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Iraq

March 4, 2026

Baghdad 7:02 pm

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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

Analysis

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

As the US and Israel escalate strikes on Iran, Trump has opened talks with Iraqi Kurdish leaders about their potential involvement in the conflict.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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.

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

Ankara will repatriate its nationals from among thousands of fighters transferred from Syria, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said.

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

Here is what to know about Kuwait-Iraq maritime dispute

Arab Gulf countries expressed support for Kuwait’s sovereignty after Iraq sent a revised map of its maritime borders that reignited a decades-old dispute over sea boundaries between the two neighbors.

Barrack Sudani

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

The Trump administration is maintaining pressure on Iraq over the nomination of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the influence of Iran-backed militias in the country.

Latest News

US court overturns Trump global tariffs: What it means for MENA

Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Analysis

Despite warnings from Israel's defense elite, Netanyahu pushes for Iran strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands amid debris outside the Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba, after it was hit by a missile fired from Iran on June 19, 2025. Israel's defence minister warned that Iran's supreme leader "can no longer be allowed to exist" after a hospital was hit in an Iranian missile strike on June 19, spiking tensions in the week-old war. (Photo by Marc Israel SELLEM / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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

In letter, US lays out 7 demands for next Iraqi PM, with emphasis on Iran

Iraqis raise their flags during a protest at the entrance to the Hanging Bridge, one of the entrances to the Green Zone in Baghdad on Jan. 28, 2026.

Analysis

Can Maliki overcome Trump opposition to reclaim Iraq’s PM post?

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki delivers a speech during a campaign rally for the State of Law Coalition ahead of the country's parliamentary elections in Baghdad on Nov. 7, 2025.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

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

Iraqis inspect the destruction caused by an explosion at the entrance of a monastery in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, 06 January 2008. Bombs exploded today outside two churches and a monastery in Mosul, wounding four people and slightly damaging the buildings, police said. AFP PHOTO/MUJAHED MOHAMMED (Photo credit should read MUJAHED MOHAMMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Ninevah monastery hopes for liberation

Past regular visitors to St. George's Monastery, north of Mosul, have been saddened and horrified by the acts of destruction by Islamic State members at the site.

A billboard is seen as smoke rises from a clash with Islamic State militants in the town of al-Alam March 9, 2015. Just north of Tikrit, home city of executed Sunni former president Saddam Hussein, Iraqi security forces and Shi?ite militia fighters began an offensive to regain control over the town of al-Alam. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4SNWP

Iraq's Rambo fights against IS

An Iraqi fighter who goes by the name "Abu Azrael" has been made into a legendary, fierce Shiite fighter by the Iraqi media in its coverage of the battle against the Islamic State.

Syrian women walk along an agriculture field after finishing their work in the Lebanese village of Ammiq in west Bekaa March 2, 2015. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - Tags: SOCIETY IMMIGRATION BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT AGRICULTURE) - RTR4RSZD

Al-Monitor highlights diversity of Islamic feminism

Al-Monitor’s monthlong series on women concludes; Lebanese foreign minister appeals to UN Security Council for protection of Christians; members of Congress seek "formal dialogue" on future of Turkish democracy; the fault lines in Aleppo; have Israeli elections sparked long-stalled Palestinian reconciliation?; Ali Hashem profiles self-proclaimed Islamic State Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Saddam Hussein speaks to the Presiding Judge Rizgur Ameen Hana Al-Saedi as his trial begins in a heavily fortified courthouse in Baghdad's Green Zone October 19, 2005. Behind Saddam on his immediate right is Awad Hamad al-Badar, while in the second row are (R to L) Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid and Taha Yassin Ramadan. In the third row are (R to L) Ali Dayim Ali, Mohammed Azawi. A defiant Saddam went on trial on Wednesday for crimes against humanity over the killing of more than 140 Shi'ites more than two decade

Saddam Hussein's tomb haunts Tikrit residents

Iraqis have been obsessing about Saddam Hussein’s body and the fate of his legacy.

Iraq's army chief General Babakir Zebari (R) meets with U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the defence ministry in Baghdad November 15, 2014. The top U.S. military officer, Dempsey, arrived on Saturday in Baghdad on an unannounced visit as U.S. commanders prepare to expand American assistance to Iraqi and Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR4E9AP

Iraq accepts international support in its war against IS

Iraqis should dismiss criticism against the US role in the war against the Islamic State, because this war is international and the country needs any help it can get, whether foreign or local.

Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) leaves a Republican caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington August 1, 2014. A bill to fund border security blew up in House Speaker John Boehner's face on Thursday, leaving Republicans in disarray and struggling to reconcile Tea Party demands with the need to deal with a humanitarian crisis on the southwestern border with Mexico. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY IMMIGRATION) - RTR40XQR

Will Congress arm Iraqi Kurds?

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs panel is lining up support for his bid to bypass Baghdad.

Residents buy vegetables in a market in Baghdad's Karrada district August 14, 2012. Iraq relies on imports from neighbours like Syria, Turkey and Iran for 95 percent of its consumer goods. Syria in particular is a key supplier of manufactured goods, fresh vegetables and fruit. But as an uprising there against President Bashar al-Assad grinds through its 17th month, the supply of Syrian goods to Iraq is slowly drying up as Syrian businesses are forced to close and trucks struggle to cross borders that have s

Imported goods crowd out local production in Iraq

Flooded with imported goods, the Iraqi market is grappling with a serious lack of local products, due to the displacement of farmers, lack in government control and almost absent support for the domestic industry.

Fighters from the Shi'ite Badr Brigade militia stand near their flag as they guard at a checkpoint along a highway recently taken from militants of the Islamic State, outside the town of Sulaiman Pek September 5, 2014. The highway, which continues south to Baghdad, is now controlled by Shi'ite militia fighters and the Kurdish Peshmerga. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR454AO

Is the Shiite revival here?

Iran's support of religiously motivated forces in the Middle East has been viewed by many as a success while Saudi Arabia has struggled to find find reliable proxies.

Shi'ite fighters known as Hashid Shaabi walk as smoke rises from an explosives-laden military vehicle driven by an Islamic State suicide bomber which exploded during an attack on the southern edge of Tikrit March 12, 2015. Iraqi security forces and mainly Shi'ite militia exchanged fire sporadically with 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. A Reuters photographer saw one car bomb explode on

PM Barzani: Shiite militias should be regulated

In an interview with Al-Monitor, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani addresses the fight against IS, the rise of the Iraqi Shiite militias and relations with Baghdad.

A police officer stands guard in front of the Bardo Museum in Tunis March 24, 2015. The national museum reopened on Tuesday, almost a week after a militant attack which killed 20 foreign visitors. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi - RTR4UMIW

The Islamic State in Africa

The Islamic State presence in the depth of the African continent was strengthened after Nigerian movement Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the terrorist group.

Shi'ite fighters chant slogans as they advance into the town of Tal Ksaiba, near the town of al-Alam, March 7, 2015. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT)

Thaier Al-Sudani: "It was me and a few other Iraqi journalists working for local outlets. We went to the frontlines in coordination with the Iraqi government forces and supporting militias.

The press officer would come in the morning and take us to the frontline in a convoy.

Whenever an area was won from Islamic Sta

Iran wages psychological war against IS

Iran is waging a psychological war against the Islamic State in Iraq, promoting and highlighting the prominent role of Iraqi fighters among the country's paramilitary groups.

A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video. There had previously been reports on social media that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would make his first public appearance since his Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) changed its name to the Islamic S

The many names of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Al-Monitor traces the journey that led an unremarkable religious student to become head of the Islamic State and self-proclaimed Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.