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Iraq

August 17, 2024

Baghdad 4:26 am

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Passengers look at the flight board at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Aug. 6, 2024.

Travelers scramble as airlines cut flights amid fear of Iran-Israel war

Germany's Lufthansa extended a suspension of services to Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beirut, Amman and Erbil to Aug. 13.

This picture taken on April 25, 2023, shows a shrapnel-pocked walled in the village of Hiror near the Turkish border in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Turkey says PKK attack kills Turkish soldier in northern Iraq

The attack comes at a time when Turkey has intensified its offensive against the militant group in an effort to clear the PKK from the Iraq-Turkey border areas and establish up to a 40-kilometer-deep (24 miles) security zone in northern Iraq.

A woman walks holding a placard as activists demonstrate against female child marriages, in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad on July 28, 2024, amid parliamentary discussion over a proposed amendment to the Iraqi Personal Status Law. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraqis protest proposed 'anti-women' amendment to personal status law

Temporarily prevented from being read in parliament, an amendment to the country’s personal status law is seen as the “latest salvo” in a lengthy battle.

Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed (L), the wife of Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, comforts a Kurdish woman during a ceremony marking the Anfal mass killings, after corpses were transferred from Baghdad to the Kurdish town of Chamchamal for burial, on February 21, 2024.

Ankara brushes off Iraqi first lady’s accusations labeling Turkey as 'invader'

In an unusual effrontery, the first lady accused Turkey of displacing hundreds and destroying large swaths of agricultural areas.

Latest News

Yazidis or Kurds? The fight over identity in Armenia and Iraq

Women worshippers stand at the altar, they pray and tie knots in pieces of cloth that represent their wishes, during their visit to the new Yazidi Temple in the village of Aknalich, 35 kilometres from the Armenian capital Yerevan, on October 11, 2019.

US resumes talks with Iraq over future of troop presence

A US Army armored vehicle flies an American flag as it provides security escort for a convoy of vehicles pulling equipment that is heading to Kuwait from Camp Adder as the Army continues to send it's soldiers and equipment home and the base is prepared to be handed back to the Iraqi government later this month on December 2, 2011, at Camp Adder, near Nasiriyah, Iraq.

Analysis

Is Houthi expansion in Iraq a genuine threat or smoke screen?

Members of Yemen's security forces stand guard as as Shiite Muslims listen to a speech by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Huthi broadcast on a giant screen during a ceremony commemorating Ashura, July 16, 2024.

Francesco Schiavi

By Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Iraq’s first lady blasts Turkey’s assault against PKK in Kurdistan Region

Iraq's new first lady and Iraqi-Kurdish politician and writer Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed receives a bouquet of flowers during her husband's inauguration and handover ceremony as the new Iraqi president at al-Salam Palace in the capital Baghdad on Oct. 17, 2022.

US renews sanctions waiver for Iraq to purchase Iranian electricity

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

In London, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Suadad al-Salhy

In Baghdad, reporting on politics and security

Lyse Mauvais

In Amman, reporting on humanitarian crises

Winthrop Rodgers

In Sulaymaniyah, reporting on Kurdish issues

Iraqi autonomous Kurdish region's peshmerga forces and fighters from the Yazidi minority, a local Kurdish-speaking community targeted in a brutal campaign by the Islamic State (IS) group, enter the western Iraqi city of Sinjar, in the Nineveh Province, on Nov. 13, 2015.

Turkey’s Fidan says Iraqi Sinjar must be ‘clear’ of PKK presence

The top Turkish diplomat’s comment comes as Ankara is ramping up its threats for a large-scale operation in northern Iraq.

ISIS resurgence in Iraq sees fresh attacks, clashes after commander killed

The Islamic State is suspected of killing soldiers in eastern Iraq in the latest sign of the group’s persistence.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (L) welcomes Nechirvan Barzani, the regional president of Iraqi Kurdistan, during an official visit to Tehran on May 6, 2024. (Photo: KRG Presidency)

Analysis

In Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan President Barzani welcomed by Khamenei, IRGC

Nechirvan Barzani’s trip to Tehran follows tensions between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Islamic Republic over Kurdish armed groups and attacks by Iran-backed militias.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

This picture taken on April 25, 2023, shows a shrapnel-pocked walled in the village of Hiror near the Turkish border in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, where firefights occur between the Turkish army and fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey launches fresh airstrikes in Iraq as Erdogan renews threats for offensive

The strikes come as Ankara renews its threats of a fresh offensive in northern Iraq against the outlawed Kurdish militants and criticizes Iran and an Iraqi Kurdish political party for their lack of action to Turkey’s security concerns.

UAE's Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei (L) and Turkey's Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu (R) speak together during the signing of the "Development Road" framework agreement on security, economy, and development in Baghdad on April 22, 2024.

Can $20B Iraq Development Road project rival India-Middle East corridor?

A new trade route is in the works to connect the Gulf with Europe along the Development Road, starting in Iraq.

Heavy armor is displayed during a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Ramadi at Camp Pendleton, California, April 5, 2024. Veterans and gold star families of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines gathered for the ceremony marking the anniversary of the battle of Ramadi, during which 34 Marines and sailors were killed in action in Iraq in the spring of 2004. (Photo by David SWANSON / AFP) (Photo by DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty Images)

New attacks near US bases in Iraq, Syria threaten uneasy detente

The Pentagon seemed to downplay the first new attacks on US troops in Syria and Iraq since February, as Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah militia distanced itself from responsibility.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah denies resuming attacks on US bases

Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah denied on Monday it had resumed attacks on US bases after two apparent barrages threatened to break a fragile detente that had held since February.

(L to R) Turkey's Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu, UAE's Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Qatar's Minister of Transport Jassim bin Saif bin Ahmed al-Sulaiti, and Iraq's Transport Minister Razzaq Muhaibas al-Saadawi applaud during their meeting for the signing of the "Development Road" framework agreement on security, economy, and development in Baghdad on April 22, 2024. (Photo by Thaier Al-Sudani / POO

Breaking | Last Updated: June 3, 2024, 12:42 pm

Turkey, Iraq, UAE, Qatar ink $20B transportation deal during Erdogan visit

The Turkish president’s visit heralds a new chapter between the two neighbors after more than a decade of turbulent ties.

Sudani

Interview

Iraq PM seeks to stay out of regional conflict, calls for US pressure on Israel to end Gaza war

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani says he has taken “practical measures” to prevent Iran-aligned groups from attacking US forces in Iraq.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani

With Mohammed Shia al-Sudani

Iraq Prime Minister

Louis Raphael I Sako of Iraq poses as he attends the courtesy visit of relatives following a consistory for the creation of new cardinals in the Apostolic Palace at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on June 28, 2018.

Iraq’s Sudani hosts Chaldean Patriarch in Baghdad following dispute

Patriarch Louis Sako moved from Baghdad to Erbil last year after the state revoked a decree recognizing him as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, a move related to a dispute with the pro-Iran militia Babylon.

Iraqis stand outside parliament building, or Council of Representatives, in the Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 27, 2020.

Analysis

Iraq still without parliament speaker five months after Halbusi’s ouster

Previous parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi was removed from office in November, and parliament has yet to agree on a successor amid political controversies, including allegations related to former ruler Saddam Hussein.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

(L-R) Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi wave hands during the group photo session, a head of the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries, on the sideline of the 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen, southeastern China's Fujian Province on Sept. 5, 2017.

Al-Monitor/Premise poll finds Biden's unpopularity in Mideast makes room for China, Russia to outshine US

Washington’s influence remains potent despite its perceived disengagement from the Middle East, but Russia and China are eagerly finding gaps to fill.