Job Fair Offers Hope to Young Unemployed in Iraqi Province

An Iraqi vendor organizes his stall in Mosul, part of Nineveh province where unemployment is around 40 percent. (AFP)
An Iraqi vendor organizes his stall in Mosul, part of Nineveh province where unemployment is around 40 percent. (AFP)
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Job Fair Offers Hope to Young Unemployed in Iraqi Province

An Iraqi vendor organizes his stall in Mosul, part of Nineveh province where unemployment is around 40 percent. (AFP)
An Iraqi vendor organizes his stall in Mosul, part of Nineveh province where unemployment is around 40 percent. (AFP)

In an Iraqi province where unemployment is about 40 percent, a lucky few hoped to find work Sunday at a university job fair attended by French firms alongside local companies.

The three-day event is taking place at the University of Mosul in Iraq's war-ravaged second city, where reconstruction has been slow five years after the Iraqi army backed by US-led coalition air strikes pushed out ISIS extremists.

Laith Abdallah, 24, was among dozens of students wandering on the campus lawn among stands set up by about 40 companies, most of them locally-based but including Carrefour and Schneider Electric from France.

Abdallah said he'd been looking for work since 2019 when he graduated in petroleum engineering.

"Our number increases each day and the opportunities are rare," he said of the unemployed. "A young person has to get married and help his parents."

Statistics from Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, say unemployment is around 40 percent generally and 20 percent for those aged 24-45.

Joblessness is similarly high elsewhere in the country which is trying to move past decades of war but is hobbled by corruption and other problems which sparked a youth-led protest movement in 2019.

"Unemployment is perhaps the ogre that devours the dreams of the young," said Qussay al-Ahmad, president of the University of Mosul.

Ahmad hoped that the job fair would lead to "employment opportunities for hundreds of young people."

Mustafa Aziz, 26, is among those fortunate to already be working. He hoped to recruit graduates with expertise in renewable energy or electrical engineering for his seven-member team at Mosul Solar.

"We need specific competence and expertise," he said.

The job fair is part of a project called Yanhad, financed by France and the European Union, Jeremie Pellet, director general of Expertise France, told AFP over the phone.

"This fits into our perspective of looking for future prospects and diversification of the private sector economy for Iraqi youth," said Pellet.

Yanhad had already supported a business "incubator" which has trained about 320 young people in entrepreneurship and financed a dozen start-ups, Pellet said.



US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)

The United States is deferring the removal of certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel," Biden said in the memo.

"While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who are present in the United States."

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a "support front" with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel's military assault in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have been evacuated from both sides of the border.