Saleh Elias

Saleh Elias is an Iraqi journalist who has worked for the German Niqash website for five years and for Iraqi newspapers, mainly al-Mada and Al-Alam al-Jadid. He received the Al-Ain al-Maftouha Award for journalism from the German MICT organization in 2015.

Iraq | May 13, 2015

Services improve under IS in Mosul

Some say there is a silver lining to the Islamic State’s takeover of Mosul in Iraq, namely an improvement in services, in an apparent attempt by the group to gain legitimacy and garner the support of Mosul residents.

People walk past a banner (in black and white) belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the city of Mosul, June 28, 2014. Since early June, ISIL militants have overrun most majority Sunni Muslim areas in the north and west of Iraq, capturing the biggest northern city Mosul and late dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. The banner reads, "There is no God but God, and Mohammad is his messenger." REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3W71S

Iraq | Apr 21, 2015

IS courts Ninevah tribes in run-up to battle

The Islamic State is seeking allies among Iraq's tribes for the battle of Mosul and an opportunity to entrench itself in Iraqi tribal society.

Tribesmen walk at a temporary camp set up to shelter Iraqis fleeing violence in Iraq's northern Nineveh province on June 12, 2014, in Aski kalak, 40 kms West of Arbil, in the autonomous Kurdistan region. Thousands of people who fled Iraq's second city of Mosul after it was overrun by jihadists wait in the blistering heat, hoping to enter the safety of the nearby Kurdish region and furious at Baghdad's failure to help them. many as half a million people are thought to have fled Mosul, which was captured by

Iraq | Apr 1, 2015

Ninevah monastery hopes for liberation

Past regular visitors to St. George's Monastery, north of Mosul, have been saddened and horrified by the acts of destruction by Islamic State members at the site.

Iraqis inspect the destruction caused by an explosion at the entrance of a monastery in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, 06 January 2008. Bombs exploded today outside two churches and a monastery in Mosul, wounding four people and slightly damaging the buildings, police said. AFP PHOTO/MUJAHED MOHAMMED (Photo credit should read MUJAHED MOHAMMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraq | Mar 13, 2015

Mosul residents prepare for battle

The Islamic State plans to use Mosul's 1.5 million residents as a human shield in its inevitable battle against the Iraqi army and international forces.