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Iraq

August 18, 2026

Baghdad 8:12 am

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Smoke rises after explosions were heard and air defences activated near the airport in Erbil, on July 24, 2026.

Explainer

Why Iran targeted Barzani family stronghold in Iraqi Kurdistan

Iran’s Kurdish opposition groups have turned Iraqi Kurdistan into a frontline in the war.

A man inspects the damage at the site of a strike in Bartalla, in the northern Iraq's Nineveh province, after US-Saudi attacks on militias, July 29, 2026.

Iraq intel and security officials visit Saudi Arabia after drone attacks

Iraqi authorities are cracking down on drone attacks after US and Saudi airstrikes targeted Iran-backed militias in the country.

The commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Esmail Qaani, speaks during a commemoration ceremony marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani (on screen) in the capital Tehran on Jan. 3, 2024.

Analysis

What Qaani's Baghdad visit reveals about Iran's post-war dilemma

The Quds Force commander's Baghdad visit is occurring as Iran faced difficult choices in Iraq where the government is moving to bring powerful armed groups under state control after the recent war.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Latest News

IRGC chief Qaani reportedly in Iraq ahead of militia deadline

Qaani

Analysis

How Turkey is deepening energy and economic ties with Iraq as Iran weakens

a worker inspects an oil field in Iraq

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Iraqi Kurdish president’s meeting with Syria’s Sharaa signals shift in SDF dynamics

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in Damascus, Aug. 3, 2026. IKRPresident/X

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

This photo taken during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State shows US soldiers clearing rubble at Ain al-Asad military air base, Anbar province, Iraq, Jan. 13, 2020.

Islamic State uses hit-and-run tactics in Iraq

Islamic State cells continue to target Sunni areas while armed groups thought to be close to Iran step up attacks on facilities hosting international coalition forces.

Shahmardnan Amirov, the project co-director, at work on the sounding with the Iraqi official representative Amjad Neama.

Archaeological digs unearths new details of 4,000-year-old city in Iraq

An Iraqi-Russian team accomplished the first soundings of a previously unexcavated ancient settlement about 4,000 years old in Iraq's Dhi Qar governorate.

An Iraqi man works at a generator subscription distribution room in Sadr City, east of the capital, Baghdad, on July 2, 2021.

Iraq invests in clean energy

Iraq is investing in clean energy to produce electricity, especially solar energy, which is almost available throughout the year in various regions of the country.

pmu march in baghdad

The Takeaway: Does Iran want to scuttle nuclear deal talks with militia attacks in Iraq?

Also: Fresh reporting from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Gaza; high oil prices may undercut GCC reforms; a cure for termites in Egypt; and more.

AYMAN HENNA/AFP via Getty Images

Iraqi government calls militia's attack on US base terrorism

Militia attacks on US bases in Iraq have risen and the government is beginning to treat them as terror groups.

A picture taken on January 13, 2020, during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State, shows a bulldozer clearing debris from Ain al-Asad military air base in the western Iraqi province of Anbar.

Militias launch spate of attacks on US positions in Iraq

Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base was hit with the second rocket attack in just over 48 hours.

land near Baghdad airport

Iraq plans new city next to capital

In order to find solutions to the chaos in Baghdad due to overpopulation, the Iraqi government plans to launch a new city next to the capital.

Iraqi riot police protect the Turkish embassy in Baghdad on Feb. 18, 2021 after calls on social media to gather outside the Turkish embassy to protest Turkey's vows to invade the northwestern enclave of Sinjar.

Turkey’s anti-PKK assault leaves Kurds more divided

Turkey’s unremitting assault against the PKK is destabilizing Iraqi Kurdistan, weakening the rebels on the one hand while bolstering support for them among disaffected locals on the other.

A picture taken on January 13, 2020, during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State, shows a view of the damage at Ain al-Asad military air base housing US and other foreign troops in the western Iraqi province of Anbar.

Pro-Iran militias increase attacks, rhetoric against foreign troops

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has called on the United States and Iran "to avoid settling scores in Iraq."

This picture taken during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State shows a bulldozer clearing debris from Ain al-Asad military air base in the western province of Anbar, Iraq, Jan. 13, 2020.

US Embassy, Ain al-Asad base targeted in Iraq as militias up tension

Following the US strike on militias' bases last week, the US Embassy and Ain al-Asad base were targeted by a drone and rockets.

The sun sets behind electrical grids in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah in the Dhi Qar province, on Jan. 3, 2021.

Islamic State suspected of sabotaging Iraqi electrical towers

Power transmission towers have recently been targeted in Iraq, which already is suffering from major electricity shortages.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to AFP about the strikes on two major Saudi oil facilities that were claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels but which both Washington and Riyadh have blamed on Tehran, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 16, 2019.

Iraq to enhance cooperation with NATO

As Iraq aims to rebuild its security institutions, the cooperation with NATO increases.