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Iraq

October 10, 2025

Baghdad 12:34 pm

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BAGHDAD, IRAQ - MAY 30: A U.S. Army soldier looks onto Baghdad from a guardhouse on the perimeter of the International Zone on May 30, 2021 in Baghdad, Iraq. Coalition forces based in Baghdad's International Zone are part of the U.S.-led Military Advisor Group of 13 nations supporting the Iraqi Security Forces. The United States currently maintains 2,500 military personnel in Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. Alpha Company 769th brigade Engineer Battalion, Louisiana National Guard is providing for

US troops in Iraq shift to Erbil to focus on ISIS in Syria

The US mission against the Islamic State is relocating its headquarters and most of its troops from Baghdad to Erbil as the prime minister's coalition faces reelection in November.

Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gives a speech in Iraq's central holy shrine city of Najaf on Aug. 30, 2022.

Iraqi cleric Sadr says he is ready for ‘escalation’ as tensions heat up ahead of elections

Muqtada al-Sadr has reaffirmed his intention to boycott the November elections following an alleged assassination attempt against him, leaving the country's political future uncertain.

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 lists 4 Iran-backed Iraqi militias as foreign terrorist organizations

Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited the militias' repeated attacks on US and coalition forces across Iraq.

Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov is pictured in this undated image.

Israeli Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov released from captivity in Iraq

Tsurkov was kidnapped in Baghdad more than two years ago by the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah, prompting the US government and her family to work for her release.

Latest News

Senate bill threatens funds for US-Iraq military coordination amid troop drawdown

A member of the Iraqi security forces patrols the Iraq-Saudi Arabia border on Sept. 2, 2025.

Iraq announces ISIS network busted in West Africa: What to know

STEPHANE YAS/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Iraqi Kurdish factional feuds erupt anew with violent arrest of Lahur Talabani

Smoke billows over a neighborhood of Sulaimaniyah, east of the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, after security forces arrested opposition figure Lahur Sheikh Jangi, following several hours of armed clashes on Aug. 22, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

12 international, local firms bid to operate Iraq's Mosul airport destroyed by ISIS

An Iraqi Airways aircraft is parked at the gate at Baghdad airport on Feb. 20, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Pentagon Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Andrew Parasiliti

President and Chief Content Officer

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, national security

Suadad al-Salhy

In Baghdad, reporting on politics and security

Lyse Mauvais

In Amman, reporting on humanitarian crises

Workers dig out human remains at the Khasfa site near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where authorities have begun excavating a mass grave believed to contain thousands of victims of the Islamic State (IS) on Aug. 17, 2025.

Iraq begins exhuming ISIS mass grave at Al-Khasfa thought to hold 3,000+ victims

In 2024, Human Rights Watch said that hundreds of thousands of victims remain buried in mass graves across Iraq, including those killed under former President Saddam Hussein.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, in Baabda, east of Beirut, July 7, 2025.

Analysis

Lebanon key to Trump plan for turnaround in Middle East

The final "This Week" column reflects on US policy toward Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Gaza.

Andrew Parasiliti

By Andrew Parasiliti

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, national security

Sudani and Larijani

Iran security chief visits Iraq, Lebanon as Baghdad weighs pro-Iran militia law

Ali Larijani, who was recently appointed to head Iran’s top security body, has embarked on visits to Iraq and Lebanon as Baghdad faces US pressure to contain Iranian-backed groups.

Fighters with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) line up to put their weapons into a pit during a ceremony in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on July 11, 2025.

Kurdish militants return abducted Turkish agents as fragile peace push continues

The handover is seen as a confidence-building measure, as Erdogan seeks a deal with militants to secure Kurdish support for extending his presidency beyond 2028.

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images

Middle Eastern countries face new Trump tariffs: What to know

European and Asian markets fell again on Friday amid a broad selloff due to the economic uncertainty caused by the tariffs.

Iraqi workers tend to a pipe at the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline in Karkuk, northern Iraq, Dec. 1, 2000.

Why Turkey plans to end its 52-year oil pipeline deal with Iraq

The Turkish decree stipulated that the 1973 Turkey-Iraq Crude Oil Pipeline Agreement — along with all amendments to the deal — would be terminated effective July 27, 2026.

ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images

Over 10 years after ISIS takeover, Iraq's Mosul Airport reopens: What to know

The airport has been out of operation since the fall of the northern Iraqi city to the Islamic State in 2014.

SAFIN HAMID/AFP via Getty Images

Drone strike halts operations at Iraqi Kurdistan oil field: What to know

A second drone attack in as many days has suspended operations at an oil facility in Iraqi Kurdistan, with initial investigations pointing to Iran-aligned armed groups.

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - JUNE 25: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) speaks with President of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L), as they arrive for the North Atlantic Council Plenary Session on the second day of the 2025 NATO Summit on June 25, 2025 in The Hague, Netherlands. Among other matters, members are to approve a new defense investment plan that raises the target for defense spending to 5% of GDP. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Analysis

From Caucasus to Iraq: How Israel’s war hands Turkey edge over Iran

After the war with Israel, a wounded Iran opens new doors for Turkey from Iraq to the Caucasus, but advancing its agenda could rekindle their rivalry.

Ezgi Akin

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

US President Donald Trump holds up a chart while speaking during a “Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025, in Washington.

From Iraq to Algeria, Trump’s looming tariffs could target 4 MENA countries

The United States has a trade deficit with Iraq, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, according to the US government, prompting the president to send them letters warning of new tariffs.

An Iraqi Kurdish man holds a flag with the portrait of jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan during a demonstration in the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah on Oct. 10, 2019 against the Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria.

Turkey's spy chief heads for Iraq as PKK militants prepare to disarm

The planned weapons handover marks a major step in Turkey’s quiet bid to end the PKK’s decades-long insurgency and secure Kurdish political support for constitutional reform.

An Iraqi boy catches fish in the Tigris River in central Baghdad as the sun sets, on April 15, 2025.

Turkey gives drought-stricken Iraq more water in boost to PM Sudani

The agreement is expected to ease tensions and advance a joint infrastructure project linking Iraq’s Faw port to Turkey.