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Iraq

August 9, 2026

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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in Damascus, Aug. 3, 2026. IKRPresident/X

Iraqi Kurdish president’s meeting with Syria’s Sharaa signals shift in SDF dynamics

KRG President Nechirvan Barzani’s meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa underscored the Kurdistan Region’s growing role in Syria’s Kurdish politics.

Mourners carry one of the bodies of members of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) who were killed earlier in Diyala in central Iraq by US-Saudi strikes, during the funeral in Baghdad on July 29, 2026. The US-Saudi strikes killed at least 20 militants, including Iranians, according to the Hashed al-Shaabi. The US and Saudi Arabia said the strikes were in response to attacks on US forces and Saudi oil facilities. (Photo by murtadha ridha / AFP via Getty Images) /

Analysis

Renewed Iraq attacks test Zaidi’s push to disarm Iran-backed militias

An attempt by Iraqi government forces to seize weapons belonging to an Iranian-backed faction encountered resistance, raising questions about Prime Minister Ali Zaidi’s pledge to disarm militias by Sept. 30.

Mustafa Salim

By Mustafa Salim

Latest News

Analysis

Iran-linked militias seek to draw Iraq into regional war

Fighters lift flags of Iraq and paramilitary groups, including al-Nujaba and Kataib Hezbollah, during a funeral in Baghdad for five militants killed a day earlier in a US strike in northern Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2023.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Exclusive

US nears full withdrawal from Iraq as bases in Kurdistan Region face attacks from Iran, proxies

Patriot

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Zaidi cancels Riyadh trip after US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at a Council of Ministers meeting in Baghdad, July 25, 2026.

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

A couple walks the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Building as snow falls in Washington, January 30, 2010. A winter storm blew across the Eastern Coast of the United States on Saturday, bringing 6 inches (15 centimetres) of fresh snow to the nation's capital. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT) - RTR29NXB

Congress to scrutinize Obama’s Islamic State strategy

A look at the Middle East issues Congress will be addressing the week of Feb. 9.

Syrian ethnic Kurds demonstrate after Friday prayers in the Syrian town of Qamishli May 6, 2011. The banner reads "We call for a new constitution in which all sects and nationalities in the country can participate". REUTERS/Handout (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - RTR2M2TY

Will 'Kurdish Spring' redraw Middle East map?

A critic looks at “Kurdish Spring: A New Map for the Middle East,” a new book by David Phillips that could become a main reference on the Kurdish struggle.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SAMMY KETZ
Surgeons operate on a patient at the Ibn Bitar Hospital for Cardiac Surgery in Baghdad on July 9, 2011. It will be three years before doctors in Iraq can perform heart surgery on infants, doctors say, in a country where birth defects are high due to marriage within extended families. AFP PHOTO/ALI AL-SAADI (Photo credit should read ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi government spends millions on medical treatment abroad

The Iraqi government is paying huge sums to help Iraqis travel abroad for medical treatment instead of allocating money to improve health care in the country.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (R) welcomes an Iraqi Shiite cleric at the Royal Palace in the Moslem holy city of Mecca. October 21, 2006. Iraqi Shi'ite and Sunni clerics meeting in Mecca called on Friday for an end to sectarian violence that many fear could lead to civil war in Iraq. REUTERS/Saudi News Agency/Handout (SAUDI ARABIA) - RTR1IJKP

Shiites have mixed reactions to new Saudi king

The death of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz divided the Shiite community: While many celebrated and rejoiced, others deeply regretted the death of the Saudi monarch who was known for his moderate and reformist attitude.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters ride their vehicles along a road on Mount Sinjar December 22, 2014. On Sunday, Kurdish and Yazidi fighters battled to take the Sinjar back from Islamic State after breaking a months-long siege of the mountain above it. Seizing the town would restore the majority of territory Iraq's Kurds lost in Islamic State's surprise offensive in August. Picture taken December 22, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4J2WC

Kurdish rivalry delays victory in Sinjar

Kurdish forces celebrated a joint victory at Kobani, but they have become rivals in the fight against the Islamic State in the Mount Sinjar area.

An aerial view shows the Shrine of Imam al-Abbas during the commemoration of Arbain in Kerbala, southwest of Baghdad December 13, 2014. Iraqi officials say millions of Shi'ite pilgrims from across Iraq and neighbouring countries are expected in Kerbala for Saturday's Arbain ritual, which marks the last of 40 days of mourning for the death of Imam Hussein that happened around 1,300 years ago. REUTERS/Abdul-Zahra (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY CITYSCAPE) - RTR4HW0P

'Messengers of God' multiply amidst Iraqi chaos

The emergence of people claiming to be the Shiites’ awaited Imam Mahdi or his messengers is widespread in Iraqi society, though some contend it is intended to eliminate the Shiite religious authorities.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani speaks to journalists on December 21, 2014 during a visit to Mount Sinjar, west of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Barzani hailed advances by peshmerga fighters against the Islamic State jihadist group (IS) as they battled the militants for a northern town, backed by US-led strikes. AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Barzani joins front as peshmerga approach Mosul

Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, has decided to stay close to the battlefield around Mosul Dam in northern Iraq to direct operations and encourage peshmerga fighters.

Israeli soldiers stand on concrete blocks near the border with Lebanon January 29, 2015. Israel and Hezbollah signalled on Thursday their rare flare-up in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border was over, after the Lebanese guerrillas killed two Israeli troops in retaliation for a deadly air strike in Syria last week. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT) - RTR4NHGX

Hezbollah, Israel claim victory, reset deterrence

Nasrallah steps back from confrontation with Israel after attack; Iran sanctions in perspective; Netanyahu plan may backfire; Kurdish victory in Kobani a setback for Turkey; Are Iraqi Kurdish land grabs sowing future conflict?

A Palestinian police officer loyal to Hamas pushes back Salafists during a protest against satirical French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, outside the French Cultural Centre in Gaza city January 19, 2015. Dozens of Jihadist Salafi men rallied in Gaza on Monday to condemn continued publication by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo of cartoons deemed offensive to Islam's Prophet. Charlie Hebdo published a picture of Mohammad weeping on its cover last week after gunmen s

Moderate Islam pushes back extremism

Terrorist operations carried out by radical Islamic groups around the world and in the Middle East have had the unintended effect of promoting moderate Islam, particularly in Iran.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are seen during the battle with Islamic State militants on the outskirts of Mosul January 21, 2015. Kurdish forces in northern Iraq said on Wednesday they had cleared Islamic State insurgents from nearly 500 square kilometres of territory and broken a key IS supply line between the city of Mosul and strongholds to the west near Syria. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR4MDE9

Iraqi Kurdish land grabs anger Sunni Arabs

As Iraqi Kurds benefit from coalition airstrikes and take control of former IS safe havens, they are aggravating tensions with some Sunni Arab communities.

An Iraqi soldier stands guard below the Statue of Mutanabbi, a 10th century poet and one of the towering figures of Arabic literature, on the banks of the Tigris River in Baghdad December 16, 2011. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: SOCIETY MILITARY) - RTR2VBFQ

Iraqi folk poets face criticism

Some Iraqi intellectuals say the the spread of folk poems butchers the classic Arabic language and serve the interests of political parties.

An Iraqi soldier scans a car with a bomb detector a checkpoint at Shurja market in central Baghdad, April 28, 2012. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags : - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTR31CIN

Fake bomb detectors still endanger Iraqis

Despite the exposure and imprisonment of British businessman James McCormick for selling fake bomb detectors to several countries, Iraqi security officials continue to justify the use of these devices.