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Iraq

August 19, 2026

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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

Kurdish riot police, some wearing protective masks due to COVID-19, stand guard during a demonstration to denounce the Turkish assault in northern Iraq, in Sulaimaniyah city, in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq, on June 18, 2020. - Turkey launched a rare ground assault into northern Iraq on June 17, deploying special forces against rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is blacklisted by Ankara as a "terrorist" group. Baghdad demanded Ankara immediately halt its assault in northe

Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq accuses PKK of attacks

The Kurdistan Regional Government condemned an apparent Kurdistan Workers Party attack on peshmerga soldiers in Dahuk province; the KRG and the PKK had a turf dispute earlier this year.

Seized drugs are incinerated by Iraqi Kurdish security forces on October 29, 2013 in the Iraqi northern city of Arbil. Authorities said they seized one ton of various drugs in the past months. AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

Drug smuggling, abuse on the rise in Iraq

Iraq suffers from the flow of drugs from neighboring countries, especially Iran, through the marshes and other border crossings, and the spread among the youth has become a threat to society.

Islamic State resurfaces with attacks in Iraq’s Diyala province

The Islamic State's gruesome killing of a sheikh and some of his relatives by rigging his corpse with explosives has led to security concerns in the multiethnic region bordering Iran, long a hotbed for extremism and susceptible to sectarianism.

Iraqi parliament votes on final version of electoral law

Iraq's Council of Representatives voted on the electoral law, which, if passed, will put forward the program for early elections scheduled for next June.

A man drives a group of pupils to school in al-Qaim in the Iraqi Anbar province, opposite Albu Kamal in Syria's Deir Ezzor region, on November 13, 2018. - Iraqi troops have reinforced their positions along the porous frontier with neighbouring war-torn Syria, fearing a spillover from clashes there between the Islamic State (IS) group and US-backed forces. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq's western Anbar province getting back on its feet, eyeing autonomy

Iraq’s Sunni-majority Anbar province has in recent months completed a number of infrastructure works in the hope of attracting more investment as the US troops' presence winds down, amid debate over the possibility of carving out an autonomous region.

Demands for payment from tribes, militias stalling investment in Iraq

Economic projects in Iraq are facing major setbacks due to ongoing payment demands from tribes and armed groups.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - UNDATED: (FILE PHOTO) Former former Baath official and deputy to deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (C) is shown in this 1999 photograph in Baghdad, Iraq. Arab television network Al Jazeera played an audio tape March 27, 2006 purportedly from al-Douri, in which he urges Arab leaders to boycott Iraq's government and recognizes the resistance. (Photo by Salah Malkawi/Getty Images)

Iraqi Baath Party announces death of top adviser to Saddam Hussein

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri escaped the 2003 US invasion and led the Naqshbandi Army's insurgency against Baghdad.

Ex-Ninevah governor arrested as Iraqi government reins in corruption

The arrest and forced removal of Iraqi government officials signals attempts to curb rampant corruption that has plagued the country.

Sunni agreement to expel Popular Mobilization Units from liberated Iraqi cities

Sunni political parties are using murders in Salahuddin province to demand an end to the presence of armed militias blamed for killings.

A member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) carries an automatic rifle on a road in the Qandil Mountains, the PKK headquarters in northern Iraq, on June 22, 2018. - Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds marched Friday to protest Turkish strikes against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would press an operation against its bases. (Photo by SAFIN HAMED / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

Yazidis react to Sinjar accord amid growing KRG-PKK tensions in Iraq

A security agreement reached earlier this month between the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Region on the disputed territory of Sinjar has sparked both praise and criticism as tensions rise between the KRG and the PKK.

Sunni Muslim men pray over the bodies of eight out of 12 fellow Iraqis, who were reportedly kidnapped on October 17 and later some of them found shot dead, during their burial ceremony in the Farhatiya area of the Balad region, located 70 kilometres (around 45 miles) north of Baghdad in the Salaheddin province, on October 18, 2020. - Local sources said the four other kidnapped men have not been found and the identity of the assailants remains unknown in the mysterious crime. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/A

Iraqi Sunni politicians organize a new political front

Dozens of Iraqi Sunni lawmakers have met to discuss forming a new alliance after eight youths were killed with alleged involvement by Shiite-led factions in Salahuddin province.

UK to return 5,000 ancient artifacts to Iraq

Included in the repatriation is a 4,000-year-old Sumerian relic discovered in an online auction.