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by Sarah Benhaida with Ahmad al-Rubaye in Taza Khurmatu Agence France Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Baghdad said Sunday that foreign Kurdish forces were present in the province of Kirkuk in what amounted to a “declaration of war”, dramatically raising the stakes in its dispute with Iraq’s Kurds. Kurdish officials denied Baghdad’s claim that forces from Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were among its peshmerga fighters in an armed standoff with Iraqi troops in […]
by Abdallah Ibrahim Agence France-Presse KIRKUK, Iraq – Iraqi forces Friday retook positions controlled by Kurdish peshmerga fighters since 2014 in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk amid a bitter row with the Kurds over a vote for independence last month. A senior Kurdish official said thousands of heavily armed fighters had been deployed to defend themselves “at any cost” against the Iraqi operation and called for international intervention. Ethnically divided but historically Kurdish-majority Kirkuk is one of […]
by Ahmad al-Rubaye with Sarah Benhaida in Baghdad Agence France-Presse HAWIJA, Iraq – Iraqi forces retook one of the Islamic State group’s last two enclaves in the country on Thursday, overrunning the longtime insurgent bastion of Hawija after a two-week offensive. IS once held one-third of Iraqi territory but it has suffered loss after loss this year and now only controls a slither of land in the Euphrates Valley near the Syrian border. “I announce the liberation of […]
by Wilson Fache with Shwan Mohammad in Sulaimaniyah Agence France Presse ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — The Iraqi government cut autonomous Kurdistan’s direct air links with the outside world indefinitely on Friday, partially isolating the northern region after it voted a massive “yes” in an independence referendum. The move increases the pressure on the Iraqi Kurds amid soaring regional tensions following Monday’s non-binding but deeply contentious vote. Washington said it did not recognise the “unilateral” referendum […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi forces on Friday launched an assault on the northern town of Hawija, one of the last bastions still held by the Islamic State group in the country, its commander said. “A huge military operation has begun to liberate Hawija and its surrounding areas,” Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah said in a statement. Iraqi forces began an operation to retake the jihadist enclave around Hawija on September 21, swiftly taking the […]
by Abdel Hamid Zebari Agence France-Presse ARBIL, Iraq – Iraq’s Kurds announced a massive “yes” vote for independence on Wednesday following a referendum that has incensed Baghdad and sparked international concern. Official results showed 92.73 percent of voters backing statehood in Monday’s non-binding referendum, which Iraq’s central government rejected as illegal. Turnout was put at 72.61 percent. Longtime Iraqi Kurd leader Massud Barzani said the vote would not lead to an immediate declaration of independence and should instead […]
NASIRIYA, Iraq (AFP) — Gunmen and suicide car bombers killed at least 74 people, including seven Iranians, near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya on Thursday, an official said, giving an updated toll. “There are now 74 deaths and 93 wounded,” Abdel Hussein al-Jabri, deputy health chief for the mainly Shiite province of Dhiqar, said of the attack claimed by the Islamic State group. That was up from the previous toll of 52 dead and […]
by Ali Choukeir Agence France Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr’s visit to Saudi Arabia at the end of July signalled the Gulf Sunni powerhouse’s ambition to distance its Iranian foe from policy-making in Baghdad. In the wake of former dictator Saddam Hussein’s August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Riyadh severed relations with Baghdad and closed its border posts with its northern neighbour. Ties have remained strained even after Saddam’s ouster […]
UNITED STATES (AFP) – Iraq has asked the United Nations to assist it with gathering evidence of crimes committed by the Islamic State group and said it was working with Britain to draft a Security Council resolution to establish an investigation. In a letter dated August 9 but given to the press Wednesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari, congratulating his country’s army on its “brilliant military victories” against the militant force that once controlled vast […]
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) — After a long and fierce battle that finally led to the liberation of Mosul, Iraqi forces have started clearing up the war-torn city which has been reduced into a wasteland of rubble after months of brutal fighting. The Old City, Mosul’s historical heart, has been among the hardest hit areas by the house-to-house fighting backed by airstrikes, artillery and heavy machine guns used to uproot the Islamic State (IS) militants, who […]
by Tony Gamal-Gabriel with W.G. Dunlop in Baghdad Agence France-Presse MOSUL, Iraq – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over “brutality and terrorism” in Mosul on Monday, announcing his forces had ended the Islamic State group’s rule over the country’s second city. Standing with members of the security forces, Abadi hailed the retaking of Mosul — where Islamic State dealt Iraqi troops a devastating defeat three years ago — as a key moment in […]
