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Iraq

August 18, 2026

Baghdad 6:36 pm

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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.

Latest News

Analysis

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

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.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

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

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

Iraqi security forces kill senior Islamic State commander

Iraq's military said Abu Yaser al-Issawi was killed in a counterterrorism operation outside Kirkuk.

Pope Francis, Shiite leader al-Sistani to meet in historic Iraq trip

Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are scheduled to meet in the Iraqi city of Najaf during the first papal visit to the country.

Iraq is planning to host Gulf Cup soccer tournament

Adnan Dirjal, Iraq's minister of youth and sports, has gotten the ministry to promote health and fitness and is spearheading the nation's bid to host the 25th Arab Gulf Cup in Basra.

A picture taken on January 30, 2020, shows a collection of Ushabtis or funerary figurines discovered among many archeological finds in 3000-year-old communal tombs dedicated to high priests, in Al-Ghoreifa in Tuna al-Jabal in the Minya governorate. - Egypt's antiquities ministry unveiled 16 tombs of ancient high priests containing 20 sarcophagi, including one dedicated to the sky god Horus, discovered at the archaeological site, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Cairo. The shared tombs were dedicate

Egypt agrees to help Iraq recover looted antiquities

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced its readiness to cooperate with Iraq in recovering its stolen and looted antiquities, especially from Turkey, where the looted Iraqi artifacts are displayed in museums.

Iraqi youths watch an event celebrating the inauguration of a street named after the late Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in the southern city of Basra on January 8, 2021, more than a year after a US drone strike killed Iran's revered commander Qasem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Muhandis (image) near the capital. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP) (Photo by HUSSEIN FALEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraqi Kurdish officials call Iran's Soleimani film 'insult' to Peshmerga

Peshmerga that fought on the front lines against the Islamic State see the film as an "insult and belittling the role of Peshmergas."

Iraq's reform budget heads to parliament

Parliament is debating the 2021 budget, which is the first budget drafted based on the White Paper for economic reform.

Turkish National Defence Minister Hulusi Akar gives a press conference at the ministry in Ankara on January 13, 2021. (Photo by Arif AKDOGAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ARIF AKDOGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Will Turkish defense minister’s Iraq visit yield concrete results?

Although Turkey's defense minister seems to be satisfied with the outcome of his recent visit to Baghdad and Erbil, there are several impediments to Turkey's security demands.

Iraqi mourners carry the coffin of a victim who was killed in a twin suicide bombing in central Baghdad, during a funeral in the holy city of Najaf on January 21, 2021. - A rare twin suicide bombing killed 32 people and wounded 110 at a crowded market in central Baghdad, Iraq's government said, the city's deadliest attack in three years.
The first attacker drew a crowd at the bustling market in the capital's Tayaran Square by claiming to feel sick, then detonated his explosives belt, the interior ministry s

Iraqi PM vows security changes after Baghdad bombing

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi also sacked a number of Iraqi security officials within hours of the attacks.

A picture shows the scene of a twin suicide bombing on a bustling commercial street in the heart of Baghdad on January 21, 2021. - The toll in a twin suicide bombing in an open-air Baghdad market morning topped 20 dead and 40 wounded, an interior ministry official told AFP. The ministry said the first suicide bomber had rushed into the market and claimed to feel sick, so that people would gather around him. He then detonated his explosives. (Photo by Sabah ARAR / AFP) (Photo by SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Imag

Dozens killed in Baghdad suicide bombings

It is unclear who was behind the twin attacks in a crowded part of Baghdad. Such incidents are less common in the Iraqi capital than they were in years prior.

Employees of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission Center register voters in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah in the Dhi Qar province, on January 12, 2021. - Iraq's early parliamentary elections were promised by the PM for June but according to officials and politicians they are highly unexpected to be held without several month of delay. (Photo by Asaad NIAZI / AFP) (Photo by ASAAD NIAZI/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq’s general elections pushed to October

The added time shores up Baghdad’s preparations for a more legitimate election process; but time is running out for protesters who fear the government will ignore their demands.

An Iraqi woman updates her voter registration at the Independent High Electoral Commission Center in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah in the Dhi Qar province on January 12, 2021. - Iraq's early parliamentary elections were promised by the PM for June but according to officials and politicians they are highly unexpected to be held without several month of delay. (Photo by Asaad NIAZI / AFP) (Photo by ASAAD NIAZI/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraqi parties scramble ahead of new October election date

The High Electoral Commission’s need for additional time to update constituents' records requires that the government postpone early elections until October, while political parties publicly oppose the new date and secretly support it.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY MARWAN IBRAHIM
An Iraqi Arab farmer looks at arid agricultural land in the Hawijah district of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on January 29, 2011. A worsening water shortage in Iraq is raising tensions in the multi-ethnic Kirkuk province, where Arab farmers accuse the Kurdistan region of ruining them by closing the valves to a dam in winter. AFP PHOTO/MARWAN IBRAHIM (Photo credit should read MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq approves Paris climate accord in step toward curtailing oil dependence

Iraq faces significant hurdles in transitioning to an economy without oil dependence, and future trends can be expected to exacerbate those challenges.