Alannah Travers

My short report for TRT world this weekend on the mounting issues for the country's younger generation.

Clashes in August brought rival armed factions to the streets of Baghdad, leaving Iraq’s young activists stuck in the middle.

I was on the BBC World Service today at the crack of dawn, speaking about the ongoing political impasse in Iraq and the technical committee set up to look at a roadmap to early elections... and if that is possible...

Civil activists of the Tishreen movement gathered in Baghdad's Nisour Square on Friday 2nd Sep, in the shadow of the city's tower, expressing their frustrations re the ongoing political crisis. Peaceful, lots of security, chanting of "we are the young who will build the country."

The political chaos, nepotism, abuse of power and concurrent environmental crises within Iraq is terrifying.

Images by Meethak Al-Khatib and Alannah Travers

Scenes from a glorious swim in the Barzan area today. Beneath the beauty, however, issues are clearly mounting in the Kurdistan Region.

As environmental conditions worsen in Iraq's southernmost province and high temperatures shut-down power grids, protests have been held in Basra in recent days against electricity shortages and other lacking basic services.

The real impact of politics? At today's Free Yezidi Foundation and Sinjar Academy event in Khanke, family members and officials mourned for the lives destroyed by the Yazidi genocide, eight years ago. Down the hill, 20,000 survivors live in sweltering tents, still; just one camp housing the hundreds of thousands of displaced. For them, life goes on.

Some images and a Baghdad rooftop report for TRT World, on yesterday's chaotic events in the green zone... Until about 30 mins before we went live I had been inside the stormed parliament (mainly trying to hide from rowdy men), but security forces finally cracked down and we were forced to leave the building along with hundreds of Sadrist supporters.

Listen back to my conversation on the gas flaring crisis in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region with the wonderful Marijn van de Geer (from around 13 mins). On top of failed targets and serious health consequences, we discuss the ongoing drought and water shortages, and the activists working to put pressure on those in power... Links in the notes to read more about Iraq's climate crises, and how it connects to us in Soho.

A seven-ish month update.

Eight hundred metres away from one of the largest oil wells in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Ali Hassan can’t sleep - the oil flares lighting up the sky outside his window keep him bed bound. A nasty smell is spreading through Khabat, on the road to Mosul, as the flaring intensifies, and some residents are struggling to breathe.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - After five years of scouting, planning, and collaborating, the final leg of the two-week Zagros Mountain Trail (ZMT) thru-hike was completed earlier this month by an intrepid team including the legendary co-founders of the path Leon McCarron, an Irish explorer and writer, and Lawin Mohammad, a Kurd from northeast Syria (Rojava) with an equal thirst for adventure. The success of the route, which its advocates hope could one day be on-par with world-class hikes such as the Camino de Santiago, Appalachian and Jordan trails, rests with the local community. Constructed through conversations and built on partnerships, the trail is for them and through them, and a treat for visitors to the Region fortunate enough to set foot on the cross-cultural journey.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) chief on Tuesday raised a series of recent developments in Iraq to the UN Security Council in New York, including the internal politics of the Kurdistan Region, relations between Erbil and Baghdad, and the security situation of the country including Iran’s recent missile attack on Erbil.

A few shots from the final leg of the thru-hike of the groundbreaking 220 km long-distance hiking trail in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq...

Eid, Umm Kulthum, Sheikh Zayed