The Flag of Iraq

The history of the Iraqi flag is marked by significant changes that mirror the country's tumultuous political landscape. The original flag was introduced in 1921 under the British mandate, featuring a black-white-green horizontal tricolor with a red trapezoid extending from the hoist side, symbolizing the Hashemite dynasty. In 1959, a new flag was adopted following the establishment of the Republic of Iraq, incorporating three vertical stripes of black, white, and green with a red eight-pointed star in the center. After the Ba'ath Party's rise to power in 1963, the flag was modified to its well-known black-white-green horizontal stripes with three green stars in the white stripe, representing unity, freedom, and socialism. Saddam Hussein added the Takbir in green to the flag during the Gulf War in 1991, purportedly to garner Muslim support. Following the fall of Saddam's regime in 2003, the flag underwent temporary modifications, eventually leading to the current design in 2008, which retained the Takbir, now in a stylized Kufic script, but removed the stars, symbolizing a new era in Iraq's history.