Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, often makes headlines for being the backdrop to battles against Islamic State group militants. But this time, the city is in the spotlight for a group of young men with a difference. They are "Mister Erbil", the country's first gentlemen's club: well-groomed hipsters with a social message. We meet Omer Nihad, one of the founders of "Mister Erbil".

Also in the programme, FRANCE 24 meets Arab women fighting on the frontline and beating back the Islamic State group in Syria.

In Middle East Matters we also report from an historic church as it reopens in Israel, two years after an arson attack by Jewish extremists.