On October 26, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said it was withdrawing its fighters from Turkey. The withdrawal is part of a peace process that has seen the group say it will disarm...
Iraq is slowly taking steps to wrench its energy sector free from Iran’s influence, but it will require both American support and strong encouragement to do so. Excelerate Energy, an American company,...
Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al Sudani “urged the United States to avoid unilateral decisions in Iraq, insisting that all actions impacting bilateral ties must go through formal diplomatic channels,”...
Iraq continues to suffer from lawlessness, where the politics of the gun – and not the ballot box – play too great a role In the early hours of October 15, an IED tore through a Chevy Tahoe...
On a recent trip to Israel, Mark Walker, President Trump’s nominee to be Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, did not mince words about the administration’s priorities. “We want...
Safaa al Mashhadani, a Sunni Iraqi parliamentary candidate who served on the Baghdad Provincial Council, was killed by a car bomb, The National reported on October 15. Mashhadani, a candidate...
New Terrorist Designations: The State Department designated four Iraq-based, “Iran-aligned” armed militias as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) on September 17. The groups...
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) eliminated Wissam Saeed Jubai on September 11 in Ain Baal, a village in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon. The IDF’s Persian-language account described Jubai...
Past Iraqi investigative committees have been largely toothless when it comes to targeting Iran-backed criminals, and history may now repeat itself. On September 6, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia...
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton researcher who holds Israeli and Russian citizenship, was freed in Iraq after being held for more than 900 days by an Iranian-backed militia. “I am pleased to...
Arab media reported on August 18 that a US military convoy departed Ain al Asad airbase, a military facility hosting US forces in western Iraq, on its way to Syria. An Iraqi security source speaking...
Lebanese President Rejects Iranian Intervention: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that his country rejects foreign interference in its internal affairs during talks in Beirut...
Following an investigation into a deadly clash at the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture, the spokesman for Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al Sudani issued a statement detailing ramifications for the...
Iran still seeks to project power in the Middle East — not only by arming proxies and smuggling oil but also by shaping regional parliaments and policies. Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s new Supreme...
Recent drone attacks in Kurdistan are once again bringing the issue of Iraq’s Iran-backed militias to the fore.
Iraq has revived legislation regarding the Popular Mobilization Authority (PMA), the government agency that oversees the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The PMF, while legally an Iraqi government...
Brigadier General Kevin Lambert took over as the new commander of the anti-Islamic State coalition of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) in a ceremony in Iraq on...
The Qatari New Arab reported on July 17 that Esmail Ghaani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards-Quds Force (IRGC-QF), met with Tehran’s Iraqi proxies in Baghdad earlier this...
Drone attacks targeting the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq increased in July, leading to condemnations by the US, UK, and various officials. “The United States condemns the recent drone attacks...