# Children Celebrate the Start of the Holy Month of Ramadan in Iraq

> Children in Mosul marked Ramadan’s start on Feb. 17, 2026, as crescent moon sightings took place in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Markets bustled in Kabul, while Jerusalem’s Old City was decorated and worshippers performed…

Published: 2026-02-18 · Desk: Latest · Source: Reuters

Children celebrate the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan in Mosul, Iraq, on Feb. 17, 2026.

A Saudi observer scans the sky with a telescope to sight the crescent moon marking the start of Ramadan at the Majmaah University Astronomical Observatory, about 170 kilometers north of Riyadh, on Feb. 17, 2026. For Muslims worldwide, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar is a time of spiritual reflection, prayer, fasting, and family gatherings at iftar.

Officials from Malaysia’s religious department use telescopes to perform rukyah — the traditional moon sighting — in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 17, 2026.

In Kabul, Afghanistan, shoppers buy eggs at a local market ahead of Ramadan on Feb. 17, 2026.

Decorations fill Jerusalem’s Old City as Palestinians prepare for the fasting month on Feb. 17, 2026.

Palestinian worshippers perform Taraweeh prayers on the first night of Ramadan near the Dome of the Rock at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Feb. 17, 2026.

Along a beach in Khan Yunis, a sand sculpture reading “Welcome, Ramadan,” created by displaced Palestinian artist Yazeed Abu Jarad from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, is displayed on Feb. 17, 2026, a day before the holy month begins.

Muslim worshippers attend evening Taraweeh prayers at the Al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem on Feb. 17, 2026.

People walk outside the shrine of Sheikh Abu Hanifa al-Numan in Baghdad’s Adhamiya district on the first night of Ramadan, Feb. 17, 2026.

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