LONDON, June 30, 2024 (AFP) – Passengers and crew of a British Airways flight who were taken hostage in Kuwait in 1990 have launched legal action against the UK government and the airline, a law firm said Monday. People on BA flight 149 were taken off the Kuala Lumpur-bound plane when it landed in the Gulf state on August 2 that year, hours after Iraq’s then leader Saddam Hussein invaded the country. Some of the […]
Tag: Iraq
Iraqi female TikTok star shot dead: officials
BAGHDAD, April 27, 2024 (AFP) – A gunman on a motorbike shot dead a well-known Iraqi social media influencer known as Om Fahad outside her Baghad home on Friday, Iraqi security officials told AFP. An unidentified attacker shot Om Fahad in her car in the Zayouna district, a security official said, requesting anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the media. Another security source said the attacker appeared to have pretended to be […]
What we know about US strikes against Iran targets
WASHINGTON, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – The United States on Friday carried out strikes against Iranian forces in Iraq and Syria in retaliation over a drone attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan. Here is what we know so far: – Hitting Iran unit, but not Iran – The US military said the airstrikes hit more than 85 targets inside Iraq and Syria targeting both the elite Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and […]
Biden says he’s decided response to Jordan attack
By Andrew Caballero-Reynolds with Danny Kemp in Washington JUPITER, United States, Jan 30, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden said Tuesday he had decided on a response to a drone strike that killed three American troops in Jordan, while insisting he did not want a wider war in the Middle East. Facing growing pressure in a US election year, Biden said he held Iran responsible for supplying the weapons to the people who carried […]
US strikes kill eight pro-Iran fighters in Iraq, angering Baghdad
By Ammar Karim BAGHDAD, Nov 22, 2023 (AFP) – US fighter jets struck two targets in Iraq early on Wednesday, killing eight pro-Iran fighters in retaliation for repeated attacks on American troops, US and Iraqi sources said. The twin strikes, which followed similar bombardment of Iran-backed forces on Tuesday, drew condemnation from the Iraqi government, which said it had not been consulted about the military action on its soil. The US military “conducted discrete, precision […]
‘Dead or alive’: Iraq’s Yazidis anxiously await IS-abducted relatives
by Kamal Taha Agence France-Presse SHARYA, Iraq (AFP) — After paying nearly $100,000 in ransoms to free 10 family members, Khaled Taalou, a member of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, is still working to free other missing relatives kidnapped by Islamic State group fighters. Despite his efforts, five more relatives, along with thousands of other Yazidis, remain missing after being abducted by the jihadists. “We are still looking. We do not lose hope,” the 49-year-old said. In […]
20 years after US invasion, war-scarred Iraq faces uncertain future
by Ammar Karim Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq on Monday marks 20 years since the start of the US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, but no official celebrations are planned. The oil-rich country remains traumatized from the years of war, occupation and bloody sectarian turmoil that followed the operation launched on March 20, 2003. A semblance of normalcy has returned, but Iraq still battles a range of entrenched challenges, from political instability […]
Islamic State group announces death of leader
Beirut, Lebanon (AFP) The Islamic State jihadist group said Wednesday that its leader Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi has been killed in battle and announced a replacement to head up its remaining sleeper cells. A spokesman for IS said Hashimi, an Iraqi, was killed “in combat with enemies of God”, without elaborating on the date or circumstances of his death. The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said Hashimi had been killed in an operation carried out by […]
Russia calls on Turkey to show ‘restraint’ in Syria
ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AFP) — Russia on Tuesday said it hoped Turkey would exercise “restraint” and refrain from “any excessive use of force” in Syria, where Ankara has carried out air strikes and is threatening to launch a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters. “We hope to convince our Turkish colleagues to refrain from resorting to excessive use of force on Syrian territory” to “avoid the escalation of tensions”, Alexander Lavrentyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy […]
Iraq protesters disperse after Sadr demands end to deadly clashes
by Guillaume Decamme Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi supporters of powerful cleric Moqtada Sadr withdrew Tuesday from Baghdad’s Green Zone after he demanded an end to fighting between rival Shiite forces and the army that left 30 dead and hundreds wounded. The clashes that erupted on Monday pitted Sadr loyalists against Shiite factions backed by neighboring Iran — violence that prompted Iraq’s president to push for early elections and the prime minister to […]
Fighting in Iraqi capital leaves 23 dead after Sadr quits politics
by Guillaume Decamme Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Fighting between rival Iraqi forces raged for a second day Tuesday with rocket fire echoing from Baghdad’s Green Zone where 23 supporters of powerful Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr have been shot dead, medics said. Tensions have soared in Iraq amid a political crisis that has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president for months, and escalated sharply after Sadr’s supporters on Monday […]
Shelling targets Baghdad’s Green Zone amid deadly chaos after Sadr quits politics
by Guillaume Decamme Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Shelling targeted Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone Monday, a security source said, after Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said he was quitting politics, sparking chaos in which 15 of his supporters were killed. Tensions have soared in Iraq amid a political crisis that has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president for months, and escalated sharply after Sadr’s supporters stormed the government palace following […]





