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Iraq

October 12, 2026

Baghdad 7:23 pm

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Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters arrive in the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk on May 14, 2013, after leaving Turkey as part of a peace drive with Ankara.

Explainer

PKK pulls out of Metina in northern Iraq amid Turkey peace process

The withdrawal comes as the peace process between Turkey and the militant group gains momentum alongside increasing security cooperation between Ankara and Baghdad.

Demonstrators ride through a street while waving Syrian flags

Analysis

Why Syria and Iraq are taking different approaches to armed groups

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

A man walks past a closed foreign exchange office in Baghdad on October 7, 2026. Iraq's central bank devalued the dinar currency against the dollar on October 7, with the country facing a deepening crisis brought on by the Middle East war. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq devalues dinar 13% as Hormuz disruption hits oil revenue

The central bank said in a statement that it had revised the official exchange rate to 1,520 Iraqi dinars per dollar from around 1,320.

A member of the Iraqi security forces flashes the victory sign during a military parade

Explainer

What Iraq’s US troop withdrawal means for security after Kirkuk killings

As Iraq assumes full responsibility for its security following the coalition’s withdrawal, a disputed counterterrorism operation in Kirkuk is raising questions about accountability, public trust and lingering security gaps.

Latest News

Analysis

After US exit, Iran gains space in Iraq and a harder balancing act

Members of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) paramilitary forces stand guard during an election rally for the "Asaib Ahl al-Haq" movement in the capital Baghdad, on October 7, 2021.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Trump’s integration policies build on Gulf, Turkey ties and Syria success

US President Donald Trump meets Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) on the sidelines of the NATO Summit at Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, on July 8, 2026.

Iraq announces Iran flights to resume: What to know

An Airbus A321 airliner arrives at the Mehrabad international airport during the delivery of the first batch of planes to the Iranian state airline Iran Air in the capital Tehran on Jan. 12, 2017.

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

People from the minority Yazidi sect take refuge in a building in Shikhan January 19, 2015. Islamic State has hounded ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq since seizing the city of Mosul in June, killing and displacing thousands of Christians, Shi'ite Shabaks and Turkmen who lived for centuries in one of the most diverse parts of the Middle East. Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls have been captured, raped and tortured, and forced to convert to Islam and marry Islamic State followers, according

What Iraq needs to do to protect minorities

The alliance of Iraq’s minorities is a step to prevent Iraq from being totally stripped of its minorities.

A Kurdish flag is seen as a member of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces stands guard at a security point on Bashiqa mountain, overlooking Islamic State held territories of Mosul, 12 km northeast of Mosul City, March 7, 2015. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR4SF4S

Turkey’s joint front with Sunni Arabs, Kurds

Ankara is developing a joint front with the Sunni Arabs and Kurds, and refuses to withdraw its troops from the Mosul area.

Riot police stand in front of protesters during a demonstration against Turkish military deployment in Iraq, in Najaf, Iraq, December 12, 2015. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani - RTX1YDSC

Turkey misfires in Iraq

Turkey’s military deployment near Mosul provokes widespread opposition and sends Russia-Turkey ties into a further downward spiral; Turkey’s Kurds face "unrealistic prospect" for democracy; Barzani on the spot as a result of KRG alignment with Turkey; Russia slams Saudi hosting of Syrian opposition.

Are Turkey and Iran reviving a 16th century conflict?

Turkey's Iraq policy can be traced back to its rivalry with Iran in Mesopotamia centuries ago.

With the Islamic State gone from Sinjar, Kurdish groups battle for control

After Sinjar was liberated from the Islamic State, a new conflict arose among Kurdish parties as to who should administer the area.

Kurdish peshmerga take part in a training session during German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen's visit at a camp in Banslawa in Arbil, north of Baghdad, October 27, 2015. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that the government will look into sending more weapons to Peshmerga fighting Islamic State in Iraq. Von der Leyen has been in Iraq since late, she also paid a visit to a camp in Banslawa where German soldiers are currently training around 30 young Kurdish fighters. REUTERS/Azad lash

House panel approves peshmerga bill that Baghdad deems 'unwise and unnecessary'

The House Foreign Affairs panel voted to directly arm Kurdish forces.

Turkish soldiers in a tank and an armored vehicle patrol on the road to the town of Beytussebab in the southeastern Sirnak province, Turkey, September 28, 2015. Five children were wounded on Monday when a bomb tore through a street in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, hospital officials said, where deadly clashes in recent weeks have followed the collapse of ceasefire by Kurdish militants. A separate blast in the town of Tatvan wounded five soldiers when their vehicle passed over an explosive left in a ditch

Ankara's Mosul miscalculation

Even Turkmens are unhappy with Turkey’s moves in Mosul, and Ankara may have made a serious misjudgment.

Shi'ite fighters, known as Hashid Shaabi, clash with Islamic State militants, as one tries to put a Shi'ite flag in the ground, in northern Tikrit, March 12, 2015. Iraqi security forces and mainly Shi'ite militia fought Islamic State fighters in Tikrit on Thursday, a day after they pushed into Saddam Hussein's home city in their biggest offensive yet against the militants. Picture taken March 12, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4T6WJ

Iraq's war of flags

A struggle over flags has emerged in Iraq, where the various forces fighting the Islamic State seek to promote their own identities and are desecrating the symbols of rival groups.

Iraqi security forces stand guard with their military vehicle outside the Turkish embassy in Baghdad December 8 2015. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily - RTX1XPHA

Why is Turkey stirring the Iraqi cauldron?

The wisdom and real motives of Turkey dispatching troops to northern Iraq is a topic of hot debate.

Kurdish peshmerga forces stand in the street after Yazidi people loot houses in the town of Sinjar, Iraq November 16, 2015. Before it was overrun by Islamic State, Sinjar and the surrounding villages were home to about 200,000 people, mainly Kurdish and Arab Muslims - both Sunni and Shi'ite - as well as Christians and Yazidis, a faith that combines elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions. Now the town is largely deserted. But in a row of houses used by Islamic State fighters, there were signs o

Arab-Kurd conflict heats up after Tuz Khormato incidents

Factions in Iraq seem more worried about staking claims to territory and power than in fighting the Islamic State, and the result could be a prolonged civil war.

Turkish soldiers stand guard at a check point on the main road between Mardin and Cizre near the southeastern town of Midyat, Turkey, September 9, 2015. A deteriorating security situation in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast where a ceasefire between government forces and Kurdish insurgents has broken down, will make it difficult to hold an election planned for November, the head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said on Wednesday. Turkey's southeast has seen almost daily clashes between mi

Turkey sticks its neck out again, this time in Iraq

Ankara’s unusually loud public acknowledgement of sending reinforcement soldiers into Iraq shows Turkey hopes to establish its own territory there.

People participate in a pro-refugee protest organized by Americans for Refugees and Immigrants in Seattle, Washington November 28, 2015. REUTERS/Jason Redmond - RTX1WAIZ

Congress focuses on Islamic State threat from Europe

A look at the Middle East issues Congress will be addressing the week of Dec. 7.