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Iraq

March 12, 2026

Baghdad 3:36 am

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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.

US warns of kidnapping threat in Iraq as Iran-backed militia hits diplomatic facility

A number of US-related sites have been targeted by Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, prompting Baghdad to bolster its air defenses.

The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on Nov. 24, 2025.

Exclusive

Baghdad, US turn to Iraqi Kurds for oil exports as Iran war hits supplies

Baghdad wants Kurdish pipelines to move up to 200,000 barrels per day to global markets, but Erbil is demanding relief from a dollar embargo and greater autonomy over trade.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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

Latest News

Which 6 Kurdish groups could join the war in Iran?

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

Exclusive

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

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.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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.

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

What's next for Turkish-Iraqi ties after deadly drone strike?

The killing of Iraqi border guards in a Turkish drone strike undermines Baghdad’s traditional flexibility toward Ankara at a time when Turkey’s Arab adversaries are seeking to draw Iraq to their side.

Iraqis wearing protective masks leave after shopping at the Mall of Baghdad as it reopens after a long closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the Al-Harithiya area of the capital Baghdad, on July 19, 2020. (Photo by SABAH ARAR / AFP) (Photo by SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq again breaks daily COVID-19 record

The outbreak is worst in Baghdad, Erbil and Basra.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY NICOLAS CHEVIRON Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) rebels man a security checkpoint on October 28, 2009 near a PKK base in the Qandil mountains, near Rania province, in northern Iraq. From their bases in northern Iraq, the Kurdish guerilla movement is defying recent overtures of the Turkish government to reconcile with Turkey's 15 million Kurds, saying it is ready to wage a 50-year war against Ankara. AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AFP

Turkey says it will continue attacks on PKK after Iraqi border guards killed

A Turkish drone strike targeting the Kurdistan Workers Party left two Iraqi border guards and their driver dead on Tuesday.

Iraqi detainees leave the prison after being freed on February 28, 2013 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. 160 prisoners were freed today and Iraq has freed 4,000 prisoners since the beginning of 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said Thursday, in an apparent bid to placate protesters in Sunni areas of the country. AFP/ PHOTO/ ALI AL-SAADI (Photo credit should read ALI AL-SAADI/AFP via Getty Images)

In dramatic move, Iraqi PM visits prisons in response to protester appeals

The Iraqi government is under pressure to reveal the fate of persons unaccounted for and those detained in secret prisons.

The Bayraktar TB2 drone is pictured flying on December 16, 2019 at Gecitkale Airport in Famagusta in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). - The Turkish military drone was delivered to northern Cyprus today amid growing tensions over Turkey's deal with Libya that extended its claims to the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean. The Bayraktar TB2 drone landed in Gecitkale Airport in Famagusta around 0700 GMT, an AFP correspondent said, after the breakaway northern Cyprus government approve

Iraq tells Turkey defense minister to stay away after its officers killed in drone strike

Iraq cancelled a planned Baghdad visit by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and summoned the Turkish ambassador after a a Turkish drone attack killed two senior Iraqi officials.

Iraq's Kurdistan Region recording highest-ever daily COVID-19 cases

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been hard hit by both the coronavirus and the economic impact of the lockdowns, as a top politician announces he has contracted the virus.

What are vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris' views on the Middle East?

Joe Biden's running mate has views on Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Syria that fall in line with the Democratic party establishment.

Turkish helicopters fly over the Cudi mountain during an attack on an outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camp 30 October 2007 in the Cudi mountains, Sirnak province, near the Turkish-Iraqi border, south-eastern Turkey. Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani has urged Turkish Kurd rebels to renounce violence, but insisted he will take no "orders" from Turkey to crack down on their bases in the autonomous northern Iraqi region he administers. AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AF

Turkish drone strike kills two senior Iraqi officers, army says

Officials say the Tuesday strike targeted a meeting between Iraqi border officials and Kurdish militants.

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on August 4, 2020, shows a boy sits on a school bench after his village and school were flooded by the Ilosu Dam separating the newly constructed Hasankeyf town from the remains of the ancient town of the same name and its archaeological sites which were flooded as part of the Ilõsu Dam project located along the Tigris River in the Batman Province in southeastern Turkey. - Despite years of protests by residents and activists, the town on the banks of the Tigris River disappeared

What trump cards is Iraq pulling against Turkey to secure water quota?

Turkey refuses to abide by the protocols and treaties signed with Iraq on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers acting as if they are local rivers.

A man sits in fishing boat in the water of Shatt al-Arab in Iraq's southern port city of al-Faw, 90 kilometres south of Basra near the Gulf, on May 18, 2020. - In Iraq, a national lockdown to halt the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has found some unexpected fans: local businesses who no longer have to compete with Turkish, Iranian or Chinese imports. Those countries, as well as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, typically flood Iraqi markets with inexpensive products at prices local producers can't compete wit

Iraq's al-Faw port project's endless delays

The al-Faw grand port project has been long delayed due to financial problems, among other issues.

Tribal assassinations spark Iraqi-Syrian border concern

The assassination of a prominent tribal figure and reports of continuing smuggling of individuals from Syria into Iraq have raised concerns on both sides of the border.

Turkey strikes PKK targets in Iraqi Kurdistan Sulaimaniyah province

It is less common for Turkey to bomb the Kurdish armed group there. More of the Turkey-PKK conflict in Iraq takes place in Dahuk near the Turkish border.