Iraq

World News

Kurdish Forces Push Offensive To Retake Sinjar From ISIS

4:46pm December 21, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Days after breaking the siege of Mount Sinjar and freeing trapped Yazidis there, peshmerga forces were pressing an offensive to retake the town itself from the Islamist militia.

Kurdish Troops Free Yazidis, But Major Battles Remain

11:39am December 20, 2014

by Deborah Amos

With the help of U.S. airstrikes, Iraqi Kurdish forces have made significant advances against the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS.

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More than 4,000 officers of the Nineveh province security force are based in an isolated training camp in northern Iraq. Their aim is retaking ISIS-controlled Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

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At An Isolated Camp, Iraqi Police Prep For A Showdown With ISIS

12:31pm December 18, 2014

by Deborah Amos

Iraqi security forces are training with the goal of reclaiming territory lost to the Islamic State. Police at a camp near the front line say such a battle would be personal.

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The Iraqi town of Halabja is dominated by Kurds, the group that has been fighting the Islamic State in northern Iraq. However, some Kurdish residents have been slipping away to join the Islamic State.

Kurdish Officials Worry About Kurds Joining The Islamic State

6:15pm December 16, 2014

by Leila Fadel

In the Kurdish city of Halabja, young men have been disappearing to join ISIS. It's a trend the authorities don't really want to discuss. But they are clamping down to try to make it stop.

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Many Yazidis, like the ones shown here, managed to flee the onslaught of the so-called Islamic State and made their way to relative safety, like this camp near the northern Iraqi border crossing of Zakho. However, some 5,000 Yazidis, many of them women, a

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For Yazidi Women, Escaping ISIS Doesn't Mean The Ordeal Is Over

9:38am December 11, 2014

by Leila Fadel

Many of the 5,000 Yazidi hostages in Iraq are women who are being raped. Those who return to their deeply conservative community face new trauma: shame, invasive "virginity tests," possible pregnancy.

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Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel greets U.S. troops upon his arrival at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on Monday.

Chuck Hagel Lands In Iraq To Meet With Officials

6:54am December 09, 2014

by Eyder Peralta

Hagel is the first secretary of defense to visit the country since President Obama ended American combat involvement in Iraq in 2011.

Cooperative captives conduct afternoon prayers inside a communal cellblock at Camp 6 last month at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Six long-time detainees of the prison have been transferred to Uruguay.

6 Gitmo Detainees Transferred To Uruguay, U.S. Says

2:19pm December 07, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Four Syrians, one Tunisian and one Palestinian were released to the South American country early today as part of a deal to reduce the inmate population at the controversial prison.

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Oil Deal Provides Much-Needed Revenue In Iraq

6:57pm December 02, 2014

Melissa Block talks with Ben Lando of the Iraq Oil Report about the deal between Baghdad and the Kurds over oil revenue.

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Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced Tuesday that the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan region have started implementing a deal under which Baghdad resumes funding Kurdish civil servant salaries in return for a share of Kurdish oil exports.

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Iraq, Kurds Agree On Deal Over Oil Exports, Budget

10:15am December 02, 2014

by Krishnadev Calamur

The agreement could ease some pressure on Iraq's government, which is facing an economic crisis, and on Kurdish authorities who have had trouble paying government employees and security forces.

An Iranian national shops at a popular market in the holy Iraqi Shiite city of Najaf. Recently, the city — where millions of international pilgrims visit every year — has been spared the worst of Iraq's violence.

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With Shopping, Holy Sites, Najaf Offers Respite From Iraq's Violence

12:44pm November 30, 2014

by Alice Fordham

When you think of Iraq, you may picture a desert battlefield. But life is not like that everywhere. The southern Shiite heartland of Najaf is full of religious pilgrims and bustling business.

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