Houthis say alleged US airstrike that hit Yemen prison holding African migrants kills 68
Houthis say alleged US airstrike that hit Yemen prison holding African migrants kills 68/node/2598767/middle-east
Houthis say alleged US airstrike that hit Yemen prison holding African migrants kills 68
Yemeni rescuers transport the body of a victim from the rubble of a building hit in US strikes in the northern province of Saada on April 28, 2025. (AFP)
Houthis say alleged US airstrike that hit Yemen prison holding African migrants kills 68
Updated 28 April 2025
AP
DUBAI: The Houthis on Monday alleged a US airstrike hit a prison holding African migrants, killing at least 68 people and wounding 47 others. The US military did not acknowledge carrying out the strike.
The strike was in Yemen’s Saada governorate, a stronghold for the Houthis.
It will likely renew questions from activists about the American campaign, known as “Operation Rough Rider,” which has been targeting the militia as the Trump administration negotiates with their main benefactor, Iran, over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The US military’s Central Command, in a statement early Monday before news of the alleged strike broke, sought to defend its policy of offering no specific details of its extensive airstrike campaign. The strikes have drawn controversy in America over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the unclassified Signal messaging app to post sensitive details about the attacks.
“To preserve operational security, we have intentionally limited disclosing details of our ongoing or future operations,” Central Command said. “We are very deliberate in our operational approach, but will not reveal specifics about what we’ve done or what we will do.”
It did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press about the alleged strike in Saada. Graphic footage shows aftermath of explosion
Graphic footage aired by the Houthis’ Al-Masirah satellite news channel showed what appeared to be dead bodies and others wounded at the site. The Houthi-run Interior Ministry said some 115 migrants had been detained at the site.
The militia’s Civil Defense organization said at least 68 people had been killed and 47 others wounded in the attack.
Footage from the site analyzed by the AP suggested some kind of explosion took place there, with its cement walls seemingly peppered by debris fragments and the wounds suffered by those there.
A voice, soft in the footage, can be heard repeating the start of a prayer in Arabic: “In the name of God.” An occasional gunshot rang out as medics sought to help those wounded.
The International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, said it was “deeply saddened” by the deaths at the prison.
“It is imperative that all efforts are made to avoid harm to civilians and to protect those most vulnerable in these challenging circumstances,” it said. US military says over 800 strikes conducted in campaign so far
Meanwhile, US airstrikes overnight targeting Yemen’s capital killed at least eight people, the Houthis said. The American military acknowledged carrying out over 800 individual strikes in their monthlong campaign.
The overnight statement from Central Command also said “Operation Rough Rider” had “killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders,” including those associated with its missile and drone program. It did not identify any of those officials.
“We will continue to ratchet up the pressure until the objective is met, which remains the restoration of freedom of navigation and American deterrence in the region,” it added.
The US is targeting the Houthis because of the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on Israel. The Houthis are also the last militant group in Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” that is capable of regularly attacking Israel. US discusses deadly port strike
The US is conducting strikes on Yemen from its two aircraft carriers in the region — the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea and the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea.
On April 18, an American strike on the Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others in the deadliest-known attack of the American campaign. Central Command on Monday offered an explanation for why it hit the port.
“US strikes destroyed the ability of Ras Isa Port to accept fuel, which will begin to impact Houthi ability to not only conduct operations, but also to generate millions of dollars in revenue for their terror activities,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Houthis have increasingly sought to control the flow of information from the territory they hold to the outside world. It issued a notice Sunday that all those holding Starlink satellite Internet receivers should “quickly hand over” the devices to authorities.
“A field campaign will be implemented in coordination with the security authorities to arrest anyone who sells, trades, uses, operates, installs or possesses these prohibited terminals,” the Houthis warned.
Starlink terminals have been crucial for Ukraine in fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion and receivers also have been smuggled into Iran amid unrest there.
At last, Syrians enjoy mouth-watering fruits of freedom
Pineapples, kiwis and mangoes reappear for public sale after decades on the black market
Updated 28 May 2025
AFP
DAMASCUS: Once, if you saw what looked like a pineapple in a Damascus market, it was more likely to be a hand grenade. Now, after decades of poverty and repression under the Assad dynasty, imported fruit is making mouths water again.
Before Bashar Assad was ousted last December, pineapples, kiwis and mangoes were available only on the black market, and only to Syria’s wealthiest. “We used to smuggle them in from Lebanon with the help of taxi drivers, like petrol and diesel,” said Marwan Abu Hayla, 46, a fruit seller at Shaalan market in the Syrian capital. “Now we can put them on display. The era of pineapple-phobia is over.”
Prices have also plunged. Another fruit seller, Ahmed Al-Hareth, 45, said bananas used to cost the equivalent of a public employee’s monthly salary. Now a kilo of pineapple is down from 300,000 Syrian pounds, about $23, to $4.
One practical problem remains. “Pineapple is for everyone,” said medical student Nour Abed Al-Jabbar. “Even if some people don’t know how to peel it.”
Four Palestinians die in storming of UN food warehouse a day after gunfire at new Gaza aid site
Two people were fatally crushed in the crowd, while two others died of gunshot wounds
A Red Cross field hospital said the 48 people who were wounded suffered gunshot wounds, including women and children
Updated 29 May 2025
AP
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Hundreds of Palestinians stormed a United Nations food warehouse Wednesday in Gaza in a desperate attempt to get something to eat, shouting and shoving each other and even ripping off pieces of the building to get inside.
Two people were fatally crushed in the crowd, while two others died of gunshot wounds, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
The deaths came a day after a crowd was fired upon while overrunning a new aid-distribution site in the Gaza Strip set up by an Israeli and US-backed foundation, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding 48 others, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military, which guards the site from a distance, said it fired only warning shots to control the situation.
The foundation said its military contractors guarding the site did not open fire. A Red Cross field hospital said the 48 people who were wounded suffered gunshot wounds, including women and children.
Palestinians burst into the UN’s World Food Program warehouse Wednesday in the central Gaza Strip, pushing each other in the shadow of the cavernous facility’s main door. Others ripped off pieces of the metal walls in an effort to get inside.
Scores of aid-seekers could be seen carrying large bags of flour as they fought their way back out into the sunlight through throngs of people pressing to get inside. Each bag of flour weighs around 25 kilograms (55 pounds).
A United Nations envoy compared the limited aid being allowed into Gaza to “a lifeboat after the ship has sunk.” Sigrid Kaag, acting UN special coordinator for the Mideast, told the UN Security Council that people facing famine in Gaza “have lost hope.”
“Instead of saying ‘goodbye,’ Palestinians in Gaza now say, ‘See you in heaven,’” Kaag said Wednesday.
WFP, in response to the run on the warehouse, said “humanitarian needs have spiraled out of control” after the long blockade.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN broke down Wednesday as he spoke of the 1,300 children killed and 4,000 wounded since a ceasefire ended in March, and the mothers seen “embracing their motionless bodies, caressing their hair, talking to them, apologizing to them.”
“If this is civilized,” Riyad Mansour said, “what is barbarism?”
Wael Tabsh, a displaced man from the city of Khan Younis, urged world leaders to help end the war. “How long will this torture last?” he asked.
Why Western nations are threatening ‘concrete actions’ against Israel for its Gaza offensive
Israel’s latest operation and weeks-long aid blockade have sparked unprecedented calls for sanctions from key Western allies
Spain has called for a freeze on arms deliveries to Israel, the UK has sanctioned West Bank settlers, and the EU is reviewing its relations
Updated 28 May 2025
Jonathan Gornall
LONDON: On Friday, pediatrician Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, one of a dwindling number of doctors still working in Gaza, left home as usual for another distressing shift in the war-battered Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis.
As she cared for babies and children who had been wounded in air attacks over the previous days, a missile struck her home, killing nine of her own ten children.
Their father, also a doctor, was badly injured in the attack. The couple’s only surviving child, an 11-year-old boy, was brought to his mother’s hospital, where his life was saved on the operating table.
Women mourn relatives killed in an Israeli strike, at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. (AFP)
That same day, more than 50 people, including many young members of a single family, were killed in Jabalia in the north of Gaza.
The poet and author Mosab Abu Toha, who earlier this month won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of essays in The New Yorker magazine, portraying the “physical and emotional carnage in Gaza,” happened to be near the scene.
His harrowing photograph of a dead girl, perhaps only two years old, with most of her head missing, has been viewed tens of thousands of times on X. The eyes of the medic tenderly carrying her body from the rubble of her home told their own story.
Incidents such as these, and the wider humanitarian emergency resulting from renewed violence and a weeks-long aid embargo, appear to have pushed many in the international community to consider the imposition of sanctions on Israel.
Last week, the EU, Israel’s biggest trading partner, announced it was reviewing the EU-Israel Association Agreement, in particular Article 2, which states that the relationship “shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”
The US seems unlikely to single out Israeli leaders for sanctions and would almost certainly veto any proposed action by the UN Security Council.(AFP)
Also last week, the UK, France and Canada issued a joint statement condemning the situations in Gaza and the West Bank, denouncing “the level of human suffering in Gaza” as “intolerable.”
Warning that Israel was risking “breaching international humanitarian law,” it added: “We will not stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions.”
Then came the unprecedented threat: “If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”
In response to these calls for “concrete actions,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a blistering attack on the leaders of the UK, France and Canada, saying that they had “effectively said they want Hamas to remain in power.”
He also accused them of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers.”
Israel began military operations in Gaza in retaliation for the unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which resulted in some 1,200 deaths, the majority of them civilians, and about 250 people being taken hostage.
At least 54,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza. (AFP)
Eighteen months on, at least 54,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials, while all but a handful of the hostages have been released or killed in the crossfire.
On Monday, at a summit in Madrid of European and Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares called for an arms embargo on Israel and sanctions against individuals “who want to ruin the two-state solution forever.”
Speaking before the meeting, Albares said that humanitarian aid must enter Gaza “massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel,” describing the Strip as humanity’s “open wound.”
“Silence in these moments is complicity in this massacre,” he added.
Saudi Arabia has long called on the US and other Western nations to freeze arms shipments to Israel in response to its restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid into the embattled enclave.
Also on Monday, more than 800 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges in the UK signed an open letter expressing “our deep concern over the worsening catastrophe in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
They urged the British government to meet its “fundamental international legal obligations … to take all reasonable steps within (its) power to prevent and punish genocide (and) to ensure respect for international humanitarian law.”
Israel’s attacks “are quite clearly and blatantly in disregard of international law, and are just becoming unacceptable,” Guy Goodwin-Gill, emeritus professor of international refugee law at the University of Oxford and one of the letter’s signatories, told Arab News.
Saudi Arabia has long called on the US and other Western nations to freeze arms shipments to Israel in response to its restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid into the embattled enclave. (AFP)
What happens next, he said, “depends to a certain extent upon the willingness of other states to come to the party.”
The US seems unlikely to single out Israeli leaders for sanctions and would almost certainly veto any proposed action by the UN Security Council.
“But I think the UK could impose financial and immigration sanctions, not only on Israeli ministers and officials suspected of involvement in the unlawful conduct but, in my personal view, it should consider imposing visas on all Israelis,” Goodwin-Gill said.
“Given the extent of conscription in the country, all Israelis have been potentially involved in the actions of the military on the ground — the tank commanders, the soldiers, and the air force pilots in particular.
“I think they should be subject to a visa requirement, subject to inquiries about what they were doing during the war.”
The Israeli government’s standard response to any criticism is to accuse its critics of antisemitism. The signatories nevertheless decided to speak out.
“I think there was an apprehension about being labeled antisemitic,” Goodwin-Gill said.
“But I think that is disappearing with the continuing violations of international humanitarian law that are going on and on, and in the face of evident desire on the part of some in the Israeli government to bring about the destruction of Gaza, the destruction of the aim of a two-state solution, and the end of the prospect of any self-determination for Palestinians.”
In addition to the events in Gaza, “the extent to which settlers are invading the West Bank and assaulting Palestinians, not only with the passive support of the Israel Defense Forces, but also being armed by them, is beginning to put people on notice that the label of ‘antisemitism’ is not going to stick this time.”
People watch as smoke billows following an Israeli strike in Jabalia. (AFP)
It isn’t just the UK’s legal community that is breaking cover to openly criticize Israel’s actions. On Wednesday, 380 writers, musicians and organizations signed a letter accusing the Israeli government of genocide and calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“The government of Israel has renewed its assault on Gaza with unrestrained brutality,” the letter read.
“Public statements by Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir openly express genocidal intentions. The use of the words ‘genocide’ or ‘acts of genocide’ to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations.”
On May 7, a statement signed by more than 30 UN human rights special rapporteurs and independent experts condemned what is happening in Gaza as “one of the most ostentatious and merciless manifestations of the desecration of human life and dignity.”
They added: “While states debate terminology — is it or is it not genocide? — Israel continues its relentless destruction of life in Gaza, through attacks by land, air and sea, displacing and massacring the surviving population with impunity.
“No one is spared — not the children, persons with disabilities, nursing mothers, journalists, health professionals, aid workers, or hostages. Since breaking the ceasefire, Israel has killed hundreds of Palestinians, many daily — peaking on March 18, 2025, with 600 casualties in 24 hours, 400 of whom were children.”
On Wednesday, 380 writers, musicians and organizations signed a letter accusing the Israeli government of genocide and calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. (AFP)
The signatories of Wednesday’s letter wrote: “We refuse to be a public of bystander-approvers. This is not only about our common humanity and all human rights; this is about our moral fitness as the writers of our time, which diminishes with every day we refuse to speak out and denounce this crime.”
The British government has not yet spelled out what “concrete actions” it might take against the Israeli government.
So far it has imposed sanctions only on several settler leaders, accused of “engaging in, facilitating, inciting or providing support for activity which amounts to a serious abuse of the right of individuals not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” and who have “threatened and perpetrated acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals in the West Bank.”
Several organizations “involved in facilitating, inciting, promoting and providing logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts and forced displacement of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” have also been sanctioned.
In all cases the named individuals and organizations have been subjected to “asset freeze, director disqualification sanction, and travel bans.”
The wider humanitarian emergency resulting from renewed violence and a weeks-long aid embargo, appear to have pushed many in the international community to consider the imposition of sanctions on Israel. (AFP)
In reality, said Michael O’Kane, senior partner at UK law firm Peters & Peters and co-founder of legal guidance website Global Sanctions, it is “very unlikely” that any of those sanctioned so far actually have any assets in the UK, and “that is true of the vast majority of people who are sanctioned by the UK government.
“If you take Russia as an example, there are over 2,000 people on the sanctions list, and I suspect only a very small percentage of them have any assets in the UK.”
Such sanctioning is, however, more than merely tokenistic.
“This is what’s called ‘signaling,’” O’Kane told Arab News. “The government is saying: ‘By sanctioning you, we are signaling to you and to the wider world that we consider your conduct to be unacceptable, a breach of international norms.’”
However, there have been increasing calls for targeted financial sanctions to be imposed on members of Netanyahu’s government, in particular national security minister Ben-Givr and finance minister Smotrich.
“If things continue to go in the same direction in Gaza, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of that happening,” O’Kane said.
There is also the possibility that the UK government could tighten restrictions on the export of arms to Israel.
In September last year the government suspended about 30 export licenses “for items used in the current conflict in Gaza … following a review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law.”
“Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve,” WFP said in a statement. (AFP)
However, more than 300 arms licenses remain unaffected. A case brought by the Palestinian rights organization Al-Haq, challenging the government’s decision to allow the export of components for F-35 fighter aircraft to continue, is under review in the UK’s High Court.
The government’s lawyers told the court this week that “no evidence has been seen that Israel is deliberately targeting civilian women or children.”
At the start of the case on May 13, Raza Husain KC, the lawyer acting for Al-Haq, told the court that, on the contrary, “acts of annihilation have been accompanied by persistent genocidal, dehumanizing and even celebratory statements made at all levels of the Israeli military and political structure, including such figures, I regret to say, as the prime minister, president, minister of defense, minister of national security, and minister of finance.”
Even if nothing comes of the threats by the EU, the UK and Canada to directly target Israeli ministers, the combined outrage at Israel’s behavior is creating political momentum behind a joint French-Saudi international conference that will open on June 17 at the UN in New York.
More than 30 UN human rights special rapporteurs and independent experts condemned what is happening in Gaza. (AFP)
Anne-Claire Legendre, the French president’s adviser, told a preparatory meeting at the UN on May 23 that “faced with facts on the ground, the prospect of a Palestinian state must be maintained.
“Irreversible steps and concrete measures for its implementation are necessary. This is the purpose of the international conference to be held in June.”
Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says humanitarian aid must never be politicized after Israel seizes control of distribution in Gaza
Strongly-worded criticism comes amid groundswell of European political backlash in against Netanyahu government
Updated 28 May 2025
Arab News
LONDON: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas condemned Israel on Wednesday over the number of civilian deaths in Gaza and restrictions on humanitarian aid.
Her comments come as political pressure grows in Europe against Israel’s military campaign in the territory, which has killed almost 54,000 Palestinians since October 2023.
“Israel’s military operation in Gaza, the disproportionate use of force and the deaths of civilians cannot be tolerated,” Kallas said. “The continued targeting of civilian infrastructure is unacceptable.”
She called for a return to the ceasefire that broke down in March after less than two months, the release of all hostages and the permanent end to the conflict through negotiations.
Since ending the ceasefire, Israel has ramped up its operations, killing almost 4,000 people. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government this month ordered the military to take full control of the territory as it attempts to wipe out Hamas.
Israel has also taken over aid distribution after blockading supplies to Gaza for more than two months, leading to fears of a famine among the impoverished population.
EU High Representative and Vice-President for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas said Israel's targeting of civilian infrastructure is unacceptable. (AFP)
A new aid distribution system that bypasses the UN has been set up in southern Gaza and is being run in conjunction with a new American organization. The system started to operate this week but has been heavily criticized by Arab and European governments, along with aid agencies.
“Humanitarian aid must never be politicized or militarized,” Kallas said. “The EU reiterates its urgent call for the immediate, unimpeded and sustained resumption of aid at scale, according to the needs of the civilian population in Gaza.”
She called for the UN to resume its role in distributing humanitarian assistance.
While much of the focus has been on the decimation of Gaza, Israel has also ramped up operations in the occupied West Bank and has been accused of encouraging settler attacks on Palestinians.
Kallas said intimidation campaigns, attacks, and the destruction of Palestinian homes by settlers have displaced entire communities.
“Israel must immediately take decisive steps to address this issue and ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are held accountable,” she said.
Her strong comments followed a rebuke of Israel on Tuesday from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in what has been seen as a shift in Berlin’s support for Israel.
“What the Israeli Army is doing in the Gaza Strip, I no longer understand the goal,” he said. “To harm the civilian population in such a way, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism.”
The situation in Gaza remains intolerable.
Israel’s strikes in Gaza go beyond what is necessary.
Humanitarian aid must never be politicised or militarised.
Challenging the special status of Jerusalem risks further escalating tensions.
Last week, the UK, France and Canada issued a joint statement demanding Israel halt its military actions and threatened “concrete actions” if the slaughter continued.
On Wednesday, Italy’s right-wing government also demanded an end to Israel’s assault saying it had become “unacceptable.” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani warned against any attempt to forcibly remove the Palestinian population from Gaza — something Palestinians fear is underway after Netanyahu said he would offer “voluntary emigration” to other states for the territory’s population.
Netanyahu said last week that criticism from Western countries was “emboldening” Hamas, which led the October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and captured dozens of hostages.
The UK has suspended talks on a free-trade agreement with Israel and the EU has launched a review of its association agreement with the country.
Kallas said on Wednesday that she aims to present options for the bloc’s next steps on June 23.
Iraq’s Jewish community saves a long-forgotten shrine
A few months ago, the tomb of Rabbi Isaac Gaon was filled with rubbish
“It was a garbage dump and we were not allowed to restore it,” said the head of Iraq’s Jewish community, Khalida Elyahu
Updated 28 May 2025
AFP
BAGHDAD: In a vibrant Baghdad district, laborers are working tirelessly to repair the centuries-old shrine of a revered rabbi in an effort to revive the long-faded heritage of Iraq’s Jewish community.
A few months ago, the tomb of Rabbi Isaac Gaon was filled with rubbish. Its door was rusted, the windows shattered and the walls stained black from decades of neglect.
Today, marble tiling covers the once-small grave, and at its center stands a large tombstone inscribed with a verse, the rabbi’s name and the year he died: 688. A silver menorah hangs on the wall behind it.
“It was a garbage dump and we were not allowed to restore it,” said the head of Iraq’s Jewish community, Khalida Elyahu, 62.
The Jewish community in Iraq was once one of the largest in the Middle East, but now it has dwindled to just dozens.
Baghdad today has one synagogue left, but it has no rabbis. And many houses that once belonged to Jews are abandoned and dilapidated.
The Jewish community itself is funding the shrine’s restoration, at an estimated cost of $150,000.
The project will bring “a revival for our community, both within and outside Iraq,” Elyahu said.
With the backing of Iraqi officials, she said she hopes to restore more neglected sites.
Little information is available about Rabbi Isaac. But when Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Araji visited the tomb earlier this year, he said the rabbi had been a finance official.
Rabbi Isaac Gaon was prominent during the Gaonic period, also known as the era of Babylonian academies for rabbis.
The term “Gaon” is likely to refer to his position as the head of one such academy.
His name was mentioned in the 10th century by another rabbi, who told a tale that never appeared elsewhere, according to Professor Simcha Gross from the University of Pennsylvania.
“There is only one single story,” said Gross.
It goes that Rabbi Isaac led 90,000 Jews to meet Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Islamic caliph and a relation of the Prophet Muhammad, who is also revered by Shiites as the first Imam, during one of his conquests in central Iraq.
“We have no other evidence for this event, and there are reasons to be skeptical,” Gross said.
Nothing else is known about Rabbi Isaac, not even his religious opinions.
But the tale has origins that are not without context, said Gross.
In the 10th century, minorities — Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians — began to tell stories of how they greeted “Muslim conquerors” because “their privileges including taxes were dependent on whether or not they were believed to have welcomed the Muslims,” he said.
At that same time, Jewish shrines started to appear, even though Jewish roots in Iraq date back some 2,600 years.
According to biblical tradition, Jews arrived in Iraq in 586 BC as prisoners of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II after he destroyed Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.
In Iraq, they wrote the Babylonian Talmud.
Thousands of years later, in Ottoman-ruled Baghdad, Jews made up 40 percent of the population.
A turning point was the 1941 pogrom in Baghdad when more than 100 Jews were killed.
Like other Jewish communities in the Arab region, their history has changed since the Palestinian Nakba — “catastrophe” in Arabic — and Israel’s creation in 1948. Soon afterwards, almost all of Iraq’s 135,000 Jews went into exile.
Decades of conflict and instability — Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, the 2003 US-led invasion and the ensuing violence — completed the community’s erosion.
Some who stayed on converted to other religions, or do not reveal their faith.
Today, 50 synagogues and Jewish sites remain, Elyahu said. Most are crumbling, and some have become warehouses.
Rabbi Isaac’s shrine once included a synagogue and a school, but has been reduced to the small room housing the grave, the restoration’s supervisor said.
“It took us two months to clean it of garbage,” said the supervisor, who asked to remain anonymous.
Now “we are receiving requests from outside Iraq to visit it.”
Decades ago people would come to pray and light candles, believing in the rabbi’s “healing powers.”
Mussa Hayawi, 64, lives nearby. He recounted stories from his childhood in a quarter which was, until the 1940s, one of several Jewish districts in Baghdad.
He said women used to soak themselves in water from the shrine’s well, hoping to conceive.
Rabbi Isaac “was a revered man.” People came “to pray for their sick, to ask for a baby, or the release of a prisoner,” Hayawi said.
