Latest Iraq government News
Iraq's president will summon the Turkish ambassador over airstrikes in Iraq's Kurdish region
BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi president announced Tuesday that he will summon Turkey’s ambassador and hand him a formal letter of protest over recent Turkish airstrikes on Iraqi territory. The official protest came a day after an airstrike on a military airport in Arbat, southeast of...
At the request of Baghdad, UN will end in 1 year its probe of Islamic State extremists in Iraq
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Security Council on Friday voted unanimously to end, a year from now, a U.N. probe into activities of Islamic State extremists in Iraq. The vote came at the request of the Iraqi government. The U.K.-sponsored resolution noted that Baghdad also asked that...
Iraq steps up repatriations from Islamic State camp in Syria, hoping to reduce militant threats
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq is stepping up repatriation of its citizens from a camp in northeastern Syria housing tens of thousands of people, mostly wives and children of Islamic State fighters but also supporters of the militant group. It’s a move that Baghdad hopes will reduce...
US should use its influence to help win the freedom of a scholar missing in Iraq, her sister says
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States should use its influence to help win the freedom of a Russian-Israeli academic at Princeton University who went missing in Iraq nearly six months ago and is believed to be held by an Iran-backed militia regarded by Washington as a terrorist group, her sister...
Clashes in Iraq's Kirkuk over handover of police HQ to Kurds leave 1 dead, several injured
BAGHDAD (AP) — Demonstrations in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk over the handover of a key facility from federal to local Kurdish authorities turned violent Saturday, and one protester was killed and several were injured, witnesses and local officials said. Clashes broke out...
Rainbows, drag shows, movies: Lebanon's leaders go after perceived symbols of the LGBTQ+ community
BEIRUT (AP) — Rainbows, school books, movies and drag shows have all been targeted in Lebanon in recent weeks as politicians, religious leaders and vigilante groups step up a campaign against the LGBTQ+ community in a country that has long shown relative tolerance. At a time when...
Tehran and Baghdad reach a deal to disarm and relocate Iranian dissident groups based in north Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement to disarm members of Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq and relocate their members from their current bases, officials from the two countries said Monday. Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign...
Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq kills 4 Kurdish insurgents as Ankara's top diplomat visits region
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — A Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq on Thursday killed three members of a Kurdish insurgent group, officials said, as Ankara's top diplomat visited the seat of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish regional government. Turkish military actions against members of the...
Top Turkish diplomat calls for Iraq to designate PKK a terrorist organization during Baghdad visit
BAGHDAD (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister on Tuesday denounced a separatist Kurdish group that operates in northern Iraqi territory as an enemy of both Turkey and Iraq, and urged the Iraqi government to ban the group as a terrorist organization as Ankara has done. Turkish Foreign...
A feud between a patriarch and a militia leader adds to the woes of Iraqi Christians
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi Christians have struggled since the Nineveh plains, their historic homeland of rolling hills dotted with wheat and barley fields, were wrested back from Islamic State extremists six years ago. Although the threat from IS has receded, some towns are still...
