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Iraq

August 10, 2026

Baghdad 5:14 am

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a worker inspects an oil field in Iraq

Analysis

How Turkey is deepening energy and economic ties with Iraq as Iran weakens

Turkey and Iraq are accelerating energy, infrastructure and trade cooperation as the Hormuz crisis increases the strategic value of northern export routes.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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.

Latest News

Analysis

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

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) /

Mustafa Salim

By Mustafa Salim

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

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 map of the Kurdistan region is seen on the wall of a school where a Christian family who fled from the violence in Mosul two days ago, is staying in Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region June 27, 2014. Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on rebel-held Tikrit on Thursday with commandos flown into a stadium in helicopters, at least one of which crashed after taking fire from insurgents who have seized northern cities. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT SOCIETY) - RTR3W0Y0

Would Turkey accept a Kurdish state?

As the likelihood of an independent Kurdish state on Turkey’s eastern border grows, Ankara is losing its historical resistance to the idea.

Members of the Iraqi security forces fire artillery during the clashes with the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the town of Dalli Abbas in Diyala province, June 28, 2014. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential Shi'ite cleric in Iraq, called on the country's leaders on Friday to choose a prime minister within the next four days, a dramatic political intervention that could hasten the end of Nuri al-Maliki's eight year rule. Picture take

The Syria disconnect in US Iraq policy

Iraq welcomes Syrian airstrikes on ISIS; Aleppo’s water crisis.

Russian soldiers unload a Russian Sukhoi SU-25 plane in al-Muthanna Iraqi military base at Baghdad airport in Baghdad, June 28, 2014. The first batch of Russian fighter jets arrived in Baghdad on Saturday to help Iraqi forces battle Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters in the country's north. Picture taken June 28, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY TRANSPORT CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3W9NZ

Russia's military bid in Iraq

Moscow has seized an opening by delivering fighter jets to Iraq.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of the parliament of his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara on June 24, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ADEM ALTAN (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Erdogan: 'No one should expect me to provoke ISIS'

Turkey pursues a cautious policy while Iraq's military crisis escalates.

Iraq’s ambassador to US: war with ISIS 'acid test' of US-Iraq ties

Lukman Faily, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States, says that in light of the urgency of the Iraq crisis, “we will not be in a position to choose our partners and whoever is available to help us in our survival war, then we will take that.”

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, April 20, 2014. For Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, a politician who saw himself as the one who rescued Iraq from civil war in the last decade, the current state of affairs amounts to a stunning reversal of fortune as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters inch towards the capital and Shiite militias he vanquished assert their influence again. Picture taken April 20, 2014. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ

Allawi: US policy toward Iraq 'without a compass'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi says that the Iraqi army "has lost its identity and its role" as a result of the current Iraqi government's policies.

A woman buys bread at a bakery in the city of Mosul, June 24, 2014. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held crisis talks with leaders of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Tuesday urging them to stand with Baghdad in the face of a Sunni insurgent onslaught that threatens to dismember the country. Picture taken June 24, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT BUSINESS FOOD SOCIETY) - RTR3VNJJ

Iraqis fear uncertain future in areas under 'Islamic State'

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is not the only group operating in regions now under its banner.

A Jordanian police stands guard at a checkpoint near the Jordanian Karameh border crossing at the Jordanian-Iraqi border, near Ruweished city, June 25, 2014. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3VOZ6

Jordan shaken by threats from ISIS, Iraq, Syria

The kingdom faces a security crisis over conflicts involving neighboring Iraq and Syria, a jihadist enclave on its border, waves of refugees, and returning terrorist fighters from both countries.

Iraqi Sunni Muslims take part in an anti-government demonstration in Ramadi, 100 km (62 miles) west of Baghdad,April 19, 2013. Thousands of Sunni Muslims protested after Friday prayers in huge rallies against Shi'ite Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, demanding that he step down. REUTERS/Ali al-Mashhadani (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXYSEV

Saudi Arabia sees allies among Iraq's Sunni tribes

The kingdom is distinguishing between Sunni tribes opposed to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).

A member of the Iraqi security forces takes position during a patrol looking for militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) at the border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, June 23, 2014. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Iraq's prime minister in Baghdad on Monday to push for a more inclusive government, even as Baghdad's forces abandoned the border with Jordan, leaving the entire Western frontier outside government control. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS M

Saudi Arabia threatened by ISIS advance in Iraq

Despite their problems with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Saudi leaders consider the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) a threat to the kingdom.

A fighter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul, June 23, 2014. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held crisis talks with leaders of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Tuesday urging them to stand with Baghdad in the face of a Sunni insurgent onslaught that threatens to dismember the country. Picture taken June 23, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3VIB1

Fars News objects to Arab media coverage of Iraq

Fars News has criticized Arab-language media coverage of Iraq, revealing some of Iran's concerns about the crisis.

Jordanian military helicopters fly near Ruweished, near Jordan's eastern border with Iraq, east of Amman June 23, 2014. Sunni tribesmen took control of a border crossing between Iraq and Jordan after Iraq's army pulled out of the area following clashes with rebels, Iraqi and Jordanian intelligence sources said on Monday. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3V9QN

Israel sees Jordan as buffer against regional 'madness'

Most Israeli security officials wonder how much longer Jordan can cope with the threats on its other borders.