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

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Iraq

August 10, 2026

Baghdad 7:09 pm

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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

Iraqi Christians on a spiritual pilgrimage to the birthplace of biblical patriarch Abraham visit the ruins of Ur, southern Nassiriya province, about 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, November 22, 2013. About 150 Christians from the southern Iraqi city of Basra took part in the pilgrimage to the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, revered as the birthplace of Abraham. Picture taken November 22, 2013. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION TRAVEL) - RTX15SNW

Iraq moves to preserve Christian heritage, Syriac language

In light of the mass exodus of Christians from Iraq following the 2003 war, the government has initiated steps to teach Christian religious studies and the Syriac language in some public schools.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - JUNE 6: Dr. Ali Bayrakdar, a plastic surgeon at the Al Wasity Hospital , performs an operation on June 6, 2004 in Baghdad, Iraq. Bayrakdar is a specialist in reconstructive surgery and has done some pioneering work in his field. He and his team deal primarily with wounds sustained through the ongoing violence in Iraq and perform under severely strained conditions with inadequate medical facilities. An average doctor in his position can expect to earn around $350 to $400 a month. Bayrakdar'

Rising rate of plastic surgeries sparks debate in Iraq

Plastic surgery is on the rise in Iraq as more and more young women rebel against conservative social norms and traditions.

Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, waits for a meeting of the Iraqi National Council to recommence in Baghdad. Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, waits for a meeting of the Iraqi National Council to recommence in Baghdad September 4, 2004. An Iraqi Islamist group has said it tried to assassinate Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi this week and that four men died in the attack, Al Jazeera television said on Saturday. REUTERS/Samir Mizban/Pool - RTR9YVG

Chalabi: Anbar crisis sign of 'political failure' in Iraq

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Ahmed Chalabi shares his views on the upcoming elections, the economy and the de-Baathification law.

A tanker sails in Mediterranean past a jetty at the Ceyhan crude oil terminal near Turkey's southern coastal city of Adana, July 13, 2006. A four-billion dollar project, Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline, to carry oil from the Caspian Sea fields to western markets is inaugurated on Thursday in Ceyhan, southern Turkey. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas (TURKEY) - RTR1FGD4

Turkey defers to Baghdad on oil from Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has been conducting shuttle diplomacy between Baghdad and Ankara to facilitate an agreement.

Painted eggs and dried flowers decorate doorway in the Lalish temple
some 50 km north of Mosul, May 11, 2003. The Yezidi religion, seen by
its followers as the original Kurdish faith, is believed to date back
several thousand years and blends ideas from sources as diverse as
Zoroastrianism, Islam and Christianity. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
REUTERS

SZH/AS - RTRNBOT

Iraqis welcome Interfaith Harmony Week

As Iraq welcomed Interfaith Harmony Week at the beginning of February, there is a need to separate religion from state and reform school curricula in the country.

Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr (C) takes part in Friday prayers participated by Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim worshippers in a gesture of unity at the Abdul Qadir Gilani Mosque in Baghdad January 4, 2013. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION) - RTR3C3HZ

Sadr's sudden retirement shakes up Iraqi politics

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of a major Iraqi Shiite force, shocked the country by dissolving most of his political operation.

Residents walk past an election poster promoting Nada al-Sudani (R) and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, in Baghdad February 12, 2010. Nada al-Sudani will be running as a candidate of the State of Law party during the March 7 parliamentary poll. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR2A4ZB

Iraq’s politics of posters

A proliferation of political posters, especially of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as Iraq gears up for elections, brings back memories from Saddam Hussein's era.

A mass wedding organised by the government takes place in Baghdad
October 15, 2001. Many Iraqis opt for a mass marriage due to economic
restrictions. REUTERS/ Faleh Kheiber REUTERS

FK/FMS - RTRO628

Underage marriages growing in Iraqi cities

"Uneven" and underage marriage in Iraq, a long-standing tradition among rural communities, is now spreading to the cities and is accepted by many.

A resident buys a newspaper from a kiosk in Baghdad February 23, 2009. A boom in local media since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 has given Iraqis a choice between some 200 print outlets, 60 radio stations and 30 TV channels in Arabic, Turkmen, Syriac and two Kurdish dialects. Yet most media outlets remain dominated by sectarian and party patrons who use them for their own ends, and have yet to become commercially sustainable enterprises let alone watchdogs keeping government under scrutiny, the favoured Wes

Iraqi media also characterized by political, sectarian bias

Media outlets in Iraq have become widely recognized as platforms for propaganda to garner political support.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad January 12, 2014. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened on Sunday to cut central government funding for Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region if the Kurds pursued a drive to pipe oil exports to Turkey without Baghdad's approval. The Kurdistan Regional Government said last week that crude had begun to flow to Turkey and exports were expected to start at the end of this month and then rise in February and March. T

Iraqi politicians split on third term for Maliki

There are indications that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will run for a third term despite criticism and opposition from various political parties.

A worker from the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) checks boxes containing ballots during vote counting at an analysis centre in Basra, 420 km (261 miles) southeast of Baghdad April 21, 2013. Voter participation in Iraq's provincial election on Saturday was 50 percent of eligible voters, the country's electoral authorities said after poll stations closed. REUTERS/Atef Hassan (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTXYUKT

Iraqi election commission in spotlight

Although the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq has established itself as a relatively credible and transparent organization, there are concerns that the upcoming parliamentary elections could be plagued by fraud.

A Sunni Muslim fighter looks at a burning police vehicle during clashes in Ramadi January 2, 2014. Sunni Muslim fighters clashed on Thursday with Iraqi troops trying to regain control of two western cities, in a serious escalation of their confrontation with the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Tension has been running high in the Sunni-dominated province of Anbar since Iraqi police broke up a Sunni protest camp on Monday, leaving at least 13 people dead. REUTERS/Ali al-Mashhadani (

The political roots of the Anbar crisis

The current crisis in Iraq’s Anbar province can only be solved through a political solution.