Tag: Haider al-Abadi

Iraq PM appears in lead after first post-IS election

by Sarah Benhaida © Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi Prime Minister’s political grouping appeared in the lead Sunday following the country’s first election since defeating the Islamic State group, after a vote hit by record abstentions. Preliminary results given to AFP by several senior political figures showed Abadi’s Victory Alliance scooping some 60 of the 329 parliament seats up for grabs. The result from Saturday’s nationwide poll would make Abadi frontrunner in the horse-trading […]

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Iraq PM heads for May elections after defeating IS

by Ali Choukeir Agence France Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Sunday he would stand for re-election in May at the head of a new coalition, buoyed by victory over the Islamic State group. Abadi’s newly created “Victory Alliance” will face the “State of Law” bloc of Nuri al-Maliki, his predecessor, key rival and Shiite Dawa party co-member who now holds the post of vice president. The 65-year-old Abadi was […]

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Iraqi PM declares ‘end of war against IS’ in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday announced the end of a three-year war by Iraqi forces to drive the Islamic State jihadist group out of the country. “Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border and I therefore announce the end of the war against Daesh (IS),” Abadi told a conference in Baghdad. “Our enemy wanted to kill our civilisation, but we have won through our unity and our determination. We […]

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Operation to retake Mosul from IS has begun: Iraq PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Operations to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group have begun, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced early Monday on state television. “The time of victory has come and operations to liberate Mosul have started,” he said in an address broadcast by the Iraqiya channel. “Today I declare the start of these victorious operations to free you from the violence and terrorism of Daesh (IS),” he said, addressing […]

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Iraq’s new government sworn in

(Reuters) — Iraq’s new government was sworn in on Monday (September 8) night in Baghdad in a bid to rescue Iraq from collapse, with sectarianism and Arab-Kurdish tensions on the rise. The parliament approved the new government to be headed by Haider al-Abadi as prime minister. Abadi is a Shi’ite Islamist. He included members of Iraq’s Shi’ite majority and its Kurdish and Sunni minorities in his cabinet. The swearing in of the government marks the start of Abadi’s uphill task to unify the […]

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