LOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON — Several U.S. personnel were injured in a suspected rocket attack at a military base in Iraq, U.S. defense officials said Monday, in what has been a recent uptick in strikes on American forces by Iranian-backed militias. The attack comes as tensions across the Middle East are spiking following the killings last week of a senior …
BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities said Saturday that they were investigating an explosion that struck a base belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iran-allied militias, killing one person and injuring eight. The PMF is a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups designated as an “independent military formation” within the Iraqi armed forces. In recent months, some of …
Threats from armed groups continue to pose challenges for security forces as they take on the task of safeguarding the country, scarred by conflict. The Iraqi armed forces have strong ties to the US military, which was essentially in charge of building a new Iraqi army following the 2003 invasion. “The Iraqi Security Forces have demonstrated considerable progress amidst changes …
The same factors that led the Afghan military to surrender to the Taliban this weekend were behind the collapse of the Iraqi military back in 2014. The Taliban’s lightning offensive in Afghanistan this past weekend which saw the Afghan military hand over the country to the armed group without putting up a real fight brought back memories of the ISIL …
United States President DonaldTrump’s notorious pardons list has come in for scathing criticism domestically and internationally. A U.S. congressional report released in 2008 had concluded that between 2005 and 2007, Blackwater security personnel operating in Iraq had used deadly force on a “weekly basis”, causing “significant casualties” and deadly damage. The U.S. Attorney’s office, in a statement issued after the …
Iran has fired more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi military bases hosting US troops, the Pentagon confirmed. Trump: Iran ‘appears to be standing down’ US President Donald Trump has said Iran “appears to be standing down”, a sign that Washington will not seek a response. Trump was addressing the nation from the White House on Wednesday following the …
Iran on Wednesday launched a missile attack on an Iraqi airbase where U.S. forces are based, threatening "more crushing responses" if Washington carried out further strikes, Iranian state media said. In an address from the White House, Mr. Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to respond militarily to Iranian missile attacks on military bases housing U.S. troops …
CNN — Two Iraqi bases that house American troops were the target of more than a dozen Iranian missiles on Wednesday in retaliation for the US killing Iran’s most powerful military general. Iran has vowed revenge for the killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad on Friday, calling it an “act of war” and “state …
Iran has launched a series of missile attacks on US facilities in Iraq, days after the US assassinated top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. In a statement on Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran had taken and concluded “proportionate measures in self-defence” under Article 51 of the UN Charter. “We will all take all necessary measures to protect …
A recap of events that led to US killing of Qassem Soleimani and Iran’s retaliatory strikes on US targets in Iraq. Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases hosting US troops early on Wednesday, a move it said was in retaliation to Soleimani’s assassination on January 3. Iran strongly condemned the attacks with a …
CNN — President Donald Trump, facing the gravest test of his presidency, signaled a de-escalation of tensions with Iran Wednesday in the wake of Iran’s retaliatory attacks against Iraqi bases housing US troops. “Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world,” Trump said, striking a …
CNN — The Iraqi Parliament voted Sunday to obligate Iraq’s government “to work towards ending the presence of all foreign troops on Iraqi soil,” according to the media office of the Iraqi Parliament. Muqtada al-Sadr, a leading Shia cleric and the head of Iraq’s largest political bloc, Saeroun, called the Iraqi Parliament’s vote Sunday a “weak response in comparison to …
