23 January 2019
Iraq vice president says elections alone will not solve the country’s problems Wednesday, 11 April 2018 03:22
Iraq will not solve the crises it faces unless it maintains an inclusive political process, overcomes sectarian divisions and rids itself of foreign interference, the Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi told The National during a visit to Dubai. On the 12th of May Iraqis will cast their votes in the first parliamentary elections since the country's victory over ISIL. However, the state is still being hindered by issues that are debilitating its democratic process and political independence. Mr Allawi explained that foreign intrusions in Iraq are…
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Iraq’s VP Launches Electoral Campaign Against Corruption Wednesday, 11 April 2018 03:12
Iraq’s Vice President Ayad Allawi launched an electoral campaign focusing on countering corruption, dubbing it “the call of the homeland.”“Some of those who assumed responsibility after 2003 did not carry the project of building a state,” Allawi said in a televised speech on Sunday evening.Allawi, one of the three Vice-Presidents of the Republic, added that “some took advantage of their influence and international relations to overrun real voices of the people expressed in the 2010 elections.”He pointed out that “abhorrent…
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Iraq’s Oil Reserves May Be Much Higher Than Thought Friday, 30 March 2018 23:39
Iraq’s crude oil reserves may turn out to be much higher than believed, the country’s oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi said at a recent industry event, timing the statement with news that it will pay foreign companies less in new contracts. Last year, Iraq updated the estimate for its proven reserves to 153 billion barrels from 143 billion barrels, but if Luaibi is right, the figure could actually be double the 2017 estimate. If the higher estimate proves true, it would make Iraq…
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IRAQ WILL HANG 3,000 PRISONERS OVER ISIS LINKS, REPORT SHOWS Saturday, 24 March 2018 03:29
Iraq has sentenced 3,130 prisoners to death for alleged links to ISIS and other militant organizations since 2013, as the nation’s criminal justice system struggles to deal with thousands of prisoners from its four-year fight against extremist groups. Iraq has detained or imprisoned at least 19,000 people accused of terror-related offenses, according to an Associated Press analysis of a 27,849-person spreadsheet of all those imprisoned in Iraq as of late January. The spreadsheet was provided by an Iraqi official on the condition…
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ISIS kidnapped dozens of Indian construction workers in Iraq. Their bodies were just found. Tuesday, 20 March 2018 23:39
In 2014, 40 Indian construction workers went missing outside the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The city had fallen to the Islamic State militant group just days before. Relatives said they received panicked calls from some of the workers, begging for help. Then, for years, nothing. The Indian government urged relatives not to lose hope. But this week, Indian officials confirmed that the bodies of 39 of those workers were found in a mass grave near Mosul. Thirty-eight of them have been…
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Iranians protest in Iraq following arrest of prominent Shiite cleric Thursday, 08 March 2018 22:47
A protest was held in front of the Iranian consulate in Karbala on Wednesday following the arrest of a prominent Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Sayyid al-Shirazi, by order of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The dozens of protesters, including some Shiite clerics, chanted the slogan ‘death to the Vilayat-e-Faqih (the guardianship of the Islamic Jurist)’ and called for Shirazi’s immediate release while holding Iraq responsible for allowing Iran to arrest the Iraqi cleric. According to Farsi media outlets, excessive violence was…
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Iran Admits 2,100 Deaths in Syria, Iraq Wednesday, 07 March 2018 22:44
An official Iranian statistics affirmed, for the first time, that 2,100 soldiers from the Iranian forces were killed in Syria and Iraq during seven years of Iranian military intervention.Iran didn’t publish earlier any official statistics about the material and human costs of its forces' intervention, but it announced on Tuesday that 2,100 trees were planted equal to the number of those killed in battles in Syria and Iraq.This took place within events held on the occasion of Iran's National Tree…
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Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Protesters, Journalists Detained Wednesday, 28 February 2018 21:22
(Beirut) – Kurdistan Regional Government security forces detained participants in December 2017 protests around Sulaymaniyah and forced them to sign statements promising not to criticize the government, Human Rights Watch said today. The detained protesters were held for up to eight days without being taken before a judge and were forced, before being released, to sign commitments not to protest or be critical of the government on social media. The KRG’s Asayish forces also detained three journalists who were covering protests, apparently…
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Iraq: Teachers threaten to protest over poor living conditions Tuesday, 20 February 2018 21:54
Thousands of Iraqi teachers yesterday threatened to launch an open-ended protest in 15 provinces “if the government does not improve our [teachers] living conditions”. Demonstrating outside the Ministry of Finance in the capital Baghdad, teachers from about 14 provinces called on the central government and the ministry to pay outstanding salaries as well as improve their living conditions. The protesters also demanded government deductions to their salaries be halted. Kamel Abdul Karim Murad, a teacher from the southern city of…
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Iran-Backed Shi’ite Militia Leader Threatens to Attack US Troops If They Stay in Iraq Wednesday, 14 February 2018 22:42
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told an Iraq reconstruction conference Tuesday that the U.S. will remain the country’s “strong partner,” but the head of an Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia with American blood on its hands warned it will target U.S. forces if they remain in the country. “Iraq is at an important juncture in its history,” Tillerson told the conference in Kuwait. As the country rebuilds after liberating territory from ISIS, he said, “be assured that the United States will remain…
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Corruption and conflict hamper Iraq’s rebuilding efforts Monday, 12 February 2018 21:42
Iraq’s government on Monday called for billions of euros worth of foreign aid to rebuild the country after its three-year conflict with the Islamic State armed group, but observers say widespread corruption and a weakened social fabric threaten efforts to recover. Iraqi Planning Minister Salman al-Jumaili opened a three-day conference in Kuwait by announcing his country is seeking 88.2 billion US dollars, equivalent to upwards of 72 billion euros, to rebuild follow the defeat of the jihadists. The figure is…
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