Iraqi Nurse Spends Her Weekends Stitching Wounds at Protest Site

Hannaa Jassem, 24, an Iraqi nurse poses for a photo at her work in Baghdad, Iraq January 12, 2020. Picture taken January 12, 2020. REUTERS/Saba Kareem
Hannaa Jassem, 24, an Iraqi nurse poses for a photo at her work in Baghdad, Iraq January 12, 2020. Picture taken January 12, 2020. REUTERS/Saba Kareem
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Iraqi Nurse Spends Her Weekends Stitching Wounds at Protest Site

Hannaa Jassem, 24, an Iraqi nurse poses for a photo at her work in Baghdad, Iraq January 12, 2020. Picture taken January 12, 2020. REUTERS/Saba Kareem
Hannaa Jassem, 24, an Iraqi nurse poses for a photo at her work in Baghdad, Iraq January 12, 2020. Picture taken January 12, 2020. REUTERS/Saba Kareem

Hannaa Jassem bends over a patient in a makeshift clinic on the edge of Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, one of a handful of women in an overwhelmingly male world of demonstrations and political confrontation.

The 24-year-old works as a nurse in a hospital in Iraq’s capital during the week, and volunteers at its main protest site at weekends.

As teargas spreads outside, Jassem stitches up wounds in an open-fronted shack supported by metal poles with walls covered in national flags, banners, and blue plastic sheeting.

She said her brother initially supported her decision to look after people taking part in the wave of anti-government protests that have raged across Iraq since Oct. 1. “He was proud that his sister was a medic in Tahrir,” Reuters quoted her as saying.

“But later he became apprehensive as things got more dangerous.” Almost 500 people have died in the violence.

Some politicians and influential clerics have been outraged by the sight of young women out in public during the demonstrations in Baghdad and across the impoverished south.

But that hasn’t stopped Jassem. “Change is what drove me to be a medic and go to protest sites. We are sick of the current situation in terms of rights or being safe or having any security in this country.”

Since her father passed away in 2016, she and her eight brothers and sisters have had to contribute to the family income. On top of her nursing job, she also works part time as a portrait photographer.

That still leaves here the weekends for the protest clinic. “I always say that if I had enough time I would go to Tahrir every day but my responsibilities at work and home get in the way.”



Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday said that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after the overthrow of President Bashar sl-Assad as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family's decades-long rule. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the “young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall.

“What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. “God willing, he will overcome them.”

He accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources, saying: “Now they feel victory, the Americans, the Zionist regime and those who accompanied them.”

Iran and its armed proxies in the region have suffered a series of major setbacks over the past year, with Israel battering Hamas in Gaza and landing heavy blows on Hezbollah before they agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon last month.

Khamenei denied that such groups were proxies of Iran, saying they fought because of their own beliefs and that Tehran did not depend on them. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he said.