Tag Archives: iraq

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to end the U.N. political mission in Iraq established in 2003 following the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein to coordinate post-conflict humanitarian and reconstruction efforts, and to help restore a representative government in the country. The Iraqi government asked the council in a May 8 letter to wrap up the mission by …

One of Europe’s most notorious human smugglers was arrested Monday in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, security officials said. The regional government’s security agency said it had arrested Barzan Majeed, known as “the Scorpion,” in the area of Sulaymaniyah, upon a request from Interpol and “after the exchange of intelligence information.” TURKEY CARRIES OUT NEW AIRSTRIKES IN NORTHERN …

The Iraqi government has requested that the United Nations end a mission set up to promote governance and human rights reforms in the country by the end of 2025, the latest in a series of international bodies operating in the nation that Iraq has sought to wind down. The letter sent Wednesday by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to U.N. …

Syria’s U.S.-backed Kurdish-led force has handed over to Baghdad two Islamic State group militants suspected of involvement in mass killings of Iraqi soldiers in 2014, a war monitor said Friday. The report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights came a day after the Iraqi National Intelligence Service said it had brought back to the country three IS members from …

The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday. The repatriation was the largest Washington has carried out from the camps to date, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Five of …

Turkey has carried out a new round of airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq, the Turkish defense ministry said Monday. Warplanes struck suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in the regions of Hakurk, Metina and Gara in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, according to the statement. The airstrikes reportedly killed 16 militants, including some commanders, the ministry …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Iraq on Monday for his first official visit in more than a decade as Ankara seeks greater cooperation from Baghdad in its fight against a Kurdish militant group that has a foothold in Iraq. Other issues also loom large between the two countries, including water supply and exports of oil and gas from …

The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of aircraft contractor logistics support and training to Iraq for an estimated cost of $140 million, the Pentagon said on Monday. The training and support apply to Iraq’s C-172 and AC/RC-208 aircraft fleet. The Pentagon confirmed the details in a statement. REPUBLICANS EXPRESS DEEP CONCERN OVER IRAQI PM VISIT TO WHITE …

A former detainee at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison described to jurors Monday the type of abuse that is reminiscent of the scandal that erupted there 20 years ago: beatings, being stripped naked and threatened with dogs, stress positions meant to induce exhaustion and pain. The testimony from Salah Al-Ejaili, a former Al-Jazeera journalist who spent more than a month …

Ahead of Iraqi Prime Minister Shia Al-Sudani’s visit to the White House, members of the Republican Party expressed their concerns over the hundreds of billions of dollars sent to the country, and its ties to groups on the list of U.S.-designated terrorist groups in a letter to President Biden. The letter, which was signed by RNC National Security Task Force …