraqi Kurdish mother of two is unfazed. Having entered politics at the age of 15, Faiq knew she would face challenges when she was elected in 2019 to the post in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Thousands of members of Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary alliance gather in Baghdad to mourn comrades killed in American air strikes along the Syrian border. The US raids early Monday sparked an exchange of fire between pro-Iranian militias and the US-led coalition in eastern Syria, as well as fears of a new US-Iran escalation amid faltering efforts to revive Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

A bell is inaugurated at a church in Mosul to the cheers of Iraqi Christians, seven years after the Islamic State group overran the northern city. Dozens of faithful stood by as Father Pios Affas rang the newly installed bell for the first time at the Syriac Christian church of Mar Tuma.

Iraqi forces claim to have captured a high-ranking IS leader in an international operation.

In Iraq's vast western desert, some 200 families live in a hamlet largely cut off from the rest of the world, their only neighbour one of the country's biggest military bases. Lost in rocky ochre hills and surrounded by humble palm groves, Al-Sahl’s only education facility is a primary school, and residents rely on livestock and farming to survive.

Al-Musallami al-Kabbashi was arrested from his home in Sudan, according to the Qatari network, a day after mass protests across the country against last month's military coup.