SURUC Turkey (Reuters) – A first group of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters entered the besieged Syrian town of Kobani on Thursday to help push back Islamic State militants who have defied U.S. air strikes and threatened to massacre its Kurdish defenders. Koban... More »
SANLIURFA Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iraqi peshmerga fighters arrived in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday en route for the Syrian town of Kobani to try to help fellow Kurds break an Islamic State siege which has defied U.S.-led air strikes. Kobani, nestled on t... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State in Syria are training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets, a group monitoring the war said on Friday, saying it was the first time that the militant group had taken to the air... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian aircraft will join the U.S.-led coalition in air strikes against Islamic State insurgents in Iraq in an initial support role, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday, ahead of a final decision to undertake bombing missions. T... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers on Sunday stepped up calls for congressional authorization of President Barack Obama’s war against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, amid signs the United States and its allies face a long and difficult fight. U.S... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States military on Wednesday confirmed it had launched five more airstrikes targeting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq in the latest round of attacks on the militant group. One strike hit Syria northwest of the Iraqi city of Al... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The new U.N. human rights chief called on Monday for the world to protect women and minorities targeted by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria which he said were “increasingly conjoined conflicts”. Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, Jordan’s forme... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has ordered an increase of about 350 troops in Baghdad to protect the U.S. Embassy in the Iraqi capital and is sending top officials to the Middle East to “build a stronger regional partnership” against Islamic Sta... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama faced criticism over his foreign policy from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Sunday as he wrestled with crises in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Ukraine. Republican lawmakers seized on Obama’s comment on Thursd... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Iraqi counter-terrorism forces have pushed Islamic State militants out of Mosul dam, state television reported on Monday. The television station quoted Lieutenant-General Qasim Atta, a military spokesman, as s... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will not send ground forces to intervene in the crisis in Iraq, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday. Britain has so far carried out aid drops and surveillance and transported military supplies to Kurdish regional forces allie... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Nuri al-Maliki finally bowed to pressure within Iraq and beyond on Thursday and stepped down as prime minister, paving the way for a new coalition that world and regional powers hope can quash a Sunni Islamist insurgency that threatens Bagh... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Nuri al-Maliki stuck to his guns and refused to accept his removal as Iraq’s prime minister on Wednesday, but his hold on power was tenuous as Iran’s supreme leader, a long-time Maliki ally, publicly backed his replacement. Taking to state ... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday the appointment of Haider al-Abadi to replace him as Iraq’s prime minister violated the constitution and “had no value”. In a televised speech, Maliki said everyone should accept a pending federal court ruli... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron has cut short his holiday to return to Britain to chair a meeting to discuss the Iraq crisis after some politicians and military commentators urged him to intervene there militarily. Cameron returned as I... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A bloc comprising Iraq’s biggest Shi’ite parties is close to nominating a prime minister, the deputy speaker of parliament said on Monday, directly challenging Nuri al-Maliki who has refused to give up his bid for a third term. Haider al-Ab... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday the formation of an Iraqi government was critical for stability and urged Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki not to stoke political tensions further. U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Iraqi po... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A decision by Iraq’s highest court that could pave the way for Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to serve a third term is “very problematic”, said a senior Iraqi official. “This will make the situation very, very complex,” said the offi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States conducted a new round of air strikes against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq on Sunday and moved some U.S. diplomats out of its consulate in Arbil as Republicans slammed President Barack Obama’s intervention as... More »
OAK BLUFFS Mass. (Reuters) – President Barack Obama gave Americans an update on U.S. military strikes in Iraq on Saturday from a podium on the White House lawn with Marine One, the presidential helicopter, parked in the background. Four hours later, he offered... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Islamic State militants seized four small oilfields when they swept through north Iraq last month and are now selling crude oil and gasoline from them to finance their newly declared “caliphate”. Near the northern city of Mosul, the Isl... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is fighting for his political life as a Sunni insurgency fractures the country, said on Wednesday he hoped parliament could form a new government in its next session after the first collapsed in disc... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi party leaders planned delicate talks that could end Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s divisive rule after a top Shi’ite cleric called for a new premier to be chosen without delay to tackle Islamist rebels threatening to tear apart the ... More »
SHANNON Ireland (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi King Abdullah briefly discussed global oil supplies during a meeting on the crisis in Iraq on Friday, a senior State Department official said. During the talks, Kerry referred to recent c... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Stock markets in Europe and Asia looked past gains by Iraqi militants and poor first-quarter growth in the United States on Thursday, with some investors raising their forecasts for a U.S. economic bounce in coming months. A Sunni insurgency... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Baghdad on Monday to press Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to form a more inclusive government in response to a Sunni insurgency that has swept much of northern and western Iraq. Kerry’s visit came... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The newly elected No. 2 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Sunday he would not rule out sending American troops to Iraq to help Baghdad in its fight against a Sunni insurgency. Representative Kevin McCarthy, who was ... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Sunni rebels battled their way into the biggest oil refinery in Iraq on Wednesday, and the president of neighbouring Iran raised the prospect of intervening in a sectarian war that threatens to sweep across Middle East frontiers. Sunni figh... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Potential Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pointed out her differences with President Barack Obama on Tuesday over his decision not to arm moderate Syrian rebels, as neighboring Iraq struggles to cope with extremist spil... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Fighting in Iraq and Ukraine drove a global shift into traditional safe-haven currencies, precious metals and bonds on Monday, and kept oil near a nine-month high. The nervous mood also spread to share markets where the Nikkei .N225 in Tokyo... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares got off on the back foot on Monday, as crude extended gains and tested nine-month highs on fears the insurgency in Iraq could spread – disrupting oil exports. Sunni insurgents seized a mainly ethnic Turkmen city in northwestern I... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – With the possibility of escalating violence in Iraq, stocks in the defense sector could garner more attention next week. The stock market and oil prices were rattled late in the week after violence in the nation escalated as a Sunni insurg... More »
BAGHDAD/ARBIL Iraq (Reuters) – Iraqi Kurds seized control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Thursday, while surging Sunni Islamist rebels advanced towards Baghdad, as the central government’s army abandoned its posts in a rapid collapse that has lost it co... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – European shares held steady near 6-1/2-month highs on Thursday, with gains limited by concerns over the pace of global growth, while oil prices hit a three-month peak on escalating violence in Iraq. A cut in the World Bank’s global growth fo... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares slipped on Thursday after Wall Street shares stepped back from record levels while civil war in Iraq supported oil prices. Japan’s Nikkei share average .N225 led the retreat, falling 0.9 percent while MSCI’s broadest index of Asi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Rebekah Brooks, the ex-chief executive of News Corp.’s British newspaper arm, told a London court on Friday she had paid a public official for a story about former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein planning to attack Britain with the poison anthra... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration notified Congress on Monday of plans to sell 24 Apache attack helicopters to Iraq, part of an effort to bolster the military against al Qaeda-linked militants, after addressing lawmakers’ concerns that held up th... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Relations between Germany and the United States are worse now than during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq a decade ago, a leading ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, in a sign of mounting anger in Berlin over American spying tac... More »
TIKRIT (Reuters) – Suicide bombers and gunmen killed at least 54 people in Iraq on Monday, medical and police sources said, in attacks mostly targeting Shi’ite Muslims, who mark a big religious festival next week. Al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim militants have in... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – From Saudi Arabia to Israel, traditional U.S. allies in the Middle East are beginning to ask: Is America turning its back on us? President Barack Obama’s diplomatic overtures to old foe Iran and his last-minute refusal to attack Syria ha... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A suicide bomber driving a minibus blew himself up outside a cafe in a mainly Shi’ite Muslim district of the Iraqi capital on Sunday, killing at least 38 people, police and medics said. At least 12 people were killed in a spate of suicide b... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A series of bombs killed at least 25 people across Iraq on Sunday ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, police and medical sources said. Altogether 16 bombs went off, the deadliest of which was in the mainly Shi’ite city of Hilla, 100 k... More »
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) – Nearly 900 civilians were killed across Iraq in September as sectarian violence worsened, raising the death toll for 2013 to more than last year’s total, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Most of the bloodshed was instigated by Sunni... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An al Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility for a series of car bombs that killed around 60 people in predominantly Shi’ite districts of the Iraqi capital last week. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which was formed earlier th... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A British army officer told a public inquiry on Monday that allegations that soldiers in his company tortured and executed Iraqis after a battle in 2004 were baseless rumors spread by insurgents who wanted to discredit U.S.-led coalition for... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – At least 16 people were killed and 41 wounded on Monday in a suicide bomb attack on a crowded cafe in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, part of the worst wave of violence in Iraq in around five years. Two roadside bombs – one plante... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A series of car bombs targeting busy markets and shopping streets in and around Baghdad killed at least 51 people and wounded more than 100 on Tuesday, Iraqi medical and police sources said, part of a surge in violence in recent months. Ins... More »
BAGHDAD/MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – Hundreds of convicts, including senior members of al Qaeda, broke out of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail as comrades launched a military-style assault to free them, authorities said on Monday. The deadly raid on the high-security jail ha... More »
BAGHDAD/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Neighboring Iraq warned that Syria’s civil war is tearing the Middle East apart and Lebanon’s president urged his country’s Hezbollah movement on Thursday to pull its fighters out of the conflict. After two years of fighting that has... More »
