The British government is introducing new laws to protect the country’s soldiers from being prosecuted for crimes they have committed while serving outside the country. New legislation will introduce a five-year time limit on any prosecutions, meaning soldiers are unlikely to be prosecuted for any crimes committed following the 2003 invasion of Iraq or during the war in Afghanistan. The measures will cover only British soldiers serving outside the UK, and so will not protect any who committed offences during…

Iraq’s protest movement has rejected the appointment of Adnan al-Zurfi to succeed former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. For the first time, protest groups and a wide range of Shiite parties and blocs have agreed on rejecting a candidate. This means that Zurfi will not be able to form a new government and face the same fate of Mohammad Tawfiq Allawi, the earlier nominee who failed to form a cabinet by March 2. Anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square, central Baghdad,…

The UN envoy to Iraq condemned the use of hunting rifles loaded with birdshot against peaceful protesters in Baghdad. Birdshot is a type of shotgun ammunition that is designed for hunting birds in the wild, but it can also cause significant injury to humans if used on them. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq said it received credible reports of protesters being shot at by gunmen using hunting rifles on the nights of February 14-16, leading to at least 50…

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Iraqi prime minister that the U.S. is prepared to act in self-defense if attacked in Iraq, according to a readout of a call between the two officials released on Monday. Pompeo spoke with Iraq’s Prime Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi on Sunday and called on the Iraqi government to fulfill its obligations protecting coalition troops working in the country to defeat ISIS and identify and hold accountable the groups responsible for a rocket attack last week that…

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A civilian activist in the southern Iraqi city of Amarah survived an assassination attempt on Thursday after unidentified gunmen opened fire on his car. According to local sources, the attack was in retaliation to protesters' burning of the local headquarters of an Iran-backed militia blamed for killing two others earlier in the week. “Raza al-Eqeely, a student sit-in protest coordinator in Maysan province, survived an assassination attempt unharmed. He was shot at seven times while riding…

PENTAGON / WASHINGTON - U.S. warplanes soaring through the skies of Iraq hit a series of sites belonging to an Iranian-backed militia, exacting revenge for a deadly attack on American and coalition troops just 24 hours earlier. The airstrikes late Thursday and early Friday targeted five weapon storage facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, blamed for a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base north of Baghdad late Wednesday that killed two U.S. service members and a British soldier, while wounding…

An Iraqi security source said on Wednesday that unidentified gunmen assassinated two Iraqi anti-government activists in Maysan province, southern Iraq, reports Anadolu Agency. The security source identified the names of activists as Abdel-Aaddous Qasim and Karrar Adil, who were killed in Amarah city. The security authorities of the city opened an investigation into the incident. Since the outbreak of the anti-government protests in Iraq, several activists were subject to killing, torture, and abduction. Some activists accuse Shia armed groups, with close…

At least 18 fighters from an Iraqi paramilitary group were killed in air strikes in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, just hours after a deadly attack on US-led coalition forces in Iraq. "The 18 Iraqi fighters" were killed in raids on positions of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi military network in the area of Albukamal, on the border with Iraq, the observatory said. Bombardment from three coalition planes struck the Imam Ali base and the Al-Hassyan area in…

Rockets struck Camp Taji where Iraqi, American and other coalition troops are based. BAGHDAD — A volley of rockets struck a sprawling military base north of Baghdad Wednesday evening, killing three service members, two of them Americans and one British, according to a United States official and an Iraqi military officer, both in Iraq. The attack came less than three months after a similar rocket attack killed an American contractor in Iraq, setting off a spiral of attacks that nearly led to war between the United…

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Three protesters have been killed and 47 others wounded since Sunday in clashes with Iraqi security forces in the capital’s infamous Khilani Square, according to an official statement by the semi-independent Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR).“Due to the clashes that occured on March 8 and 9 between protesters and security forces, at least 3 protesters have died,” the statement reads.  “Also 58 people have been wounded in the ongoing clashes,” the statement added. Rudaw English…