Security forces in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, have fired live rounds at protesters defying a curfew. The prime minister says the open-ended curfew – which has been in place since dawn – is needed to maintain order and protect protesters from “infiltrators”. At least 20 people have been killed since Tuesday in clashes with security forces in Baghdad and other… Read more »
Adel Abdul Mahdi’s office says he is prepared to meet representatives of protesters as unrest continues for third day. Iraq‘s Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has called for dialogue after a third consecutive day of deadly anti-government protests in the capital, Baghdad, and several southern cities. In a statement quoted by local media on Thursday, Abdul Mahdi’s office said the prime minister… Read more »
A US-backed alliance of Syrian fighters has announced that the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has lost the last pocket of territory in Syria it controlled, bringing a formal end to the “caliphate” it proclaimed in 2014. IS once controlled 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) of territory stretching from western Syria to eastern Iraq. It imposed its brutal rule… Read more »
Recently, the Kurdish nation has been making strides on the international scene disproportionate to its relatively small population and land area. In Iraq, the Autonomous Region has maintained a degree of control over the Kirkuk oil fields, even as they’ve opened them for export. In Turkish Kurdistan, the PKK has continued to stand against Ankara. Most significantly, though, Rojava has… Read more »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq will unify customs procedures in all of its border areas, including within semi-autonomous Kurdistan, the prime minister said on Wednesday, signaling a further thaw in ties between Baghdad and Erbil after a resumption of Kirkuk oil flows. The decision will be implemented after the federal government in Baghdad reaches an agreement on the move with the… Read more »
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A delegation of doctors from the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group (GSMSG) arrived in the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region on Saturday to discuss their delivery of voluntary medical services to displaced people in the Kurdistan Region. On Sunday, they met with the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, in Erbil. The… Read more »
WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran, Andrew Peek, explained on Wednesday that the US was strongly urging the Iraqi government to resume the export of oil from Kirkuk to Turkey. Those exports were cut off last year after Iraqi forces, in a military operation engineered by Qasim Soleimani, head of the Quds… Read more »
No talks on government formation yet: PUK Though the Kurdistan Region parliament held its first session on Tuesday, talks about forming the next government or selecting senior figures have not begun, said Saadi Pira, spokesperson for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). “No meeting has been held between the political parties to discuss a post,” he told reporters on Tuesday…. Read more »
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdish semi-autonomous region will abide by decisions made by the federal government of Iraq regarding US sanctions on neighboring Iran, a Kurdish official affirmed on Sunday. “The Kurdistan Region is part of Iraq,” the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Safeen Dizayee, told Kurdistan 24. “Whatever the federal government of Iraq decides, the Kurdistan… Read more »
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey would like to work more closely with Iraq to combat “terrorists.”