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Iraq

March 8, 2026

Baghdad 1:41 pm

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Kurdish Peshmerga fighters affiliated with PAK train on Jan. 18, 2026, near Erbil, Iraq.

Why Israel's looking to Kurds to make gains against Iran regime

Israeli-Kurdish relations are rooted in a common struggle against Islamic extremism and the Kurds’ strategic presence across Turkey, Syria and Iran.

Osama Al Maqdoni / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

CIA, Mossad bolster Iran’s Kurds as US, Israel seek to ignite military revolt

Israel hopes Iran’s Kurds, and other minorities, will mobilize to help bring down the Iranian regime.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

A picture from the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan on Feb. 22, 2026.

Which 6 Kurdish groups could join the war in Iran?

Iranian Kurdish groups that recently formed an alliance could soon join the United States and Israel in their campaign against the Islamic Republic, Al-Monitor has learned.

A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) participates in a military drill in an outpost near Erbil, Kurdistan region of Iraq on Jan. 15, 2026.

Exclusive

US-backed Kurdish forces poised to enter Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan 'within days'

The CIA has reportedly been in contact with Iranian Kurdish armed groups since last year, as Israel has pressed for Kurdish engagement.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

Analysis

Kurds see opening yet remain wary as Trump seeks help to oust Iran regime

An Iranian Kurdish Peshmerga member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) inspects damage sustained at the Azadi Camp of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) following an Iranian cross-border attack in the town of Koye (Koysinjaq), in the east of Erbil district in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq on March 3, 2026. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, with the killing of Iran's supreme leader and the Islamic republic retaliated with barr

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Turkey to repatriate its ISIS fighters from Iraq as jihadis escalate Syria attacks

Women and children seen inside al-Hol camp, amongst them some 6,200 women and children from around 40 nationalities, and including relatives of suspected Islamic State jihadists in the desert region of Hasakah province on Jan. 25, 2026 in Al Hasakah, Syria.

Here is what to know about Kuwait-Iraq maritime dispute

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq.

US envoy Barrack oversees Chevron deal in Iraq amid Iran influence row

Barrack Sudani

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 picture taken on Nov. 7, 2021, shows government buildings inside Baghdad's Green Zone across the Tigris River, following an overnight drone attack.

Iraq reveals details on assassination attempt targeting PM

In its first press conference, the special committee responsible for investigating the drone attack on the house of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi released new details and its first public report.

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert speaks during a press conference on the upcoming elections, Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 5, 2021.

Head of UN Iraq mission tells Security Council no evidence of election fraud

In her briefing to the UN Security Council, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert confirmed that there is no evidence for election fraud as claimed by some of the political parties that lost the parliamentary elections and warned of dire consequences if crucial reforms are not implemented.

US soldiers patrol an area near Syria's northeastern Semalka border crossing with Iraq's Kurdish autonomous territory, on Nov. 1, 2021.

Islamic State down but not out in Syria and Iraq: Pentagon report

Also, Al-Monitor’s on-the-ground reporting on the security situations in Syria and Iraq, including the impact of the Turkish lira crisis on Idlib.

Demonstrators hold Iranian flags during a protest on Sept. 15, 2018, against the torching of the Iranian Consulate and the Hashed al-Shaabi party (Popular Mobilisation) headquarters during recent protests in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Iran-linked militia calls up thousands of volunteers to fight US forces

An IRGC-linked armed faction in Iraq has urged men across the country to take up arms against any US forces remaining after Dec. 31, claiming to have received tens of thousands of "calls" from citizens willing to help.

SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq flies hundreds back from Belarus border as EU adds sanctions

Iraq has brought back over 400 of its citizens who chose repatriation after weeks stranded in dire conditions on the Belarus border and failed attempts to enter the EU.

Supporters of the pro-Iran Hashid al-Shaabi alliance burn a banner bearing a crossed portrait of the special representative of the UN secretary-general's Assistance Mission for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

UN official speaks with Iraqi leaders to break post-election deadlock

Jeanine Antoinette Plasschaert, special representative of the secretary-general for Iraq, held talks with the head of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Qais al-Khazali, to settle the election results crisis.

Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi militia leader and Shiite Muslim cleric, gives a news conference in the central holy shrine city of Najaf, on Nov. 18, 2021.

Sadr calls for majority government, 'liquidation' of Iraqi militias

Sadr calls for forming majority government as the Iraqi President Barham Salih hosted a meeting with the prime minister and the judiciary head to discuss the current political deadlock and present initiatives for it.

SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images

Iraqi Kurdistan brings home migrants trapped at Belarus-Poland border

The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq said its constituents were lured into emigrating by criminal smugglers.

A member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), made up of an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters, removes an Islamic State group flag in the town of Tabqa, about 55 kilometres (35 miles) west of Raqa city, on April 30, 2017, as they advance in their battle for the group's de facto capital.

Attack on Syrian prison holding Iraqi Islamic State captives raises concerns

Local forces backed by coalition air support reportedly prevented an attack on a prison housing thousands of Islamic State operatives in northeastern Syria under Kurdish-led administration.

WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq to repatriate citizens stranded at Belarus border

The Iraqi announcement came as the European Union said it would step up sanctions on the Belarusian government and some airlines.

A picture taken on Nov. 12, 2021 shows migrants in a camp on the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region. - Hundreds of desperate migrants are trapped in freezing temperatures on the border and the presence of troops from both sides has raised fears of a confrontation.

Airlines suspend Belarus-bound travel for Middle East migrants

Turkish Airlines and Iraqi Airlines restricting flights to Minsk for citizens of Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Migrants at the Belarus-Poland border make fires to keep warm on Nov. 11, 2021.

Thousands of Iraqi, Syrian refugees shiver at Belarus-Poland border

Iraqi Yazidis, Syrian Kurds and others are trapped in miserable conditions on the border, caught in a dispute between Belarus and the European Union.