Iraq

Two Turkish soldiers were killed and another was wounded after Kurdish militants fired rockets at a military base in northern Iraq, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday. Turkey has regularly attacked Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, both in its mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where …

The British embassy in Baghdad said that a British diplomatic vehicle was hit buy an IED on Tuesday morning on the airport road in Baghdad, but caused no injuries. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Separately, at 1 a.m. on Tuesday, two Katyusha rockets landed inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified …

A trove of Saddam-era files secretly returned to Iraq has pried open the country’s painful past, prompting hopes some may learn the fate of long-lost relatives along with fears of new bloodshed. The 5 million pages of internal Baath Party documents were found in 2003, just months after the US-led …

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that U.S. troop numbers in Iraq would be down to about 2,000 in a very short period of time. At a White House news conference, Trump went further than a U.S. official speaking last month, who said the United States would go down …

President Donald Trump will announce a further drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq on Wednesday, a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday. That announcement will be followed by another one in the coming days on a further reduction in U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the official said. The decision comes …

Iraq is seeking an exemption from an OPEC+ deal curbing oil production during the first quarter of 2021 but will adhere to the cuts over the next three months, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said on Wednesday. Abdul Jabbar has spoken about the exemption to OPEC oil ministers in three …

United States-led international coalition troops withdrew from Iraq’s Taji military base on Sunday and handed it over to Iraqi security forces, Reuters witnesses and the coalition said. The base, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, had been the site of frequent rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias targeting U.S.-led troops …

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has described Turkish attacks on Iraqi soil as “unacceptable” and urged the US to resolve the dispute in a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Ankara and Baghdad have been negotiating since mid-June to solve the dispute over Turkish offensives in Kurdistan and other disputed …

Protesters in the southern Iraqi city of Basra set fire to parliament’s local office on Friday as security forces fired live rounds in the air to disperse them, a Reuters witness and security sources said. The protesters had gathered to demand that Iraq’s parliament sack the provincial governor after two …

Five U.S. firms including Chevron Corp (CVX.N) signed agreements on Wednesday with the Iraqi government aimed at boosting Iraq’s energy independence from Iran as the Iraqi prime minister prepared to make his first visit to the White House on Thursday. The U.S. Department of Energy in a statement said that …

Iraq cancelled on Tuesday the Turkish defence minister’s visit to the country which was scheduled for Thursday, Iraq’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The ministry also summoned the Turkish ambassador to hand him “a strong protest note and inform him of Iraq’s confirmed rejection of his country’s attacks and …

Kuwait and Iraq separately denied an attack took place against a convoy carrying equipment for American forces. An explosion near the Jraischan border crossing between Iraq and Kuwaiti on Monday evening targeted a convoy carrying equipment for US forces, three Iraqi security forces told Reuters. It was not immediately clear …

Washington has identified a critical financial facilitator for Daesh based in Turkey in a move to unsettle the remaining global financial networks of the terrorist group. In a statement on Tuesday, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that the Daesh facilitator, Adnan Muhammad …

Clashes between Iraqi protesters and security forces in central Baghdad killed at least two demonstrators overnight, security and medical sources said on Monday. It was the first such deadly incident in months at Tahrir Square, which became a symbol of anti-government protests during months-long mass unrest last year. The protesters …

A weapons depot belonging to Iraq’s federal police force exploded on Sunday in Baghdad’s southern suburbs because of high summer temperatures and poor storage, the military said in a statement. Multiple explosions could be heard in Baghdad on Sunday evening. Security sources said the depot, which is part of a …

Turkey is taking its decades-old conflict with Kurdish militants deep into northern Iraq, establishing military bases and deploying armed military drones against the fighters in their mountain strongholds. The cross-border campaign has attracted less attention than Turkey’s incursions into neighbouring Syria – partly because Turkish troops have long been in …

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi will travel to Saudi Arabia and Iran back-to-back next week, carefully balancing ties to regional rivals in his first foreign trip as premier, officials said Saturday. On Sunday, Al-Kadhimi will host Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Baghdad, before traveling with Iraq’s ministers of oil, electricity, …

Two former managers of Monaco-based energy consultancy Unaoil have been convicted in Britain of bribing Iraqi officials to clinch lucrative oil projects as the war-ravaged country tried to boost exports after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. A London jury found British-Lebanese Ziad Akle, Unaoil’s former Iraq territory manager, …

Gunmen in Baghdad shot dead a well-known former government advisor and political analyst near his home on Monday in a rare high-profile killing in the Iraqi capital, government officials, police sources and medics said. The government officials described the killing of Hisham al-Hashemi, who had written about politics, Islamic State …

Iraqi security forces raided a headquarters belonging to a powerful Iran-backed militia in southern Baghdad late on Thursday and detained more than a dozen members of the group, government officials and paramilitary sources said. The raid was the most brazen action by Iraqi forces against a major Iran-backed militia group …

Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in various regions of northern Iraq on Sunday night in response to an increase in militant attacks on Turkish army bases, the Defence Ministry said. “The Claw-Eagle Operation has started. Our planes are bringing the caves down on the terrorists’ heads,” the Turkish Defence …

President Vladimir Putin discussed Russia’s cooperation with Iraq over an OPEC+ deal to reduce oil supply in a telephone conversation with Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the Kremlin said on Monday. The two men noted the importance of continuing their countries’ joint efforts in the oil markets, the Kremlin said. …

Iraq and Saudi Arabia agreed on Saturday to continue working to re-balance markets and stressed their commitment to output cuts agreed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other allies, Saudi state news agency SPA said. The comments came after Iraq’s Finance Minister Ali Allawi, who is …

US prosecutors are seeking to confiscate a rare ancient tablet from a Christian museum co-founded by the president of retailer Hobby Lobby. The 3,500-year-old artefact, from what is now Iraq, bears text from the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s oldest works of literature. Prosecutors allege that an auction …

By Oula Kadhum | Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Birmingham, teaching fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where she specializes in diaspora and Middle Eastern politics The Iraq protests are not a flash in the pan. Rather, they represent a historical turning point for …

The United Kingdom said on Friday that an Iranian satellite launch earlier this week was of significant concern and inconsistent with a United Nations Security Council resolution. “Reports that Iran has carried out a satellite launch – using ballistic missile technology – are of significant concern and inconsistent with UN …

Eleven vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came dangerously close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Gulf, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, calling the moves “dangerous and provocative.” While such interactions had occurred occasionally a few years ago, they had stopped, and this …

The United States on Friday offered up to $10 million for information on Sheikh Mohammad al-Kawtharani, a senior military commander of the Islamist group Hezbollah in Iraq who was an associate of the late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Announcing the reward, the U.S. State Department said Kawtharani had “taken over …

Rockets landed near a district that houses foreign workers in Iraq’s oil industry early on Monday, including U.S. oil service company Halliburton, but caused no damage or casualties, oil and police sources said. Police said three Katyusha rockets were launched around 3 a.m. local time and hit the Burjesia residential …

Two rockets late on Wednesday struck Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions, but there were no casualties, the Iraqi military said. “Two Katyusha rockets fell near Baghdad operation command. Details to follow,” the military statement said. The Green Zone has been repeatedly hit by …

The United States has been ‘enormously disappointed’ with the Iraqi government’s performance in fulfilling its obligation to protect U.S.-led coalition forces inside the country, a senior State Department official said on Friday. The Iraqi government has told the United States that Baghdad will investigate thoroughly and bring to justice those …

The Pentagon said on Wednesday it was still looking at how it may respond to any attack on American forces, days after three American troops were wounded in a rocket attack on an Iraqi base north of Baghdad. “We still are looking at how we may respond to any type …

Two rockets fell outside Baghdad’s Green Zone on Tuesday without causing any reported casualties, Iraq’s military said in a statement. The U.S.-led coalition’s spokesman, Colonel Myles B. Caggins III, said in a tweet that “Iraqis are investigating the explosions in Baghdad,” with more details coming from the Iraqi military later. …

Iraq’s president named little-known former regional governor Adnan al-Zurfi as prime minister-designate on Tuesday in another bid to overcome months of unrest and deadlock, but powerful Shi’ite blocs quickly lined up to reject his nomination. Zurfi now has 30 days to try and form a government which must then survive …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iraq’s prime minister that the United States would take measures in self-defense if attacked, according to a statement on Monday after a rocket attack on an Iraqi base that houses U.S. troops helping fight Islamic State. Pompeo spoke to Prime Minister Adel Abdul …

Multiple rockets fell on Saturday morning inside Iraq’s Taji military base that houses U.S.-led coalition troops, for the second time in a week, security sources told Reuters. An Iraqi colonel inside the base told Reuters he heard at least 10 rockets hit the base and said he could now hear …

Britain’s foreign minister Dominic Raab said the U.S.-led response to the attack on coalition forces in Iraq was “swift, decisive and proportionate” and warned that anyone seeking to harm those forces could expect a strong response. The United States on Thursday waged a series of precision air strikes against an …

A U.S air strike hit an Iraqi civilian airport under construction in the holy Shi’ite Muslim city of Kerbala and killed one worker, Iraqi religious authorities said on Friday. The United States said earlier it had mounted a series of precision air strikes on Thursday against an Iran-backed militia in …

U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized the U.S. military to respond to Wednesday’s rocket attack by Iran-backed militia in Iraq that killed two American troops and a British service member, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of …

Shia militia groups in Iraq were likely responsible for the attack on Wednesday that killed one British and two American troops at a base north of Baghdad, a top U.S. general said on Thursday, in remarks that leave the door open to potential escalation with Tehran. U.S. Marine General Kenneth …

Unidentified jets hit targets south east of the Syrian town of Albukamal along a strategic border crossing with Iraq with only material damage, state media said late on Wednesday. It gave no details. Western intelligence sources say the border town lies on a strategic supply route for Iranian-backed militias who …

One British and two American personnel were killed and about a dozen people were wounded when 18 small rockets hit Iraq’s Taji military camp north of Baghdad on Wednesday, U.S. officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The officials, who cautioned the death toll may rise given the severity …

Iraq reported its first coronavirus death on Wednesday, an elderly man in the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniya, the local health department said. Iraq has so far has recorded 31 cases of the new coronavirus, one Iranian student who has since been sent home and 30 Iraqis who had all visited …

Two Katyusha rockets fell early on Monday morning inside the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, which houses government buildings and foreign missions, but caused no casualties, security sources told Reuters. One missile landed near the U.S. Embassy, the sources said. Source: Reuters