• After more than a month of airstrikes by the U.S., the extremist group still controls nearly a third of Iraq, including the city of Mosul. (npr.org)
  • Islamic State fighters in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul parade through the streets shortly after capturing it in June. (npr.org)
  • And in the northern city of Mosul, which the Islamic State captured in June, residents say the bombings have lifted morale among those who oppose the extremist group. (npr.org)
  • They've blunted the bold advances the Islamic State was making in the north and forced the group to leave the area around the strategic Mosul Dam. (npr.org)
  • Back in Mosul, the Islamic State's ultra-strict rule is alienating more and more city residents, according to Abu Wissam. (npr.org)
  • In 2003 the Kurds, allied to the US, were able to capture Mosul and Kirkuk, the two biggest cities of northern Iraq. (counterpunch.org)
  • They helped train Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi troops in conventional warfare skills to retake Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. (cbc.ca)
  • Iraqi leaders say they doubt their forces will oust Islamic State fighters from Mosul - the terror group's last major urban stronghold in Iraq - before Easter, despite a spurt of progress in recent days that saw the troops reach the Tigris River for the first time in the battle for the city. (voanews.com)
  • That so far hasn't happened, and Iraqi forces' advances in the city marked a significant moment in the 12-week fight to recapture Mosul. (voanews.com)
  • One causal factor was clearly the concentration of all available ISF forces [Iraqi security forces] in east Mosul, achieved by closing down ancillary assaults north and southwest of the city," said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research institution. (voanews.com)
  • A member of Iraqi security forces stands in a military vehicle in Baladiyat district, east of Mosul during a fight with Islamic State, Jan. 9, 2017. (voanews.com)
  • Shi'ite politicians led by Iraq's former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose sectarian policies are blamed by some for the rise of the Islamic State group, are arguing that the militias, known as the Hashd al-Shaabi, or popular mobilization forces (PMF), should be used in the battle to oust the jihadists from Mosul. (voanews.com)
  • And with both insurgents and foreign terrorists set up in Mosul, Kirkuk, and their surrounding provinces of Ninewa and Tamim, the next powder keg of the Iraq War is due to ignite. (prospect.org)
  • Mosul would run along the southwestern quasi-border with Baghdad-controlled Iraq. (prospect.org)
  • Is there any clear indication as to when Iraqi forces might turn their attention to Mosul? (wamc.org)
  • So the sense here is that Mosul may be under ISIS control for some time to come because there's not a force that can take it. (wamc.org)
  • On June 12, 500,000 residents of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, benefactors of Washington's "freedom and democracy" liberation, fled the city as the American trained army collapsed and fled under al Qaeda attack. (americanfreepress.net)
  • On August 20, Iraq's security forces began the battle for Tal Afar, a satellite city of Mosul still under Islamic State control. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • But in the northern city of Mosul , violence still rages. (csmonitor.com)
  • In this climate we can't do without American forces," says Mosul Mayor Zuhair al-Aaraji . (csmonitor.com)
  • Mosul] is a miniature Iraq. (csmonitor.com)
  • Beirut) - Iraqi government forces gearing up to drive Islamic State fighters from Mosul should prioritize protection of civilians. (hrw.org)
  • Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, which the extremist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, took control of in June 2014. (hrw.org)
  • In mid-March 2016, the Iraqi army opened a ground offensive from the town of Makhmur, in Erbil governorate, toward Qayyara, 70 kilometers south of Mosul, but one month later, only a few nearby villages had been captured . (hrw.org)
  • Popular Mobilization Forces officials have said their forces would be at the forefront of the campaign against ISIS in Mosul, and the Peshmerga also vowed to participate. (hrw.org)
  • Speaking to Human Rights Watch in Baghdad in late March, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Commission overseeing the PMF, was clear that he expected his forces would participate in the battle for Mosul. (hrw.org)
  • The security situation in Mosul city is volatile. (who.int)
  • OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to compare care-seeking patterns in Mosul, Iraq, in 2018, 1 y after Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) control, with findings from neighborhoods that had been sampled in 2017. (bvsalud.org)
  • U.S. airstrikes have made the group wary and less visible, but the Islamic State still has control of Iraq's second-largest city. (npr.org)
  • RFE/RL) -- Iraq's presidential council has approved a security pact with the United States -- the Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA -- which calls for U.S. combat troops to withdraw from the country by the end of 2011. (rferl.org)
  • White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that U.S. President George W. Bush's administration is pleased with the approval of the security agreement and an accompanying strategic framework agreement, calling the two pacts 'landmark agreements that will guide our relationships with Iraq, help solidify Iraq's democratic gains that they've made over the past few years, affirm Iraq's sovereignty, and put its relations with the United States on a strong footing. (rferl.org)
  • The advances were made by Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces and encountered little resistance according to Iraqi military commanders, who say militants are trying to flee the city to the west. (foreignpolicy.com)
  • Turkey regards northern Iraq as part of its sphere of influence - not only because of its close ethnic and linguistic ties with Iraq's Turkmen but because of the presence of large Kurdish populations on both sides of the border. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • As of mid-November 2008, Iraq's parliament was preparing to vote on a security agreement with the US to govern the presence of foreign troops when the UN Security Council mandate for the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF) expired at the end of 2008. (hrw.org)
  • Iraq's military launched offensives against insurgent and militia forces in various parts of the country. (hrw.org)
  • The strategic city is located about 35 miles from Baghdad, and as we reported, ISIS has used the city as a jumping off point for recent attacks in Iraq's capital. (kcur.org)
  • Known as the Article 140 referendum after the provision in Iraq's constitution decreeing it, the referendum would ask residents of mixed-ethnic northern Iraq if they'd rather be ruled by the Kurdish Regional Government rather than by Baghdad. (prospect.org)
  • But the Tal Afar battle will also be fought by predominantly Shia PMU forces that have only existed since June 2014, when they were raised by a religious fatwa from Iraq's senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Units loyal to Sistani offer a better model for Iraq's volunteer forces than do the Iran-backed PMUs, and the international community -- including the United States -- should support and promote this model. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • The al-Abbas Combat Division has proven one of Iraq's most effective volunteer forces. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • In recent years, based on laws not enacted by Parliament and precedent from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's actions in 2012, Iraq's security forces and police started to raid cultural and social clubs, including Al-Mashriq, a Christian-owned club located in Baghdad city center. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Two weeks after declaring victory over ISIS in Ramadi, Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces have pushed militants out to its eastern suburbs, but bombs littering the streets are holding up efforts to rebuild the city, officials said. (alarabiya.net)
  • Ramadi, the largest city retaken by government forces, was touted as the first major success for Iraq's army since it collapsed in the face of ISIS' lightning advance across the country's north and west 18 months ago. (alarabiya.net)
  • With a political stand-off in Baghdad over the nomination of new government ministers, Human Rights Watch called on Iraq's international supporters to use their leverage with political and military leaders in Iraq to ensure civilian protection and compliance with the laws of war. (hrw.org)
  • BAGHDAD - Two Coalition forces soldiers and two civilians serving with Coalition forces were killed after an explosion inside the District Advisory Council building in a southern neighborhood of Sadr City district at approximately 9:30 a.m. today. (globalsecurity.org)
  • Coalition forces and our Iraqi Security Force partners are committed to lasting security and stability throughout Baghdad," said Col. Allen Batschelet, chief of staff for MND-B and the 4th Infantry Division. (globalsecurity.org)
  • The 16,000 Marines who have been in Anbar province west of Baghdad since 2003 will leave Iraq by next spring. (counterpunch.org)
  • Last week saw serious incidents in Baghdad, as well as northern and southern Iraq, that underscore the fragility of the improved security. (counterpunch.org)
  • Al-Qa'ida had demonstrated its long reach against a Shia target earlier in the week when a car bomb blew up in the town of Batha outside the city of Nassariya, 225 miles south east of Baghdad, killing at least 30 people and wounding 65. (counterpunch.org)
  • The Iraqi presidential council's secretary, Nasir al-Ani, said in Baghdad that the council did not change any of the language in the draft of the Status Of Forces Agreement approved by parliament. (rferl.org)
  • Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had been hostile to the Baathist regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, blaming the latter for bombings in Baghdad in the second half of the last decade. (truthdig.com)
  • In Baghdad, returnees were seldom able to reclaim their former homes, though a campaign launched by security forces to evict squatters from homes they occupy was aimed at paving the way for returns. (hrw.org)
  • Iraqi Parliament Approves U.S. Security Pact - BAGHDAD - The Iraqi Parliament ratified a long-delayed security agreement on Thursday that lays out a three-year timetable for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. (memeorandum.com)
  • Iraq lawmakers OK pact allowing U.S. forces to stay through 2011 - Reporting from Baghdad - Iraqi lawmakers today approved a pact allowing U.S. forces to stay in the country through 2011 after winning support from skeptics by promising a public referendum on the plan. (memeorandum.com)
  • The jihadists have not only mounted stubborn resistance, but expanded attacks elsewhere in the country - from a wave of suicide bombings in the suburbs of Baghdad and southern Iraq to launching disconcerting raids in Anbar and Salahuddin, provinces that fell to government forces weeks ago. (voanews.com)
  • They updated me on what recently took place in Baghdad, in which Iraqi and coalition forces tracked down and killed Abu Azzam, the second most wanted al Qaeda leader in Iraq. (archives.gov)
  • That calm is now gone, as al-Qaeda in Iraq and rejectionist Sunni insurgents have opted to abandon surge-bloated Baghdad and Anbar, where Concerned Local Citizen militias have a strong presence, for a place where a single U.S. combat battalion protects a city of 1.7 million people. (prospect.org)
  • Demonstrators attacked the city council building and set it on fire in Kubaisa, a small town in Anbar province west of Baghdad, police said. (cnn.com)
  • Most of the injuries in the city, located about 550 kilometers (342 miles) south of Baghdad, occurred during fighting with stones and batons, he said. (cnn.com)
  • Iraq 's military admitted on Monday that "excessive force" was used in Baghdad after a mass protest led to clashes that medics and security officials said left 15 people dead, raising the toll from nearly a week of violence to more than 110 people. (aljazeera.com)
  • Hundreds gathered overnight on Sunday in Sadr City, a densely-populated district in eastern Baghdad where state security forces are rarely seen. (aljazeera.com)
  • Tim Whewell and film-maker Maziar Bahari report on what it's like living in Sadr City, Baghdad. (bbc.co.uk)
  • The Islamic State seeks to control the city and others north of Baghdad in order to encircle the capital and lay siege to the Shiite-led government. (longwarjournal.org)
  • For more details on the jihadist group's strategy in Iraq, see LWJ report, ISIS, allies reviving 'Baghdad belts' battle plan . (longwarjournal.org)
  • The US air force continued to hunt down pro-Iran militia chiefs early Saturday, Jan 4, after killing their master, thus revealing America's follow-up tactics for ridding Baghdad of Tehran's grip. (debka.com)
  • At the start of the conflict I listened to him from Iraq-these days communications are so much easier than through the old cable offices-as he made his way with a tank unit from the Kuwait border to Baghdad among American soldiers who had been told that they would be welcomed as liberators. (theyworkforyou.com)
  • From the desperate city of Baghdad, they follow the Tigris River south, through the searing heat of the Iraqi desert and into Kuwait. (bookcrossing.com)
  • Nujaifi says he's helped set up small, secret cells inside the city to attack ISIS. (npr.org)
  • We know that this force cannot defeat ISIS," he says. (npr.org)
  • At the urging of the U.S., the Western military alliance will conduct a 'train the trainer' mission to better develop the skills of the Iraqi army to stabilize the country and prevent the re-emergence of groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). (cbc.ca)
  • It had committed to keeping Canadian troops in Iraq until 2019, but since the battlefield defeat of ISIS, there have been questions about what they will do. (cbc.ca)
  • Since the defeat of ISIS, there has been a call on the U.S.-led coalition to retrain local forces in counter-insurgency and counterterrorism skills. (cbc.ca)
  • And after years under ISIS rule, Fallujah's mayor Esa al-Esawi tells Reuters that "the city doesn't require just rebuilding its infrastructure but also serious rehabilitation of its society. (kcur.org)
  • The fight against ISIS in Iraq has put the U.S. and Iran on the same side. (wamc.org)
  • And Iraqi officials say the advance is now on hold because ISIS has rigged the central part of the city with explosives. (wamc.org)
  • I sat with an Iraqi general who is taking a break here in Erbil as they set this plan to push the ISIS fighters out of the center of the city. (wamc.org)
  • At the same time, Iraqis who are there in the fight say that some of these ISIS fighters are already leaving the city. (wamc.org)
  • And it's very possible they would move back towards ISIS if they were faced with an Iranian backed Shia militia force coming into their city. (wamc.org)
  • There is not a trained police force or any kind of authority that could come into the city of a million people if ISIS is pushed out. (wamc.org)
  • Members of the Iraqi security forces hold an Iraqi flag with an ISIS flag which they had pulled down at a government complex in the city of Ramadi, December 28, 2015. (alarabiya.net)
  • However, during those very statements, ISIS was preparing to overrun the Iraqi city of Ramadi. (mondialisation.ca)
  • Only months after Obama made his statements about ISIS being "JV," he was forced to acknowledge that the terrorist group was overrunning parts of Iraq. (mondialisation.ca)
  • ISIS and pro-government forces both have records of harming civilians during and after military operations. (hrw.org)
  • Human Rights Watch also called on ISIS forces to respect the laws of war, and in particular to allow civilians to leave areas under their control, not to use civilians to shield its military objectives from attack , and not to use child soldiers . (hrw.org)
  • The US-led coalition has conducted aerial attacks on ISIS and advises local forces on ground attacks. (hrw.org)
  • The most likely motive is that al-Qa'da in Iraq, though it has lost much of its strength in the Sunni community from which it springs over the last two years, wants to show that it can eliminate any Sunni leader who cooperates with the government. (counterpunch.org)
  • This winter, the al-Qaeda affiliates took control of the cities of Ramadi and Falluja in al-Anbar Province, a spill-over onto Iraq of the Syrian civil war, where radical Sunni fighters, some of them from Iraq, had taken territory in northern Syria. (truthdig.com)
  • Coalition forces lost control of Falluja in April and agreed to turn it over to a local force to end an earlier uprising by Sunni militants. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • The government was to incorporate into state forces up to 100,000 mainly Sunni paramilitaries paid by US forces to provide local security, but government officials disputed their numbers and threatened to arrest some leaders, casting doubt over the plans. (hrw.org)
  • The political center of the Sunni community in the city is the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), which doesn't actually hold any elected offices. (prospect.org)
  • Then there's a smaller force of Sunni tribal Arabs who have come with them. (wamc.org)
  • It's a city of a million people, Sunni Arabs by far. (wamc.org)
  • In Bayji in the last quarter of 2015 and early 2016, al-Abbas forces built strong relationships with area Sunni tribes, thereby suppressing the Islamic State's ability to operate. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Attacks have dropped dramatically across Iraq , falling by 80 percent since March, when US and Iraqi forces were locked in deadly fights with Sunni insurgents and Shiite militiamen. (csmonitor.com)
  • It was recaptured by Iraqi forces on 1 May 2016. (wikipedia.org)
  • FILE - Iraqi forces backed by tribal militias during battle to retake a village from the Islamic State on the eastern bank of the river Tigris, Iraq, Dec. 7, 2016. (voanews.com)
  • Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have threatened to attack U.S. facilities there because of American support for Israel. (fox4kc.com)
  • He is a co-founder of the Militia Spotlight platform, which offers in-depth analysis of developments related to the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Indeed, the PMUs holding parts of the Tal Afar perimeter include Iran-backed militias such as Kataib Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group that killed hundreds of Iraqis, Americans, and other coalition forces prior to 2011. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • An Islamic State sniper gunned down a general in Iran's Qods Force who was advising Iraqi troops and Shiite militias in the battleground city of Samarra in central Iraq. (longwarjournal.org)
  • Iran's Qods Force, the expeditionary special operations arm of the IRGC, is tasked with supporting the Iraqi military and Shiite militias, including the Badr Brigade, Hezbollah Brigades, Asaib al Haq (League of the Righteous), and Muqtada al Sadr's Promised Day Brigade (or Peace Brigade). (longwarjournal.org)
  • The Shiite militias have been instrumental in reinforcing beleaguered and demoralized Iraqi forces, and have helped retake some areas in Iraq, including Jurf al Sakhar and Amerli. (longwarjournal.org)
  • The Qods Force commander has also been spotted on other key fronts as Shiite militias continue to battle the Islamic State. (longwarjournal.org)
  • Killed alongside Qassem Soleimani, the mastermind of Iran's network of proxies, was also Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, head of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) the umbrella grouping of Iran's Shiite militias in Iraq. (debka.com)
  • In any event, the US strike happened and it attested to the new orders issued to the US command in Iraq: go on the offensive against the pro-Iranian Iraqi militias and target them with planes, helicopters or drones whenever their leaders try moving about on the roads and highways. (debka.com)
  • The new push, which comes in the fourth week of the Iraqi offensive to capture Fallujah, also wrested control of several neighborhoods in the south and east of the city from militants. (foreignpolicy.com)
  • The Taliban's advantage in their latest offensive against the Afghan military seems to be growing, with the strategically important city of Ghazni in their sights, and clashes reported along the outskirts as Taliban forces approach from multiple directions. (antiwar.com)
  • Turkey says it will end cooperation with the US in Iraq if the Americans continue with their offensive in the northern Iraqi town of Talafar. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • Around 3,700 people (624 families) have fled Falluja over the past week, since the new offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the city began, according to figures provided by authorities. (unhcr.org)
  • During the operations in the key town of Tal Afar, Iraqi security forces outnumbered coalition forces for the first time in a major offensive operation. (archives.gov)
  • WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. on Friday imposed sanctions on six people affiliated with the Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Kataeb Hezbollah, which is accused of being behind a spate of recent attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria following the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel. (fox4kc.com)
  • Two U.S. defense officials confirmed three additional attacks on U.S. military facilities in Iraq and Syria on Friday, bringing the total number of attacks on U.S. and coalition military facilities in Iraq and Syria to at least 60. (fox4kc.com)
  • Abu Wissam and others we spoke to see the U.S.-led airstrikes that began this week in Syria as part of the same war against the extremists that took his city in June. (npr.org)
  • They destroyed 8 fuel tankers transporting gasoline to forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an al-Qaeda affiliate that has begun holding territory both in northern Syria and in al-Anbar Province in Iraq. (truthdig.com)
  • Gen. Saad Maan, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said, "Army helicopters yesterday morning struck eight fuel trucks in Wadi al-Sawab at Al-Bu Kamal inside Syria, which were attempting to enter into Iraq. (truthdig.com)
  • He added that "eight persons were killed in this operation, i.e. the persons who were trying to transport the fuel" to the organization "the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" in al-Anbar Province. (truthdig.com)
  • Al-Bu Kamal is controlled by rebel forces in Syria. (truthdig.com)
  • Since the al-Qaeda affiliates in Iraq are trying to benefit from their control of oil fields and other resources in Syria for their struggle against al-Maliki, it is natural that the latter would eventually hit them in Syria itself. (truthdig.com)
  • Not since WW II, when Iraq helped the British fight the Vichy French in Syria, has there been this degree of Iraqi military intervention in Syria. (truthdig.com)
  • US warplanes have been pounding Talafar - which is thought to be a haven for fighters entering Iraq from Syria. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • US and Iraqi troops last week began a major operation against Talafar - a suspected haven for foreign fighters entering Iraq from Syria. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • For the situation of the largest Iraqi refugee population, and of Palestinians fleeing Iraq and stuck at the Syrian border, see Syria chapter. (hrw.org)
  • We saw such success in the country's northwest region, where Iraqi and coalition forces recently targeted an area that was one of the main routes that foreign terrorists use to enter Iraq from Syria. (archives.gov)
  • Iraq risks descending into 'Syria-like chaos' if its political class fails to 65 WHO ST FF IN COUNTRY unite and agree on a government said United Nations envoy to Bagh- dad Nickolay Mladenov on 3 July. (who.int)
  • Kurds have faced marginalization and persecution both in Syria and throughout the Middle East, where they are the fourth largest ethnic group, with sizable populations in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey 8 . (cdc.gov)
  • This was the fourth meeting of this district council, lead by hard working Iraqis determined to make a difference and set Sadr City off on the right path. (globalsecurity.org)
  • They killed four people today in one cowardly act to halt progress, but it will only harden the determination of this council, the citizens of Sadr City, the Iraqi Army, and Coalition Forces. (globalsecurity.org)
  • April operations centered in Baghdad's Sadr City killed at least 595 people, nearly half of them civilians, according to UN figures. (hrw.org)
  • The military said early on Monday that it was withdrawing from Sadr City and handing security over to police in an apparent effort to de-escalate tension. (aljazeera.com)
  • In 2017, Iraqi forces retook disputed territories including the oil city of Kirkuk. (arabnews.com)
  • a good example is the "Holiness of the Ka'aba" law, enacted in February 2017, which prevents non-veiled women from entering the city. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Trump has demanded NATO do more to counter militants in Iraq, but European members of the alliance have been reluctant to undertake a larger role following the decade-long, open-ended commitment in Afghanistan, which included both a combat and training mission for local forces. (cbc.ca)
  • With the capture of Sinjar, home to the oldest and biggest Yazidi community, the Islamic militants are forcing the Yazidi to convert, face execution or flee the area. (ibtimes.com)
  • Iraqi security forces say they have taken control of the city of Fallujah from Islamic State militants after nearly five weeks of intense fighting. (kcur.org)
  • Al-Saadi said at least 1,800 Islamic State militants were killed during the recent fighting and others fled the city, according to Reuters. (kcur.org)
  • The Iraqi city of Ramadi has been 'liberated' from so-called Islamic State, the Iraqi military has declared. (mapreport.com)
  • The top leaders are mostly gone and those left behind to defend the city are not their best fighters, which explains their performance," one Iraqi official told the Guardian . (foreignpolicy.com)
  • Canadian special forces soldiers, left and right, speak with Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq last year. (cbc.ca)
  • Mosul's location near the Syrian border, where foreign fighters cross into Iraq, adds to its strategic importance. (csmonitor.com)
  • Canada has had a small contingent of combat engineers in Iraq - already serving under the NATO flag and separate from Operation Impact - instructing Iraqi forces on how to clear unexploded bombs and booby traps. (cbc.ca)
  • In the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, the pro-American authorities say they need more air power while they train to fight the Islamic State in nearby areas. (npr.org)
  • Before Al-Sudani formed his government, he struck a deal with the powerful Kurdish Democratic Party, which dominates the administration in Irbil, capital of the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq. (arabnews.com)
  • It's a position borne of the justifiable Kurdish grievance over Saddam Hussein's ethnic cleansing of northern Iraq, and of their current U.S.-guaranteed political dominance in the area. (prospect.org)
  • A map printed by the Kurdish Ministry of Tourism earlier this year and given to me by anti-Kurdish political forces shows what the Kurds envision as their post-referendum frontiers. (prospect.org)
  • By integrating with the national battle plan and with supporting coalition forces, the al-Abbas Combat Division has provided Iraq with military capability at moments when the Iran-backed PMU factions were absent or unusable because they could not work productively with the coalition or Kurdish forces. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Germany leads a training center for Kurdish forces and provides them with weapons . (hrw.org)
  • Several are reported to have been killed in the recent air strikes, and many more have reportedly been forced to flee. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • But reports suggest that some Turkmen are among the victims, and that many thousands have been forced to flee. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • Sign up to our newsletter to learn more about people forced to flee and how you can support them. (unhcr.org)
  • Bashir (Arabic: قرية بشير, romanized: Bašīr, Turkish: Beşir) is a village in Iraq, located south of Kirkuk. (wikipedia.org)
  • In Kirkuk city health facilities report that they have centers and 2 health visitor cells. (who.int)
  • The IIP in the city, U.S. officials told me, has significant ties to local insurgents. (prospect.org)
  • So I think that's why that you do hear Iraqi officials saying it's maybe a week, maybe 10 days before government forces will take back Tikrit which is a victory both symbolic and military. (wamc.org)
  • The task force confirmed that both classified and public information was being manipulated by high-level officials. (mondialisation.ca)
  • Officials hope provincial elections in January will help stabilize the city, where the insurgency has been fueled by unemployment and the lasting effects of dismantling the army and de-Baathification. (csmonitor.com)
  • A spate of drone attacks hit U.S. bases in Iraq as recently as Friday, as regional tensions have flared up following the bloody war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (fox4kc.com)
  • The Ukrainian military says it has largely repelled a massive wave of Russian drone attacks on southern Ukraine as its troops remained locked in fierce combat with Russian forces on the front line in the east and south. (rferl.org)
  • The attacks are clearly aimed at distracting Iraqi security forces. (voanews.com)
  • The United States , Iran , Germany , and other states providing military support to Iraq should condition their support on scrupulous respect for the laws of war, which prohibit attacks that disproportionately harm civilians or fail to distinguish civilians and civilian objects from military objectives. (hrw.org)
  • many Iraqis attributed the reduced level of violence in Iraq to the halt in the militia's armed activities in 2007 following bloody clashes with rival Shiite forces. (hrw.org)
  • Another strong indication that Tehran was poised to strike back for the death of the IRGC Al Qods chief Qssem Soleimani came from the hurried withdrawal during the day of most of the Iraq Shiite militia chiefs and their senior staff. (debka.com)
  • The approval of this law reveals what the ruling Shiite elite wants the state to look like in Iraq. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Iraqi army spokesmen say IS harassed Iraqi troops as the forces punched their way to the Tigris, with drones dropping grenades on them. (voanews.com)
  • Our commanders report that the Iraqi forces are operating with increasing effectiveness. (archives.gov)
  • One reason is that the division has consistently taken orders from the Iraqi national command authorities -- Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the Joint Operations Command -- whereas many PMU forces instead answer to Iran-backed militia commanders such as Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Ameri and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, tagged by the United States as a Special Globally Designated Terrorist. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • US soldiers on the ground, as well as their commanders, say Iraqi forces, which have more than doubled in number over the past year, have made huge strides since they arrived. (csmonitor.com)
  • Yazidi families are fleeing the bloodshed and violence in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar. (ibtimes.com)
  • An estimated 40,000 Yazidi fled the city before it was captured by Islamic State forces. (ibtimes.com)
  • The U.S. continues to support the Iraqi forces from the air. (wamc.org)
  • Our government is still too weak to fully support the Iraqi forces. (csmonitor.com)
  • Most areas are now under their control," Anbar governor Sohaib al-Rawi said on Saturday at a temporary government complex southeast of the city. (alarabiya.net)
  • The counter-terrorism forces which spearheaded the military campaign to retake the capital of western Anbar province are securing only main streets and buildings considered tactically important, security sources said. (alarabiya.net)
  • Some 133,000 US troops remain in the country, the last combat troops will depart only in August 2010 and the remaining US forces at the end of 2011. (counterpunch.org)
  • The knowledge that the US forces in Iraq will go is already transforming the Iraqi political landscape, long before the exit of the last American troops. (counterpunch.org)
  • It calls for U.S. combat troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011, and for U.S. troops to pull out of populated areas in Iraq by the end of June 2009. (rferl.org)
  • Perino says that regardless of the outcome of that referendum, the United States is prepared to pull troops out of Iraq -- as long as progress on security and democracy can be consolidated there. (rferl.org)
  • Airlifting wounded or sick troops is nothing new for the Air Force, which has transported more than 150,000 patients to higher echelons of medical care during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, helping to push the odds of surviving a combat injury to about 98 percent. (stripes.com)
  • Air force aeromedical evacuation crews routinely move critically ill troops after they've been stabilized or received damage-control surgery. (stripes.com)
  • The Turkish airbase of Incirlik has been used by the US to rotate its troops in and out of Iraq. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • The NATO training mission in Iraq will be commanded by a Canadian major-general, and Canadian troops will provide the bulk of the headquarters staff. (cbc.ca)
  • See, it used to be after we cleared the terrorists out of a city, there wasn't enough qualified Iraqi troops to maintain control -- so when we left to conduct other missions, the terrorists would move back in. (archives.gov)
  • Coalition and Iraqi troops are on the hunt for terrorists in western Iraq. (archives.gov)
  • Last Saturday Gen. Ray Odierno , commander of American forces in Iraq, said that despite the joint US-Iraqi security pact that calls for US troops to leave Iraqi cities, some battalions could remain in urban centers. (csmonitor.com)
  • This was repeated in 1422 during the Hussite wars in Bohemia at the seige of Karlstejn (now in the Czech Republic) when invading forces hurled plague-striken corpses, dead cows, and 2000 cartloads of excrement at enemy troops. (medscape.com)
  • One Coalition forces soldier and three DAC members were also wounded in the attack. (globalsecurity.org)
  • The individual was caught by Coalition forces fleeing the scene and tested positive for explosive residue. (globalsecurity.org)
  • One large faction of Shia volunteers demonstrates how the PMUs can function under Iraqi -- not Iranian -- control, offering a model that coalition forces should support. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Iran poised to strike US forces, pulls militia chiefs out of Iraq. (debka.com)
  • Today conditions in many parts of the country appear ripe for US forces to begin pulling back and for Iraqis to take the lead. (csmonitor.com)
  • The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), passed by the Iraqi parliament in November after months of heated debate, does allow for some US forces to remain active in Iraqi cities, as long as Iraqis ask them to stay. (csmonitor.com)
  • At a medical conference in London this fall, Neubauer spoke about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in the volatile Libyan city, where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed. (stripes.com)
  • US forces may stay in the volatile northern city beyond the June deadline for Americans to pull back to bases. (csmonitor.com)
  • UNHCR has received reports of casualties among civilians in the Falluja city centre due to heavy shelling, including seven members of one family on 28 May. (unhcr.org)
  • The various NATO air forces that are involved aren't there to protect civilians, they are there to protect the Iraqi nation-state, the Kurds, and more broadly those friendly dictators in Riyadh and Amman. (longwarjournal.org)
  • On 22 September 2010, on the anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war, the families of martyrs Hamid Bakeri, Mehdi Bakeri, and Mohammad Ibrahim Hammett were attacked by plainclothes forces while trying to visit the home of Mir Hossein Mousavi. (iranhumanrights.org)
  • Michael Knights is the Jill and Jay Bernstein Fellow of The Washington Institute, specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, and the Persian Gulf states. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • In Tikrit in March 2015, al-Abbas forces stayed in the urban fight when Iran-backed PMUs withdrew after the government requested coalition airstrikes. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Iran began gearing up for a revenge strike on US targets in Iraq on Saturday night, Jan 4, DEBKAfile's exclusive military sources report. (debka.com)
  • It's essential for the Iraq government to exercise effective command and control over all its forces, and for allies like the US and Iran to make sure they do so. (hrw.org)
  • Many of these people (about 1,300) are staying in the al-Iraq camp in the Ameriyat al -Falluja district, where UNHCR is working. (unhcr.org)
  • The surgeon, emergency medicine physician, two nurse anesthetists and an operating room technician - Air Force personnel assigned to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center - would augment other aeromedical crews, on a mission to Africa to pick up injured Americans, fly them back to Germany and, if necessary, operate prior to takeoff or while en route. (stripes.com)
  • As neither Congress nor the U.S. media have any interest to know the reason for Washington's about face on Iraq, the "Iraq Threat" will remain a mystery for Americans. (americanfreepress.net)
  • In the 18th century AD, during the French and Indian War, British forces in North America gave blankets from smallpox patients to the Native Americans to transmit the disease to the immunologically naïve tribes. (medscape.com)
  • When that happens, the United States military calls upon members of the Special Forces. (overdrive.com)
  • In just over two weeks time on June 30, US military forces will withdraw from Iraqi cities. (counterpunch.org)
  • The Iraqi military says it now controls about half of the city. (foreignpolicy.com)
  • Iraqi Lawmakers Extend Agreement With U.S. Military for 3 Years - The Iraqi Parliament on Thursday approved a security pact that charts the way for the U.S. military to end its presence in Iraq eight years after the invasion by a U.S.-led coalition led to the fall of Saddam Hussein. (memeorandum.com)
  • Whatever explains the dramatic, sudden, total change of position of the U.S. government, the result produced military action that fell short of war on Iraq itself. (americanfreepress.net)
  • Excessive force outside the rules of engagement was used and we have begun to hold accountable those commanding officers who carried out these wrong acts," the military said in a statement. (aljazeera.com)
  • Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Qods Force, has been spotted in Samarra directing military operations. (longwarjournal.org)
  • To establish mainstream Iraqi government rule in the capital - initially under an American air force and military shield. (debka.com)
  • Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps provides military advisors to Iraq. (hrw.org)
  • The Syrian Baath Party is a branch of the same Baath Party that had ruled Iraq 1968-2003, which in Iraq came to be headed by Saddam Hussein. (truthdig.com)
  • US and Iraqi forces continue to battle the latest incarnation of Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which considers the city a key asset in its self-declared Islamic state. (csmonitor.com)
  • In northern Iraq Kurds and Arabs are engaged in a war of words that has a potential for violence that could surpass anything that al-Qa'ida is capable of. (counterpunch.org)
  • With just days left before the deadline for the Article 140 referendum on who will control northern Iraq, both Kurds and Sunnis are pledging violence over the outcome. (prospect.org)
  • But the consequences of Washington's destruction of the secular government of Saddam Hussein, a government that managed to hold Iraq together without the American-induced violence that has made the country a permanent war zone, has been ongoing years of violence on a level equal to, or in excess of, the violence associated with the U.S. occupation of Iraq. (americanfreepress.net)
  • It's a difficult mix in a city that has large numbers of almost every Iraqi minority - a mix that potentially makes it a tinderbox for sectarian violence. (csmonitor.com)
  • This past week, pro-government forces retook much of the city of Tikrit. (wamc.org)
  • You can't use that same array of forces as was used in Tikrit. (wamc.org)
  • The security forces are advancing to a large degree inside Ramadi. (alarabiya.net)
  • There is damages to service infrastructure forcing many inter- a slight increase in food item prices. (who.int)
  • Iraqi security forces guard the main gate of Baghdad's International Fair on Monday. (cbc.ca)
  • Gen. Abdal-Amir al-Lami, Iraqi deputy chief of staff for operations, announced Sunday that security forces seized the eastern end of one of the Tigris River bridges linking the two sides of the city. (voanews.com)
  • The growing size and increasing capability of the Iraqi security forces are helping our coalition address a challenge we have faced since the beginning of the war. (archives.gov)
  • They will hear about the strategy and the progress in increasing the size and capability of the Iraqi security forces. (archives.gov)
  • The commander of the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdel Wahab al-Saadi, appeared on state television and "hailed what he called the victory of the security forces and their allies, although he said clearing operations were still ongoing," as Alice reports. (kcur.org)
  • After security forces declared victory, Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi said 90 percent of the city is safe and habitable in a post on Twitter. (kcur.org)
  • Security forces battled some of the protesters and later opened fire to disperse the crowd, wounding at least eight, police said. (cnn.com)
  • Ali Ghaim al-Maliki, the head of Basra's security council, told reporters Saturday that at least 71 people were wounded in Friday's clashes -- including 51 security forces and 20 anti-government protesters. (cnn.com)
  • In several cities, police said security forces fired at crowds of protesters to disperse them. (cnn.com)
  • The Iraqi authorities need to rein in their security forces and account for every single killing,' said Tom Porteous, the organization's deputy program director. (cnn.com)
  • Security forces acknowledge, for first time, disproportionate measures were used after protests broke out on Tuesday. (aljazeera.com)
  • It was the first time since protests broke out on Tuesday that security forces acknowledged using disproportionate measures, while protesters accused them of directly firing live rounds. (aljazeera.com)
  • In his only address to protesters last week, Abdul Mahdi insisted security forces were acting "within international standards" in dealing with demonstrations. (aljazeera.com)
  • 7+ years experience working in post conflict development with host country security forces and international business partners. (about.me)
  • Encounters with the American security forces, Iraqi bandits and Islamic State, do not deter them from their quest. (bookcrossing.com)
  • The U.S. has conducted limited strikes in northern Iraq for some six weeks now, and the French have started too. (npr.org)
  • Turkey is urging the US to bring its operations in the north Iraq town of Talafar to a swift end, saying ethnic Turkmen have died in air strikes. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • For more, we're joined by NPR's Deborah Amos from Erbil in northern Iraq. (wamc.org)
  • MARTIN: NPR's Deborah Amos from Erbil, Iraq. (wamc.org)
  • In the years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein the Iraqi National Intelligence forces were controlled and paid for by the CIA. (counterpunch.org)
  • When Bush the First attacked Iraq it was a limited operation, the goal of which was to evict Saddam Hussein from his annexation of Kuwait. (americanfreepress.net)
  • But, as Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress and an astute judge of Iraqi politics, says: "Whatever you may hear from American generals in Iraq, Obama has made clear that US is really pulling out. (counterpunch.org)
  • Each title in SPECIAL FORCES STORIES includes color photos throughout, and back matter including an index and further reading lists for books and internet resources. (overdrive.com)
  • It has included up to 200 special forces soldiers, conducting training in the country's north. (cbc.ca)
  • Gen. Jonathan Vance, the country's chief of the defence staff, said the Canadian special forces mission will continue, separate from the NATO deployment. (cbc.ca)
  • Iraqi forces are benefiting also from the battlefield presence of coalition special forces. (voanews.com)
  • Inside, read how the dedicated and daring experts of this brave force pulled of one of the most successful raids of the 21st century. (overdrive.com)
  • This comes a week after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory in Fallujah, after the U.S.-backed forces took control of Fallujah's main government building . (kcur.org)
  • Nuri al-Maliki called an emergency cabinet meeting after anti-government protests across Iraq left 13 people dead. (cnn.com)
  • MARTIN: When we say pro-government forces, Deb, what are we talking about because there is an Iranian element here, right? (wamc.org)
  • The citizens of the United States still do not know why their government destroyed Iraq. (americanfreepress.net)
  • From 1990 until 2003 Iraq was acceptable to the U.S. government. (americanfreepress.net)
  • The U.N. Development Program is still waiting for the green light from the Iraqi government to enter the city and start work to rebuild it. (alarabiya.net)
  • A scathing government task force report released on Thursday, shows that intelligence generated by the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) was deliberately skewed. (mondialisation.ca)
  • She said helping rebuild the fledgling democracy in Iraq is 'a great thing for Canada to be doing. (cbc.ca)
  • At the moment, Canada has roughly 850 soldiers and air crew committed to the longstanding Operation Impact in Iraq. (cbc.ca)
  • The US ambassador to Turkey, Eric Edelman, has said the American forces are doing their best to keep civilian losses to a minimum as they fight the Iraqi insurgents. (unexplained-mysteries.com)
  • Culture Correspondent Stephen Smith travels with the multi-million pound painter back to his homeland, his studio in Paris and to the town of Pietrasanta in northern Italy. (bbc.co.uk)
  • Dr Mustafa was born in 1925 in the little town of Anah in Iraq. (who.int)
  • In total, more than 100 battalions are operating throughout Iraq. (archives.gov)
  • Foreign forces have to withdraw from the cities totally," he said in the course of an hour long speech in which he mentioned America only once. (counterpunch.org)