Author: Al Marhidis

Fifteen members of the Islamic State (IS) group were killed and seven US troops wounded during a joint US-Iraqi raid in western Iraq, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Friday. The operation comes after months of talks between Baghdad and Washington over the presence of anti-jihadist coalition forces in Iraq, which have been targeted with drones and rocket fire as the Israel-Hamas war draws in Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East. A joint operation by American and Iraqi forces killed 15 members of the Islamic State group in western Iraq, with seven US troops injured during the operation, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said…

The meeting in Hanover explored approaches to campus dialogue on the Israel-Hamas war. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., met with President Sian Leah Beilock and faculty from the Middle Eastern Studies Program on Thursday to learn about Dartmouth’s approach in facilitating civil discussion around the war between Israel and Hamas. Beilock and the lawmakers were joined in the Hanover Inn by Senior Lecturer Ezzedine Fishere, a best-selling Egyptian author, academic, and former diplomat who has written extensively on the region, and Associate Professor Jonathan Smolin, an expert in Middle Eastern politics and popular culture. In addition to their appointments in Middle Eastern…

A ‘regional state’ is leading efforts to secure the release of an Israeli-Russian academic from captivity in Iraq, according to a report by Amwaj yesterday, citing senior security sources in the region. Elizabeth Tusrkov, a doctoral researcher at Princeton University was abducted in Baghdad earlier this year in March, having travelled on a Russian passport. She was reportedly kidnapped by the Iranian-supported armed group, Kataib Hezbollah. Despite the Israeli government’s insistence that the former Israeli soldier who worked in intelligence was “absolutely not a member of Mossad,” Iraqi news channel Al-Rabiaa TV aired footage of Tsurkov on Monday, believed to be her first appearance since her disappearance, in…

Several rockets were fired at Baghdad’s Green Zone—where the U.S. Embassy is located—on Friday morning, according to reports, amid a recent increase in the number of attacks against American facilities in Iraq and Syria. “We again call on the Government of Iraq, as we have done on many occasions, to do all in its power to protect diplomatic and Coalition partner personnel and facilities,” a U.S. Embassy spokesperson told Reuters. U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have faced more than 70 attacks since October 17, Reuters reported. A majority of these attacks have been linked to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. According…

Today, the global spotlight is on Gaza and Ukraine. But remember when it was Afghanistan and Iraq? The two war-ravaged countries have faded from our collective memory as the news cycle moved on to more immediate conflicts and crises. But top officials from the United Nations Development Programme recently visited Washington, D.C. in an effort to keep Afghanistan and Iraq on the radar of United States policymakers. “There’s so much happening in the world, and particularly with Israel-Palestine, that’s sucking up all the oxygen, that Afghanistan and other places … are likely to be overlooked,” UNDP Afghanistan Resident Representative Stephen…

It’s been an eventful year for Iraq, with mixed results. But on balance, the prime minister has navigated it with relative stability. Last week marked one year since Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani assumed office. His ascension to the role came after a year of deep political tensions, several alarming but contained episodes of violence, and no annual government budget. A political agreement among the Shia coalition known as the Coordination Framework and major Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties set the stage for the al-Sudani government to form — meanwhile, the biggest winner in the 2021 parliamentary elections, cleric…

Jerusalem – One month after Israel was wracked by Hamas attacks, life has been upended for both the Palestinians and Israel after it launched a war of reprisal in the Gaza Strip. The October 7 attacks by Hamas militants who stormed across from Gaza and struck kibbutzim and southern Israeli areas killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and deeply scarred the nation. Images of charred and mutilated bodies invoked comparisons to the horror of the Holocaust, and the abduction of more than 240 people by the Hamas gunmen continues to stir political and emotional turmoil. Gaza — a territory of 2.4…

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani held talks on Sunday with the Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mission in Iraq, General Jose Antonio Martinez, and his accompanying delegation. The discussions focused on the mission’s objectives, amid renewed debate about the foreign military presence in Iraq following the death of a French NATO soldier.A statement issued by the Iraqi government said the meeting discussed cooperation between both sides in training, advising, and increasing the capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces along with their ongoing military operations against the remnants of terrorism. The NATO mission in Iraq also presented…

Iran has said the deadline for Iraq to disarm “terror groups” in the Kurdistan region will expire on September 19. Deputy Operational Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan told Tasnim news agency that his forces would return to their previous positions if the Kurdish opposition parties based in the Iraqi Kurdistan region were not disarmed. “We have to protect the interests of the Iranian people,” Nilforoushan said. He asserted Tehran’s commitment to the agreement concluded with Baghdad last March, saying the other party is expected to act accordingly. Earlier, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser…

Experts believe the Iranian demand has to do with the upcoming “Women, Life, Freedom” anniversary, while the Turkish request is related to the intelligence background of the country’s new foreign minister Both Turkey and Iran have applied pressure on Iraq over the past few days concerning the Kurds. Ankara wants Baghdad to declare the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) a terror organization, while Tehran is urging Baghdad to dismantle and resettle the anti-Iranian Kurdish factions located near the border. The Kurds are the second largest ethnic group in Iraq and have historically aspired to independence. In 2005, Iraq recognized the Kurdistan…