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

Iran cover image

Iraq

September 6, 2026

Baghdad 9:27 am

36°C

A man walks past a mural depicting oil pumps and the Venezuelan flag, with portraits of Venezuelan independence leader Simon Bolivar (L) and former late President Hugo Chavez (R), in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sept. 3, 2026.

Analysis

Could Trump’s oil push in Venezuela upend OPEC’s energy order?

Washington’s growing role in controlling the Latin American country's crude riches could help reshape an energy order centered on OPEC as the Hormuz crisis pressures Gulf exports.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

After gun found in lake, French police probe link to 2012 Iraqi family murder

A recently discovered Luger pistol may have been used in the mysterious 2012 killing of the al-Hilli family near the Alpine town of Chevaline in eastern France.

AFP via Getty Images

Iraq sentences kidnapper of US journalist Shelly Kittleson to 15 years: What to know

The first sentencing in relation to Shelly Kittleson’s abduction comes as Iraq moves to rein in Iran-backed militias.

Iraqi army troops patrol the Iraq-Saudi Arabia border

Iraq reinforces Saudi border security amid militia tensions: What to know

Iraq is sending the reinforcements in response to Iran-backed militia attacks and as it looks to build security ties with Riyadh.

Latest News

Iraq summons Iran envoy over 'Persian Gulf' post, Baghdad name origins: What to know

Fred TANNEAU / AFP via Getty Images

Exclusive

Iraq's Zaidi set to make European debut with Macron in France

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi delivers a speech in Baghdad, May 16, 2026.

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

Here comes Bibi!

Congress turns its attention away from other business this week as it prepares for the addres of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Arab artists depict violence in their paintings

Many Arab artists — Lebanese, Syrian and Iraqi — have been inserting terrorism and violence into their paintings, to show the world the suffering of the Arab peoples.

Militant Islamist fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq, a monitoring service said. The Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot previously known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), posted pictures online on Sunday of people waving black flags from cars and holding guns in the air, the SITE m

Islamic State conspiracy theories sway Iraqis

Past events in US-Iraqi relations and the prevalence of conspiracy theories spread by the media as well as politicians have led Iraqis to doubt the sincerity of the US fight against the Islamic State.

With eye on Mosul, coalition advisers train peshmerga

The international coalition against the Islamic State has provided weeks of training to prepare peshmerga fighters for a ground offensive to regain control of Mosul.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters keep watch 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: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR4MDFF

Kurds push for delay of Mosul attack

Some in Congress share concerns that Sunnis aren't ready to take on the Islamic State.

Volunteers from Mosul take part in military training as they prepare to fight against Islamic State militants, on the outskirts of Dohuk province January 24, 2015. REUTERS/Ari Jalal (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CONFLICT) - RTR4MQXV

America’s neglected asset in fight for Mosul

The Pentagon recently declared its 2015 plan to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State, an operation that may be effective only if the resistance groups already operating in Mosul are involved.

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter aims his weapon through a hole in a wall on the front line of fighting against Islamic State militants in the outskirts of Mosul January 30, 2015. REUTERS/Ari Jalal (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4NNTG

Flurry of IS attacks divert Iraqi army's attention

The Islamic State is taking advantage of the fact that the Iraqi army, the peshmerga and tribes are unable to establish a unified command against it by opening several fronts.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters walk with their weapons as they take control of the area, on the outskirts of Mosul February 6, 2015. REUTERS/Ari Jalal (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR4OJRR

Kurdish peshmerga, IS reach stalemate

The Kurdish peshmerga forces stationed in Mula Abdula are just a few meters away from the Islamic State militants subject to the international coalition’s airstrikes.

Labourers work at a construction site in Karrad district in Baghdad April 3, 2013. Thanks to a partial improvement of security and an oil boom, Iraqis' average incomes are rising sharply, and they are able to save more. But many of these savings are not being channelled into the stock market, where they could earn returns, or even into bank deposits, where they could be lent on to companies for fresh investment. Instead, they are going into real estate. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: BUSINESS REAL EST

Iraq's corruption continues unchecked

Corruption involving public contracts has become prevalent in Iraq since 2003 and is difficult to stop because government officials are benefitting from it.

Security personnel surround the vehicle of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as it leaves Baghdad's Sadr city November 26, 2006. Angry fellow Shi'ites threw rocks at Maliki's motorcade during his visit on Sunday to pay his respects to some of the 202 victims of last week's devastating bombing. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ) - RTR1JQ7U

Traffic snarls, violence accompany Iraqi motorcades

The Iraqi prime minister has taken steps to confront the ministerial and official convoys that often act as though they are above the law, but the problems the enormous security details cause are unlikely to end.

Photographers and members of the media watch the Syrian town of Kobani from atop a hill on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 15, 2014. American-led forces sharply intensified air strikes against Islamic State fighters threatening Kurds on Syria's Turkish border on Monday and Tuesday after the jihadists' advance began to destabilise Turkey. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (TURKEY - Tags: CONFLICT POLITICS) - RTR4A8TR

Kurdish journalists use IS media strategy to their advantage

Kurdish journalists are trying to counter Islamic State propaganda by showing the world the horrors that the group has committed.

A professor gives a lecture to students at the College of Administration and Economy in Baghdad University March 16, 2009. Iraqi academics who fled abroad from violence and oppression are trickling back home in response to pleas from their government -- but they are finding jobs few and the welcome far from warm. Many waited years for Saddam Hussein to fall, and longer for sectarian violence, triggered by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, to end. Picture taken March 16, 2009. To match Feature IRAQ/ACADEMICS

Bogus university graduates clog Iraqi job market

Iraqi university graduates are finding it increasingly difficult to get jobs because unrecognized universities are essentially selling advanced degrees.