Jane Arraf

Iranian state media reports that hundreds of people are dead and nearly more than 1,000 injured in that country alone. The quake struck at night and officials say the death toll was likely to rise.

In an interview with NPR, longtime Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani says his people are re-evaluating their close alliance with the U.S. after the U.S. didn't back the failed independence push that led to his resignation.

In Iraq, the president of the Kurdistan region has announced he is stepping down. His resignation follows the devastating fallout of a referendum on independence.

After 12 years in power, Kurdish President Massoud Barzani has submitted his resignation and announced that he will not seek another term in office following Kurdistan's referendum on independence last month.

The battle to force ISIS out of Mosul ended a few months ago, but the impact that ISIS — and the battle — had on that city's children will most likely last their lifetimes. Many children who lost one or both of their parents and are still dealing with displacement.

Most residents had kept their kids home for three years as schools were run by the militants. Then some kids started catching up on classes as ISIS was forced from neighborhoods in the spring.

Jalal Talabani — a historic Middle East figure and a leader of the Kurdish independence movement in Iraq — has died after years of illness.

Iraqi Kurds voted on Monday in a referendum on whether to seek independence from Iraq. Neighboring countries worry an independent Kurdistan could destabilize the region.

Monday's referendum for voters in Iraq's Kurdish region asks whether the Kurds should break away to form their own country. Iran and Turkey are watching the vote closely.

Iraq's Kurdistan region is scheduled to hold a referendum on independence on Monday, despite warnings from the U.S., the U.N. and neighboring countries.

The U.S., Turkey, Iran and others want Iraq's Kurds to cancel an independence vote set for Monday. Most Iraqi Kurds want their own country, which could prompt Kurds in other countries to follow suit.

Three months after ISIS was pushed out of Mosul, the eastern half of the Iraqi city is bustling and growing. But the badly damaged western half is in ruins, and its residents are angry and resentful.

Two months after Iraqi and U.S. forces pushed ISIS out of the Iraqi city of Mosul, there is still widespread destruction, hundreds of thousands of displaced people and questions about who's in charge.

A year after ISIS was forced from Fallujah, the Iraqi city is still impoverished and extensively damaged. Many families languish in displaced camps because they're suspected to have ties to ISIS.

The world's youngest Nobel laureate spent her 20th birthday this month with displaced Yazidi girls in northern Iraq. She spends each birthday with girls who are struggling to get an education.

They do their work without having been paid for years. Many had to live under ISIS. The number of civilians killed by ISIS or by mortar and air strikes from U.S. and Iraqi forces still isn't known.

A week after the Iraqi government declared victory over ISIS in Mosul, there's still fighting and ruins engulfing the dead. Now reporters are banned from the area where the worst fighting took place.

Supplies for government troops are said to be low, bodies of civilians remain in the streets and authorities banned journalists from the old city, which has been ruined in the battles.

Iraq's declared liberation from Islamic State militants in the northern city of Mosul. But with the number of civilian lives lost and the city now in rubble, some Iraqis are unsure about the future.

Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai met with girls victimized by ISIS and encouraged them to overcome violence the way she did. Her trip to Iraq happened as she turned 20.