Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim ruling parties and armed groups are weighing the pros and cons of armed intervention in Syria, viewing as a grave threat the advance of Sunni Islamist rebels who have taken two Syrian cities and now bear down on a third. Baghdad has a dark history with Syria-based Sunni fighters, thousands of … Read more
Iraq will not act as a mere spectator in Syria, where it believes groups and sects are victims of ethnic cleansing, Iraq’s prime minister said on Tuesday, according to a readout from his office of a phone call to Turkey’s president. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who discussed the situation in Syria with Turkey’s … Read more
Chinese food delivery giant Meituan, which operates the Keeta brand in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia, is set to expand to more Middle Eastern and North African countries, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Keeta, which launched in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Kharj in September and has since entered the capital Riyadh, … Read more
Damascus: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held separate phone talks with leaders from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iraq on recent developments in Syria, counterterrorism cooperation, and various regional issues. According to state news agency SANA, in his phone talks with President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, al-Assad stressed Syria’s ongoing … Read more
Representative Image Baghdad: The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said Saturday that it had sent official letters to the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, the Arab League, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation over Israel’s possible attacks on Iraq. Iraq’s letters came in response to an Israeli complaint to the UN Security Council against Iran-backed militias … Read more
Senior Hezbollah commander Ali Mussa Daqduq was reportedly killed in a recent airstrike attributed to Israel in Syria, a senior US defense official told NBC. The defense official told NBC it was unclear when the strike took place, its precise location, and whether it sought to specifically target and eliminate Daqduq. Daqduq was central … Read more
A federal jury in Virginia has issued a landmark verdict against a private defence contractor CACI Premier Technology for its role in the torture of three Iraqi men at the United States-run Abu Ghraib prison in the country from 2003 to 2004. Historic verdict The jury awarded a total of 42 million dollars, comprising three … Read more
BEIRUT — Declassified 1970s-era U.S. spy satellite imagery has led a British-Iraqi archeological team to what they believe is the site of a seventh-century battle that became decisive in the spread of Islam throughout the region. The Battle of al-Qadisiyah was fought in Mesopotamia — in present-day Iraq — in the A.D. 630s between Arab … Read more
Aydin Hadid Talal thought his whole family had been killed in Islamic State’s ferocious assault on Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority a decade ago. Then last year, the 20-year-old started receiving messages from a Facebook account he didn’t recognize, asking about his missing brother, Rojin. “Can you give me a call?” the person asked. “No, … Read more
The book begins with photographs from van Agtmael’s early years as a war photographer, covering the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, which show the routine violence of two worlds colliding. There is an image of a child squinting into the camera as he bleeds from the head in the aftermath of a night raid on … Read more
