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Iraq

March 11, 2026

Baghdad 9:18 pm

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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

An Iraqi walks past a provincial elections campaign billboard in Baghdad, April 18, 2013. Iraq will hold its provincial elections on Saturday. The billboard reads, "coalition of state of law, determination and construction". REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: SOCIETY POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTXYQSD

Iraqi elections will be about Maliki

Iraqi electoral coalitions are expected to fragment before the upcoming general election in April 2014.

Iraqi Shi'ite radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (L) attends a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) during his visit to Najaf, 160km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, November 11, 2013. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX1597Z

Turkey's approach toward Iraq's Shiites will reduce sectarianism

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has visited the holy Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala, as Ankara shifts its approach toward Iraqi Shiites.

Security and residents inspect the site where a car bomb exploded in front of the gold-domed Shi'ite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab in southern Damascus, June 14, 2012. A car bomb exploded in a car park in southern Damascus, near the gold-domed Shi'ite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, activists and state media said.The powerful blast caused a deep crater in the tarmac and wrecked several buses, smashing windows of cars across a wide area. Two people were wounded, state news agency SANA reported. REUTERS/Sana/Handout (SY

Some Iraqis remain in Damascus despite war

Many Iraqis who live in Syria prefer to stay despite the war, because they consider the killings in Baghdad to be more "random."

Iraqi security services infiltrated by terrorists

Extremist militias are acquiring official security and military uniforms and equipment which allow them to further compromise the country’s already unstable security situation.

EDITOR'S NOTE: REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY CONTENT THE VIDEO FROM WHICH THIS STILL IMAGE WAS TAKEN.
Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri speaks from an unknown location, in this still image taken from video uploaded on a social media website June 8, 2011. Osama bin Laden's longtime lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, said the United States faces rebellion throughout the Muslim world after killing the al Qaeda leader, according to a 28-minute YouTube recording posted on Wednesday. In what a

Internal disagreements could lead to al-Qaeda split

Recent disagreements between al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi could lead to major splits within the organization.

Kiss sparks debate in Iraqi Kurdistan

On the charred remains of a modern symbol of love in the Iraqi Kurdistan city of Sulaimaniyah, a young couple sparked a public debate about the religious versus secular nature of Iraqi Kurdish society.

People sit in the back of a truck as they celebrate what they said was the liberation of villages from Islamist rebels near the city of Ras al-Ain in the province of Hasakah, after capturing it from Islamist rebels November 6, 2013. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said Kurdish militias had seized the city of Ras al-Ain and all its surrounding villages. Syrian Kurdish fighters have captured more territory from Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria

Does Washington have a policy toward Syria’s Kurds?

The view from Washington about US policy toward Syria may be more confusing than it looks from Turkey.

Protesters demand that the pensions of parliamentarians be cancelled during a demonstration in Kerbala, 110 km (68 miles) south of Baghdad, August 31, 2013. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Baghdad and central and southern Iraq on Saturday against generous pension payments to lawmakers in a county where many are still struggling to get jobs and basic services. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT SOCIETY CIVIL UNREST) - RTX132K4

Small victory for Iraqi civil society on pension law

While civil activists successfully brought an end to unfair parliamentary salaries and pensions last month, many gaps in Iraqi law persist.

A Kurdish security forces member stands guard outside a polling station after its closing in Arbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, about 350 km (217 miles) north of Baghdad, September 21, 2013. Iraqi Kurds voted on Saturday for a new parliament that analysts said was poised to lead the oil-producing region further down the road to greater autonomy from Baghdad. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ - Tags: ELECTIONS POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTX13TNL

Iraqi Kurdistan more vulnerable to Al-Qaeda attacks

The war in Syria, including the spread of radical Islamist terrorists, is spilling over into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Monumental Assyrian works stand in a gallery of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The authorities closed the museum and removed most of its other treasures to secret hiding places during the 1990-91 Gulf crisis, but are now considering plans with UNESCO to put them back on show. (Picture taken 30NOV98) - RTXHUYE

Iraqi debate over Baghdad as Arab cultural capital

As events to recognize Baghdad as the Arab Capital of Culture for 2013 get underway, Iraqis artists and creative producers express their discontent with the Ministry of Culture .

A boy carries a AK47 rifle at the Chebayesh marsh in Nassiriya, 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, February 15, 2013. The Marsh Arabs who had farmed this area for thousands of years, were badly affected by a campaign mounted by the government of Saddam Hussein in the 1990s to destroy their lifestyle. The marshes were drained of water, and hundreds of thousands of Marsh Arabs were forced to flee to cities, where they live in poverty, the locals in this area said. Picture taken February 15. REUTERS/T

Iraqi children face poverty, violence, exploitation

Iraq's children are the victims of widespread poverty, political dysfunction and sectarian violence.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu after a news conference in Ankara November 1, 2013. Turkey and Iran said on Friday they had common concerns about the increasingly sectarian nature of Syria's civil war, signalling a thaw in a key Middle Eastern relationship strained by stark differences over the conflict. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX14WOL

The return of Turkey’s 'zero problems' policy

Turkey rebuilds ties to Iran and Iraq and faces the realization that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will likely be part of the transition in Syria.