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Matthew Vickery, Special for USA TODAY Published 7:00 a.m. ET July 24, 2017 | Updated 3:10 p.m. ET July 24, 2017

Shadi Mohammed works on a customers car in her garage staffed by women in the Iraqi city of Sulaimani. (Photo: Halwest Abdulkareem)

SULAIMANI, Iraq Sitting under shelves decked with dozens of brightly colored bottles of motor oil, Shadi Mohammed shouts to be heard over nearby machines.

"This is Shadi's garage!" she yells as she raises her oil-stained hands with enthusiasm, knowing she's an anomaly in this conservative, male-dominated country.

Mohammed is an extraordinarymechanic in an ordinary garage in this Kurdish city near the border with Iran: Everyoneworking under the hoods of flashy pickups and all-terrain vehicles are all women. They areearning a wage for their families and creating a mini-revolution in the process.

"I want to change the perception of society toward women and toward what they think women can do," explained Mohammed, 45. "Show them that woman are also capable of running a garage like this just like men do here."

The charismaticbusinesswoman and former civil servant never planned to don overalls and transform herself into a mechanic. But asan economic crisis hits the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, where public sectorwages have beenslashed up to 75%, she needed a new way to provide for her family.

With two daughters looking to their mother as a role model, Mohammed wanted to prove that Iraqi women could have whatever career they wanted. So she decided to take on one ofthe most male-dominated professions fixing cars.

When I realized this job had never been done by women before in Iraq, it encouraged me to go ahead with the idea of running an auto-repair garage, Mohammed told USA TODAYon a blisteringhot day. I wanted to show that women could take care of themselves, and help encourage women to gain experience in this trade.

She also wanted to create a garage where women would feel comfortable when they bring in their vehiclewithout facing ridicule or harassment from men.

Three months later, and $10,000 of savings spent, she saidher business is doing well, and she regrets nothing.

Mohammed admits she is a self-taught mechanic whosefour-woman team takes on more complex jobs every day. The current aim is to master automotive electronics in the coming months.

Just 11% of women in Iraq's Kurdistan region were employed last year, compared to nearly 19% in the Middle East,according to the World Bank.Only one in 100 of those women had jobs in the private sector, where men and women are more likely to interact something frowned upon in acountrywhere traditional gender roles are still prevalent.

Many of the women who buck this trend still end up leaving the workplace between the ages of 25 to 29 to fulfill family roles at home.

In choosing to be a mechanic, Mohammed battles sexism and ridicule daily at her garage.

During a recent visit by USA TODAY, one customer came in and lingered around Mohammed for an hour, offering gifts and later asking her to check his 4x4.

Theres nothing wrong with it, she said matter-of-factly after popping the hood and checking, as the vehicle owner leered behind her.

Suchbehavior is a daily occurrence male customersfake having vehicle problems so they can watch Mohammed and her female workers.

I would not face the harassment that I am facing now if I were a man," Mohammed said."I am familiar with my societys behavior. In some cases people just visit us because we have women working here.

Fatah Sleman, one of the female mechanics who works at the auto-repair garage, checks a vehicle's tires as a customer looks on.(Photo: Halwest Abdulkareem)

She said she had to hire women in secret after a public attempt to find women workers was met with ridicule.

Fatah Sleman, one of her employees, said she was grateful for the work Mohammed provided and the opportunity to prove that women shouldnt be confined to home or jobs traditionally held by women.

I dont want careers like this one to be occupied just by men, said Sleman, 37. I want to tell women, there is no difference between us and men, and that its our right to try different careers.

Despite facing ridicule and harassment, the women say theyre thankful for the customers who show respect and support their business.

One of those customers, Aros Ghafur, said he had never beforeseena garage owned and run by women but was pleased with the work they did.

I see a clear future of success in what Shadi is doing.I have really encouraged her to keep doing her job, said Ghafur, 31, a Sulaimani resident.

Success for Mohammed is not just increasing profits, but alsoinspiringother female employees.

And its working. Sparked by Mohammed's give-it-a-go attitude and confidence in taking on Iraqi society, her employees want to encourage other womento do the same.

Eyeing the future, Mohammed plans to hire more women and relocate her auto-repair business to a larger site, but she expects little helpalong the way.

Nobody has tried to stop me or close my garage, but neither has anyone or the government helped or assisted me with it, she said. Maybe they dont want to lessen gender discrimination here.

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Female mechanics spark gender revolution in Iraq - USA TODAY

MOSCOW, Russian Federation Iraqs Vice President Nouri al-Maliki has told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow that Baghdad wants Russia to play a bigger role in Iraq so that there is a balanced policy that does not allow a foreign political entity to impose its agenda in Iraq.

Maliki and Lavrov met on Monday after the Iraqi leader started an official visit to Russia, with Maliki expected to meet the Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in Saint Petersburg.

Lavrov noted the fact that it is not the first time Maliki visits Russia, following his 2012 official visit in his capacity as the then Prime Minister of Iraq.

He said that they are open to help develop and strengthen relations between the two sides, especially economically, and in the fight against terrorism.

Maliki said that Russia wants to expand the bilateral relations and that the Russian foreign minister has praised the Baghdad Operation room, jointly run by Iraq, Iran, Syria and Russia where the member states share intelligence.

Maliki told the Russian FM that Baghdad wants to create a balanced policy in Iraq, in cooperation with Russia, so that it does not allow for disorder to happen whereby a foreign political entity may impose its agenda in the country.

Maliki also showed his appreciation for the Russian role in Syria that preserved the region from a total collapse.

While he celebrated the victory in Mosul against ISIS, Maliki was fearful of what may come next.

He called it a new stage in Iraq that comes after the defeat of the ISIS group, followed by the upcoming general elections in Iraq next year.

May be Iraq is prone to new political developments in light of regional interferences, Maliki said briefly as he sat opposite the Russian FM.

He also said that there were some practices that threatened the unity of Iraq, perhaps a reference to the September 25 independence referendum to be held by the Kurdistan Region, something Maliki expressed his objections to on more than an occasion.

Iraq and Russia have a $4.2 billion outstanding arms deal that was signed by the then PM Maliki on a visit to Moscow in 2012.

The deal was put on hold amid a corruption and bribery scandal involving senior Iraqi defense officials.

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Baghdad needs Russia to balance foreign influence in Iraq, VP Maliki - Rudaw

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July 24, 2017 Updated July 24, 2017 2:52 PM

Nicola Benyahia grew up Anglican and converted to Islam as an older teen. She considered herself religiously liberal, and Western. So it came as a surprise when her son Rasheed was radicalized, eventually running away to join ISIS. Rasheed was killed in an airstrike in Iraq in 2015.

Benyahia joins Here & Now's Robin Young to talk about her family's tragedy, and her work helping other families fight indoctrination and radicalization of their children.

On her initial reactionwhen Rasheed's behavior started to change

"I kind of just thought he was going through some sort of teenage angst, really. And my daughters I have four daughters and they'd gone through kind of the teenage stuff as well. So being a boy, I thought maybe he was just going through it in a different kind of way. But it was, again, over about a year, year and a half period when sort of small things started changing that were kind of more religious. And that was what was concerning me more than anything."

On whether it felt like a stranger had taken her son

"It did. I would say particularly the last sort of six to eight months. There was a very... a big change within his own character, because as you said before, he was a very smiley, very happy-go-lucky... I can't remember a time where he ever became angry or was kind of unhappy. And so when he became more rigid, and he wasn't joining in with the fun in our family life, that was what was most significant for me. That was really, really out of character and strange for me."

On whether there's anything she regrets not doing

"Obviously, you know on hindsight and looking back, I've reflected constantly about the past. And looking back, at the time, with the tools and what I knew at the time, really I couldn't have changed anything. I didn't have the right people around me, I didn't have the right skills, I didn't have the right knowledge. At the time I just did the best I could as a mother, and there wasn't an awful lot really of assistance or help, really, in the U.K."

"When he became more rigid, and he wasn't joining in with the fun in our family life, that was what was most significant for me."

On how Rasheed sounded when she first heard from him after he went missing

"The first call I got from him after he'd been missing about two and a half months, he was exactly the same. He was slightly panicky, because he'd known that he hadn't been in touch for nearly three months, so I could hear his voice shake. He was full of emotion because he'd just been released from a camp. The homesickness and missing us was all just coming out. But after that, I almost had to view it the phone calls I got from him I had to literally, to get through them, I had to view it as if he was just at college down the road, because I would not have been able to get through those phone calls with him had I really understood where he was."

On being toldthat her son had been killed in an airstrike

"I had been expecting it, because I heard the stories from other mothers and other parents who had had similar stories, and I knew it was only literally every day that passed was just an extra day that he was living. Psychologically and emotionally I was preparing myself for that call."

"[The ISIS fighter] just said, you know, 'Are you the parents of Rasheed?' And we confirmed, we said, 'Yes.' And he said, 'I'm really sorry to tell you but your son's been killed. He was hit by an airstrike and he was taken outright.' But I think what was very difficult for me, which kind of hurt me and upset me, was he just turned around and even began to cry himself and said, 'Your son was a very, very good boy. He was a very respectful boy.' I thought, 'If you knew that, why did you do this to him?'"

"In a way, as awful as it sounds coming from a mother, part of me was glad that he died when he died, because I no longer had to fear thinking that he may do something like that."

On seeing attacks like the 2015 Paris terror attacks and thinking of her son

"Whenever there was any kind of attack or anywhere, you know, even when my son was out in Syria, it scared me thinking, you know, 'What if they made him return or made him do something.' So anything that was on the news or in the paper, it never went out my mind that that could be possibly my son, that they could make him do something. So in a way, as awful as it sounds coming from a mother, part of me was glad that he died when he died, because I no longer had to fear thinking that he may do something like that."

On her advice for families in recognizing and preventing radicalization

"I think it's going with your gut feeling, because there aren't these magical signs. The family will have a gut feeling, or there's something not quite right. And what I do with the families is make sure that I validate that and I work through that with them."

"I think I always encourage the family to have the authorities on board as well. You need a whole team around that family and the individual to kind of really sort of intervene with this, and everyone has a part to play, whether it's the sort of social services here, or welfare, whether it's the police authorities. Everybody has their part around that individual to deradicalize them. But meanwhile, I'm there to support them emotionally and psychologically, because the radicalization can change from sort of week to week. And they have to obviously live with this individual and cope with them, and that can be incredibly draining on their own mental health as well."

This segment aired on July 24, 2017.

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UK Mother Of Jihadi Killed In Iraq Helps Families Fight Radicalization - Here And Now

The newspaper claimed the baby was transferred to Baghdad with Ms Wenzel. Iraqi and German authorities have not commented on the claims. Ms Wenzel ran away from home in Pulsnitz, a small town near Dresden, last year, and is believed to have travelled to Syria to join Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

She reportedly married an Isil fighter who is thought to have been killed in an air strike. Although German authorities have opened an investigation against her on suspicion of terror offences, they have yet to make a formal extradition request, and prosecutors acknowledged at the weekend that she may face trial in Iraq.

There is the possibility that Linda might be put on trial in Iraq, Lorenz Haase, a spokesman for German prosecutors said. She might be expelled for being a foreigner or, because she is a minor reported missing in Germany, she could be handed over to Germany.

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German Isil bride could face trial in Iraq - Telegraph.co.uk

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran and Iraq signed an agreement on Sunday to step up military cooperation and the fight against "terrorism and extremism", Iranian media reported, an accord which is likely to raise concerns in Washington.

Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan and his Iraqi counterpart Erfan al-Hiyali signed a memorandum of understanding which also covered border security, logistics and training, the official news agency IRNA reported.

"Extending cooperation and exchanging experiences in fighting terrorism and extremism, border security, and educational, logistical, technical and military support are among the provisions of this memorandum," IRNA reported after the signing of the accord in Tehran.

Iran-Iraq ties have improved since Iran's long-time enemy Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003 and an Iraqi government led by Shi'ite Muslims came to power. Iran is mostly a Shi'ite nation.

U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced concern over what he sees as growing Iranian influence in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, where it is aligned with Shi'ite fighters.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have heightened since the election of Trump, who has often accused Tehran of backing militant groups and destabilizing the region.

Earlier this month, Trump said that new threats were emerging from "rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran and Syria and the governments that finance and support them".

The U.S. military has accused Iran of stoking violence in Iraq by funding, training and equipping militias. Iran denies this, blaming the presence of U.S. troops for the violence.

Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Toby Chopra

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Iran and Iraq sign accord to boost military cooperation - Reuters