عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Removal of Iraqi Former President Talbani’s Portrait Stokes Rage in Kirkuk

Acting Governor of Kirkuk Rakan Jubouri during a previous meeting with police leaders. Show behind Jabouri is the portrait of late President Jalal Talabani, Asharq Al-Awsat
Acting Governor of Kirkuk Rakan Jubouri during a previous meeting with police leaders. Show behind Jabouri is the portrait of late President Jalal Talabani, Asharq Al-Awsat
TT
TT

Removal of Iraqi Former President Talbani’s Portrait Stokes Rage in Kirkuk

Acting Governor of Kirkuk Rakan Jubouri during a previous meeting with police leaders. Show behind Jabouri is the portrait of late President Jalal Talabani, Asharq Al-Awsat
Acting Governor of Kirkuk Rakan Jubouri during a previous meeting with police leaders. Show behind Jabouri is the portrait of late President Jalal Talabani, Asharq Al-Awsat

Kirkuk erupted in anger and resentment hours after the acting governor of Kirkuk Rakan Said al-Jubouri took down a portrait of the late Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani, in the governor's official chamber.

Facing mounting popular discontent, Jabouri issued a statement stressing that his decision to remove the portrait came in implementation of instructions received from federal authorities in Baghdad.

According to Jabouri, orders stipulated the removal of any symbolic images from official institutions belonging to the Iraqi state regardless of the stature of those symbols -- but Baghdad made no confirmation.

“Mr. Talabani was a national symbol and a pride. His image was raised when he was president of the republic, but there are instructions from the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers to remove the images of symbols and the commitment to replace it with the image of the current president,” Jubouri said in his statement.

Talabani, the first non-Arab president of Iraq, is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as President from 2006 to 2014, as well as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq.

But Jabouri's justifications did not suit Kurdish circles, with anger raging among members of the local government in Kirkuk, where Kurds constitute an overwhelming majority.

“The timing of removing the image of late President Talabani is completely inappropriate, and motives behind this action remain unknown," Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) member Babeker Siddiq told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Presented justifications are not convincing, Siddiq added.

The PUK describes its goals as self-determination, human rights, and democracy and peace for the Kurdish people of Kurdistan and Iraq.

“Since Jubouri took over office as governor of Kirkuk, he has been acting unilaterally and independently of the provincial council, making decisions inspired by his own imagination,” Siddiq slammed Jabouri.

“He pays no attention to the local government, and has not filled in its members on instructions issued from Baghdad,” he added.

“Assuming that such instructions have truly been issued by the federal authority, Jabouri should have consulted with members of the provincial council out of respect of the status of the late President Jalal Talabani, which is a symbol of peace and national unity,” Siddiq added.

According to the PUK member, Jabouri has taken multiple actions that overlook Kurdish public opinion, which now strongly condemns him.

The PUK, which has a large support base in Kirkuk, tried in March to erect a statue of its late leader, Talabani, at the ancient citadel of Kirkuk.

In the local governing authority’s defense, it requested moving the statue to another location, claiming that the area was an archaeological site belonging to all components of the local population and must be kept neutral.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Lebanese Army Says Soldier Killed in Israeli Attack in Southern Lebanon

A Lebanese army soldier inspects the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted their checkpoint in Aamriyeh, south of the coastal city of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
A Lebanese army soldier inspects the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted their checkpoint in Aamriyeh, south of the coastal city of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
TT
TT

Lebanese Army Says Soldier Killed in Israeli Attack in Southern Lebanon

A Lebanese army soldier inspects the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted their checkpoint in Aamriyeh, south of the coastal city of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
A Lebanese army soldier inspects the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted their checkpoint in Aamriyeh, south of the coastal city of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)

The Lebanese army said on Sunday that a soldier had been killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike hit south Beirut on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported, with a medical source telling AFP it made impact about 100 metres away from a public hospital.

The strike hit Beirut's Jnah neighborhood near Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest public medical facility in the country.

Israel's military earlier warned it was carrying out strikes on Beirut.

Arab World

Israeli Fire Kills Four Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

Palestinians inspect a vehicle targeted by an Israeli strike in Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 4, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect a vehicle targeted by an Israeli strike in Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 4, 2026. (AFP)
TT
TT

Israeli Fire Kills Four Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

Palestinians inspect a vehicle targeted by an Israeli strike in Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 4, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect a vehicle targeted by an Israeli strike in Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 4, 2026. (AFP)

An Israeli airstrike ‌killed four Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health authorities said, in the latest violence to overshadow a fragile ceasefire amid a new push by mediators to bolster the agreement.

Medics said the airstrike targeted a group of people in Jaffa Street, near the Darraj neighborhood in Gaza City, killing four people and wounding others.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on ‌the incident.

Palestinian ‌group Hamas and Israel have ‌traded blame ⁠for violations of ⁠the ceasefire agreed last October, which halted two years of full-blown war.

The Gaza health ministry says Israeli fire has killed at least 700 people since the ceasefire began. Israel says four soldiers have been killed by gunmen in Gaza ⁠over the same period.

A Hamas delegation met ‌Egyptian, Qatari and ‌Turkish mediators in Cairo last week to give its initial ‌response to a disarmament proposal presented to the ‌group last month, two Egyptian sources and a Palestinian official said.

The group has told mediators it will not discuss giving up arms without guarantees that Israel ‌will fully quit Gaza as laid out in a disarmament plan from ⁠US President ⁠Donald Trump's "Board of Peace", three sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Hamas' disarmament is a sticking point in talks to implement Trump's plan for the Palestinian enclave and cement the ceasefire.

Hamas' October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's ensuing two-year campaign killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gazan health authorities, and has spread famine, demolished most buildings, and displaced most of the territory's population, in many cases numerous times.

Arab World

Easter in Jerusalem Disrupted by War and Restrictions at Holy Sepulchre

Members of the clergy make their way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for prayers on Palm Sunday, following restrictions on gatherings in large groups, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem's Old City April 5, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of the clergy make their way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for prayers on Palm Sunday, following restrictions on gatherings in large groups, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem's Old City April 5, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Easter in Jerusalem Disrupted by War and Restrictions at Holy Sepulchre

Members of the clergy make their way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for prayers on Palm Sunday, following restrictions on gatherings in large groups, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem's Old City April 5, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of the clergy make their way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for prayers on Palm Sunday, following restrictions on gatherings in large groups, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem's Old City April 5, 2026. (Reuters)

In the usually lively alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City, silence reigned on Easter Sunday, with the holiday overshadowed by war and restrictions on access to the Holy Sepulchre, where the faithful commemorate Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.

On routes approaching the church, police at checkpoints screened a small number of worshippers allowed near the site.

All shops in the area were closed, heightening the sense of emptiness.

"Happy Easter," said the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, shortly after dawn as he entered the church surrounded by a modest group of clergy, according to AFP journalists at the site.

Outside, a few Catholics and Orthodox Christians tried to reach the church but were kept at a distance by security forces.

"How can you tell me I cannot go to church, it is unacceptable," said one Catholic from Tel Aviv who had attended Easter worship at the site in previous years.

Security has been stepped up in the Old City, located in annexed east Jerusalem and home to sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Israel has also imposed restrictions on large gatherings as a security precaution due to the constant threat of strikes during the ongoing Middle East war.

On Palm Sunday, Cardinal Pizzaballa was prevented by Israeli police from entering the Holy Sepulchre for mass, provoking outrage, before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered he be allowed in.

Since the start of the war on February 28, debris from Iranian missiles or interceptors has fallen in the Old City, including near the Holy Sepulchre, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and in the Jewish Quarter.

Most Palestinian Christians belong to the Orthodox faith, which celebrates Easter on April 12.

But for many other Christians, the curbs on worship have stripped the Easter celebrations of substance.

"It's very hard for all of us because it's our holiday... It's really hard to want to pray but to come here and find nothing. Everything is closed," said Christina Toderas, 44, from Romania.

Like many other worshippers, she had resigned herself to watching the mass at the Holy Sepulchre on television.

Father Bernard Poggi, who was preparing to attend mass in another church near the holy site, said he understood the security measures but added that "it seems to be more and more that there's an unevenness in how the laws are put into practice".

Inside the Holy Sepulchre, the celebrations were being held behind closed doors in front of a very small congregation, far removed from the crowds that usually gather.

Around the Old City, where hymns and processions usually dominate at Easter, only whispers could be heard among the faithful moving discreetly through its passages.