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Travelling down the river, Salim noticed that most boats were made of metal, not traditional materials. Ancient Mesopotamian boats and crafts had survived multiple invasions over many millennia, explains Salim. But the displacement and destruction of recent conflicts disrupted the traditional ways of teaching these crafts, often passed down from father to son.

Never before had these strata of knowledge, of engagement of [local] material ever disappeared. This was the very first time, says Salim.

Salim began tracking down the last few living craftspeople in Iraq who knew how to build traditional boats.

Through boat reconstruction and oral history workshops, he has documented six traditional boats, including the tarada, which was the Marsh Arabs war canoe, designed to cut through the reeds with its high curved prow. The others are the guffa, a coil-basket coracle made from grasses, palm and pomegranate stems; the kelek, a raft used to carry goods and people; and the meshouf, the kaiya and the zaima.

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As momentum grew, Salim and his partner, Hannah Lewis, in 2017 co-founded Safina Projects, which aims to preserve and revive Iraqs endangered craft heritage, particularly its ancient boats.

The study of boats [internationally] developed considerably in the 40 years that Iraq has been off the map, says Salim. Theres still a vast amount of knowledge to gather. Already people that have been sources for key information have died, so we are in an emergency state of gathering. Its the last chance to capture knowledge, and to understand it.

The maritime heritage curriculum unit that Jotheri is co-developing builds on Salims fieldwork. The unit will be embedded in Iraqs third-year undergraduate heritage course and is set to launch at universities across Iraq in October.

The unit will cover all aspects of maritime heritage, from industry to management to culture, and will be accompanied by a book that Jotheri and four colleagues at the University of Al-Qadisiyah, at Al-Diwaniyah, in south central Iraq, are writing.

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Iraq's Maritime Heritage Finds a Haven in the Classroom - Al-Fanar Media

BAGHDAD (AP) The mission of U.S. forces in Iraq has shifted to training and advisory roles, allowing for redeployment of combat forces remaining in the country, U.S. and Iraq delegates said Wednesday, after a third round of strategic U.S.-Iraq talks.

Statements issued by both sides, however, said the timing of such a redeployment would be determined in upcoming technical talks, without specifying when they would take place. They also stressed the need for continued security cooperation.

The talks held virtually because of the pandemic began in June under the Trump administration. Wednesdays round, the first under President Joe Biden, centered on an array of issues, including the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Iraq had requested the latest round, partly in response to pressure from Shiite political factions and militias loyal to Iran that have lobbied for the remaining U.S. troops to leave Iraq. Participants included U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hassan.

A State Department statement following the talks said that with increasing capacity of Iraqi security forces, the mission of U.S. and coalition forces has now transitioned to one focused on training and advisory tasks, thereby allowing for the redeployment of any remaining combat forces from Iraq.

The Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, said Wednesdays statement does not represent an agreement to begin a further withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Iraqi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool said later that Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has ordered the formation of a committee that would hold technical talks with the American side to approve mechanisms and timings related to the redeployment.

Al-Kadhimi has walked a tightrope as he negotiates with the Americans while coming under growing pressure from local militias loyal to Tehran.

Last week, a convoy of heavily armed Shiite militiamen drove openly through Baghdad, denouncing the U.S. presence and threatening to cut off al-Kadhimis ear, a display that clearly sought to undermine the premier.

Angered, al-Kadhimi asked Irans leaders to rein in Iran-backed militias in Iraq and suggested he would confront the factions, two Iraqi officials said Wednesday. In the note, al-Kadhimi threatened to announce clearly who backs these groups, the officials said.

It was not immediately clear who the message was given to. The timing suggested al-Kadhimi, who has appeared powerless in confronting the militias, was looking to appease the Americans ahead of Wednesdays talks.

The message led to a two-day visit this week by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force chief Ismail Qaani to Baghdad, where he met with militia and Shiite political leaders and called for calm, according to a senior Iraqi Shiite politician.

The two Iraqi officials and the Shiite politician all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

U.S.-Iraq ties plummeted after a Washington-directed airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last year. At the time, outraged Shiite lawmakers passed a non-binding resolution to end U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

Iraqi and U.S. officials have said they support a scheduled withdrawal from Iraq but questions remain over timings and the scope of the threat posed by the Islamic State group. According to the Pentagon, the number of U.S. troops in Iraq has dropped to about 2,500 over the past months.

Iraqs Foreign Minister Fuad Hassan said in a statement during Wednesdays talks that Iraq still needs U.S. support related to training, arming and advising its military.

Iraqis, particularly under former President Donald Trump, have often felt squeezed and pressured by both their allies, the U.S. and Iran. Tehran, for instance, seeks billions of dollars in payment for crucial gas and electricity supplies to Iraq. Iraqi officials say the money is sitting idle in an account at the Trade Bank of Iraq because of U.S. restrictions and fears of sanctions.

In a positive sign, the Biden administration last month permitted a 120-day sanctions waiver for Iraq to continue importing energy from Iran, the maximum time frame allowed. Waiver renewals under Trump were often for shorter periods and laden with conditions.

However, Iraqi officials say they require U.S. leniency to repay Tehran directly for the crucial energy imports, forgoing a complex payment system designed to evade U.S. sanctions over trading with Iran.

Iraq relies on Iranian supplies for a third of power needs, especially during peak summer months. Electricity cuts over payment issues resulted in violent protests in the southern province of Basra in the summer of 2018. As Iraq plans for nationwide parliamentary elections in October, the need to avoid unrest is high.

Currently, Iraq can pay Iran indirectly for the supplies in several ways. It can pay in humanitarian goods or medicines, cancel Irans foreign debt, and foot bills such as Iranian Embassy expenses, the costs of Iranian companies operating in Iraq and those of Iranian pilgrimages to Shiite holy sites in Iraq.

But doling out these payments has been difficult, partly because U.S. conditions are so strict.

___ Kullab reported from Istanbul. Associated Press writers Mathew Lee and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

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No timetable for withdrawal of troops after US, Iraq talks - The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Improved performance by Iraqi military forces is allowing the United States and Iraq to look ahead to the day when U.S. forces will no longer be needed to help Baghdad stave off the threat from the Islamic State terror group and its remnants.

In a communique issued Wednesday following virtual talks between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, the two countries agreed to embark on technical talks aimed at establishing a timeline for U.S. combat troops to leave.

The mission of U.S. and Coalition forces has now transitioned to one focused on training and advisory tasks, thereby allowing for the redeployment of any remaining combat forces from Iraq, the communique stated, pointing to the increasing capacity of the Iraqi security forces.

In a tweet late Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi described the talks with Washington as a gateway to restore the normal situation in Iraq and said the Iraqi people deserve to live without fear of conflict.

The U.S. currently has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and just under another 1,000 troops in neighboring Syria. They have been tasked with supporting Iraqi forces and the coalition-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to keep pressure on Islamic State, as it has sought to resurrect its fortunes just over two years after the last remnant of its self-declared caliphate fell to U.S.-backed forces in Syria.

U.S. forces also conduct aerial surveillance missions and airstrikes in support of the Iraqi forces and the SDF, though Iraqs military has carried out a growing number of airstrikes itself in recent months.

U.S. officials, speaking after the virtual talks, emphasized that for now, Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS or by its Arabic acronym, Daesh, remains a threat and that there is no plan to begin pulling U.S. troops from Iraq in the near term.

"We've all been working towards the eventual redeployment when we both agree, and the Iraqis believe that there's a need for that mission to end, and there's no need for American support on the ground, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters during a briefing Wednesday.

We didn't go in there with the idea of being a permanent presence, he said. The idea was to defeat ISIS. And that's still the goal.

U.S. officials, of late, have described the threat from IS as diminished, and intelligence estimates indicate the terror groups ranks have thinned to perhaps as few as 8,000 fighters across Iraq and Syria, a fraction of the 34,000 to 100,000 fighters who roamed the region during the caliphates brief heyday.

U.S. military officials have also been quick to praise Iraqi forces, especially the elite Counterterrorism Service (CTS), for eroding the terror organizations capabilities.

In the first three months of 2021, Iraqs CTS carried out more than 100 operations against IS, killing 34 fighters and arresting another 99.

Iraqi forces, and the Iraqi air force, were also credited with playing a major role in a massive air campaign last month that destroyed 120 hideouts being used by IS in Iraqs Makhmour Mountains.

They are a much better force now than they were before, the Pentagons Kirby said, assessing the progress Iraqs military has made since U.S. and coalition forces were first sent to Iraq to push back IS.

They have improved their capability and responded to the training and the assistance that they've been getting, he added.

Despite that improvement, U.S. and coalition officials have been quick to argue that it would be dangerous to ease up on IS cells and remnants.

"The threatremains," foreign ministers with the Global Coalition to Defeat IS said in a statement following a virtual meeting last week.

Defeat IS Coalition Worries About Resurgence

Ministers, who met virtually Tuesday, 'took note' of increased Islamic State activity across Iraq and Syria

Of particular concern has been the groups ability to hide and gain strength in areas where Iraqi, SDF, and U.S. and coalition forces are unable to operate, including parts of Syria nominally under the control of the Syrian government or its Russian and Iranian allies.

There are also concerns that IS operatives, working with criminal networks, are still finding ways to flow to areas with the least security and counterterror pressure, often exploiting the porous border between Iraq and Syria to move people, cash and weapons.

Islamic State Exploiting Security Gaps to Step Up Violence, US Partners Warn

IS operatives appear to be to shaping environment in Syria, Iraq to terror group's advantage

Nike Ching contributed to this report.

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Hopes, But No Firm Dates, for US Withdrawal From Iraq - Voice of America

Visa-free travel is supposed to woo expats and tourists

GETTING INTO Iraq has never been easy. Saddam Hussein was loth to grant visas to curious Westerners, lest they see evidence of his regimes brutality. After his overthrow in 2003, the borders opened up, but war kept civilians away. Then Iraqs new rulers lowered a paper portcullis, demanding fees and the completion of myriad forms. Local middlemen offered to helpfor a price, of course. Oil firms coughed up thousands of dollars to get their workers in.

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That is all changing. Last month Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the prime minister, scrapped visa requirements for visitors from 36 countries, including America, China and those in the EU. They will be granted a two-month entry permit on arrival. Officials say the move will cut red tape, encourage investment and kick-start reconstruction. Its the single most effective decision to open Iraq to the world, says a frequent German visitor.

The move is an effort to reposition Iraq as an area of co-operation, not confrontation, says one of Mr Kadhimis men. The prime minister hopes it will also let Iraq depend less on Iran. His advisers dream of attracting expats and even tourists. Iraq is certainly safer than it used to be. A visit by Pope Francis last month went off without a hitch.

Not everyone is happy, though. Some officials prefer Iranian to Western influence; others fear losing out on bribes. And xenophobia is still a problem. Clerics accuse the government of giving Westerners priority over pilgrims from Muslim countries that are not included in the plan. Its discrimination and wont bring back tourism, says a cleric in the holy city of Najaf.

The doors are not fully open yet. Iraqi consular staff say they have not been officially notified of the changes and that foreigners should still apply for visas. Mr Kadhimis underlings dont always enforce his decrees. Spring break in Baghdad may have to wait until next year.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline "The doors are opening"

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Getting into Iraq may soon be much easier - The Economist

RAF and other coalition planes last month engaged in the biggest air raids against Isis in two years, in a 10-day mission that attacked up to 100 cave hideouts in Iraq and is likely to have caused dozens of casualties.

The attacks concluded on 22 March, the Ministry of Defence said.

British and other nations forces are fighting an estimated 10,000 Isis guerrilla fighters operating in Syria and Iraq, nearly seven years after the war against the terror group began.

Air Commodore Simon Strasdin, who leads the UK air attacks, said he could not give an exact timeline for when the long-running war would end but insisted it would be winnable through the Iraqis being able to stabilise their country.

Iraq has been embroiled in conflict almost continually since the 2003 invasion by US, UK and other international forces, a situation that developed further with the emergence of Isis in the country and neighbouring Syria from around 2013.

The exact number of casualties in the latest operation is unknown; the cave complexes remain to be cleared out by Iraqi ground forces.

Strasdin said: We went after, as a coalition, a number of these targets every night for circa 10 days. It amounted to between 50 and 100 of the targets and complexes.

It is probable that dozens died. Strasdin predicted that the UK would be involved in operations during 2021 that would lead to more people killed than the 67 whom the UK said died fighting British forces during 2019 and 2020.

Isis fighters have been hiding out in the remote Makhmur mountains area which lies between the Iraq government zone of control in the south and the Kurdish-run north in a series of modified limestone caves that UK defence sources said were at least three miles from civilian sites.

The attacks on the cave complexes are understood to have taken months of planning as coalition forces sought to first find and then locate the hideouts. This was many, many months of building understanding and intelligence, Strasdin said.

Britain joined the US and dozens of other countries in attacking Isis from the air while relying on local ground forces. Early in 2019 the terror group lost the last of its territory, leading to speculation as to when the war would end.

At one point between late 2019 and early 2020 air raids and drones strikes by the RAF ground to a halt. But the latest raids show the conflict is far from over, even as those involved argue that the end of the war remains relatively close.

Chris Coles, from Drone Wars, which tracks air and drone strikes by British forces, said that the heavy bombardment in northern Iraq was perhaps the first indication of a constant campaigning strategy outlined by the UK government in last months integrated review of defence and foreign policy.

With few boots on the ground there is almost no pressure to bring military interventions to an end and so we are likely now to see British aircraft and drones engage endlessly in sporadic bouts of bombing with almost no visibility of the consequences for those on the ground, he added.

The RAF used Typhoon jets during the operation, targeting the caves with Paveway bombs, and used Storm Shadow cruise missiles for the first time in two years. Separately, on 4 April, an RAF Reaper drone struck in Syria for the first time in almost two years, aiming at a group of Isis members.

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RAF engaged in 10-day attack on Isis in Iraq this spring - The Guardian