Iraq - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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Iraq

October 21, 2026

Baghdad 4:24 am

22°C

Safin HAMID / AFP via Getty Images

Iran says deal reached with Iraq to expel Kurdish separatists: What to know

Iran said an agreement was reached with Iraq to expel or hand over members of Kurdish separatist groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Trucks loaded with goods wait to cross over to Syria

Analysis

How Hormuz crisis is reshaping economic ties between Iraq and Syria

Iraq and Syria are expanding trade and energy cooperation, but security risks, economic challenges and longstanding mistrust raise questions about whether their growing partnership can endure.

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Oct. 14, 2026, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Iraq’s Zaidi, Saudi crown prince discuss security as Houthi attacks escalate

Iraq has moved to improve ties with Saudi Arabia after Iran-backed militias struck the kingdom and amid the conflict with the Houthis in Yemen.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters arrive in the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk on May 14, 2013, after leaving Turkey as part of a peace drive with Ankara.

Explainer

PKK pulls out of Metina in northern Iraq amid Turkey peace process

The withdrawal comes as the peace process between Turkey and the militant group gains momentum alongside increasing security cooperation between Ankara and Baghdad.

Latest News

Analysis

Why Syria and Iraq are taking different approaches to armed groups

Demonstrators ride through a street while waving Syrian flags

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Iraq devalues dinar 13% as Hormuz disruption hits oil revenue

A man walks past a closed foreign exchange office in Baghdad on October 7, 2026. Iraq's central bank devalued the dinar currency against the dollar on October 7, with the country facing a deepening crisis brought on by the Middle East war. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

What Iraq’s US troop withdrawal means for security after Kirkuk killings

A member of the Iraqi security forces flashes the victory sign during a military parade

Analysis

After US exit, Iran gains space in Iraq and a harder balancing act

Members of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) paramilitary forces stand guard during an election rally for the "Asaib Ahl al-Haq" movement in the capital Baghdad, on October 7, 2021.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Suadad al-Salhy

In Baghdad, reporting on politics and security

Lyse Mauvais

In Amman, reporting on humanitarian crises

Winthrop Rodgers

In Sulaymaniyah, reporting on Kurdish issues

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels man a security checkpoint on Oct. 28, 2009 near a PKK base in the Qandil mountains, near Rania province, in northern Iraq.

Ukrainians held hostage by PKK militants in Iraqi Kurdistan over arms trafficking scam

Al-Monitor sheds light on how two Ukrainian men were taken hostage by a Kurdish militant group that was scammed by Ukrainian crooks in a million dollar plus arms trafficking deal.

Qais al-Khazali (C) commander of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq pro-Iran faction attends the funeral procession of slain Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and eight others at the Imam Ali Shrine in the shrine city of Najaf in central Iraq on Jan. 4, 2020.

Pro-Iran parties launch smear campaign against Iraq's intelligence service

A political campaign targeting the Iraqi National Intelligence Service poses new challenges for the state’s key institutions.

Representative Gregory Meeks, (D-NY), and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill, Washington, March 10, 2021.

House committee votes to repeal Iraq war military authorization

The resolution will next head to the full House for a vote. Bipartisan support for repealing the authorization pertaining to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq gained steam following the February US airstrikes in Syria, which the president approved without consulting Congress.

mustafa al-kadhimi

Iraq, US to resume new round of strategic dialogue

Iraq and the US have agreed to resume strategic talks over their mutual relationship and further US troop withdrawals.

Lt. Col. Jace Neuenschwander signs a document in Mosul

Intel: US, Iraq to renew talks over troop presence in April

The Biden White House accepted Baghdad's request to kickstart strategic dialogue

Iraqis stand outside parliament building, or Council of Representatives, in Baghdad's Green Zone on February 27, 2020. (Photo by SABAH ARAR / AFP) (Photo by SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq's PM calls for national dialogue

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is calling for a comprehensive national dialogue among all of the country’s forces ahead of the election, seizing the opportunity after Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq.

Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community, who fled violence between Islamic State (IS) group jihadists and Peshmerga fighters in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, sit in a field near a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in the Sharya area some 15 kilometres from the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk on May 20, 2015.

Iraq's Yazidis call for autonomy as conflict flares between army, PKK affiliates

Ongoing tensions due to regional interference to settle scores among rivals threaten new acts of violence, menacing the Yazidi minority concentrated in the area.

An Iraqi Airways Boeing 747 cargo aircraft is pictured on the tarmac of Baghdad's international airport following its reopening on July 23, 2020, after a closure since March forced by the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, aimed at preventing the spread of the deadly COVID-19 illness in Iraq. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq gives visa on arrival to citizens of 30 countries

The list includes the United States, China and other large economies in a bid to attract investment to Iraq; most foreigners need to apply for a visa before traveling to Iraq.

Iraqi security forces guard a symbolic funeral procession attended by high-ranking officials in Baghdad on October 23, 2019 for Major General Ali al-Lami, a commander of the Iraqi Federal Police's Fourth Division, who was killed the previous day in Samarra in the province of Salahuddin, north of the Iraqi capital. - The police commander was killed in an ambush on October 22 which Iraqi security forces blamed on dormant cells of the Islamic State (IS) group. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD A

Flurry of Sunni Triangle ops sparks questions over Islamic State

Several large military operations conducted in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq in recent weeks and mass killings have raised questions over whether a much-debated IS resurgence is actually in the making or whether the roots of the problem lie elsewhere.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - NOVEMBER 30: A woman works at the restored Al-Mustansiriya University, founded in 1227 and one of the oldest Islamic universities in the world, on November 30, 2011 in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq is transitioning as the U.S. military continues its withdrawal from the country by the end of December following the war that began in 2003. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Baghdad’s Mustansiriya Madrassa ready for World Heritage List

Baghdad’s Mustansiriya Madrassa established by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustansir around 1230 suffers obsolescence, dampness, environmental pollution and urban sprawl.

A picture taken on February 6, 2021 shows the Great Ziggurat temple in the ancient city of Ur, where Abraham the father of three religions is thought to have been born, which falls now in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar province, around 375 kilometres southeast of Baghdad. - The March 5-8 visit -- the first ever by a pope -- will include inter-religious prayers at the ancient city of Ur in Iraq's south. The Pope's prayers will bring Christians and Muslims together, as well as the faithful from the ancient religions

Pope speaks of interfaith tolerance from ancient city of Ur

The ancient city is the birthplace of the father of the three major monotheistic religions, a fitting backdrop for an interfaith dialogue, Pope Francis said.

A picture shows the scene of a twin suicide bombing on a bustling commercial street in the heart of Baghdad on January 21, 2021. - The toll in a twin suicide bombing in an open-air Baghdad market morning topped 20 dead and 40 wounded, an interior ministry official told AFP. The ministry said the first suicide bomber had rushed into the market and claimed to feel sick, so that people would gather around him. He then detonated his explosives. (Photo by Sabah ARAR / AFP) (Photo by SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Imag

At least one killed in Baghdad explosion

The grenade attack targeted a group of people commemorating a late imam who is revered by Shiite Muslims; the attack follows an Islamic State attack in the Iraqi capital in January.