Iraq

BAGHDAD, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Interior Ministry reinstated more than 13,000 police personnel after being fired following the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants took control of Iraq's northern city of Mosul in 2014.

10 Aug 2019; MEMO: The economic agreements signed between Kuwait and Iraq have recently raised concerns among Iraqi experts, who warned against “political courtesy” at the expense of the country’s interests in relation to the proposed free trade zone on the border between the Iraqi city of Basra and Kuwait.

BAGHDAD, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of Iraq, Egypt and Jordan held a meeting on Sunday in Baghdad aimed at boosting Arab relations and seeking to ease tension in the Middle East region.

The meeting discussed "the tension between neighboring Iran and the United States, and Iraq's position toward this crisis is clear as it is based on calm and reduce the escalation by adopting efforts to resolve this crisis by peaceful means," Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hakim told a joint press conference with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts.

BAGHDAD, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi forces on Wednesday concluded the second phase of a major offensive to hunt down remnants of Islamic State (IS) militants in north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Iraqi military said.

A statement by the media office of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said the second phase of the offensive, started on July 20, was carried out with the participation of paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units, Counter-Terrorism Service force and air support by the Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft.

BAGHDAD (AP) — An unmanned drone dropped explosives on a base belonging to Iran-backed paramilitary forces in northern Iraq early Friday, wounding two people, Iraqi security officials and a military statement said, amid regional tensions between the United States and Iran.

The statement said the drone dropped two grenades half an hour apart on the base in Amirli, in Iraq’s northern Salaheddin province. No further details were provided.

BAGHDAD, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) top envoy in Iraq on Wednesday strongly condemned the killing of a Turkish diplomat in an armed attack in Iraq's northern city of Erbil, urging for a thorough probe into the attack.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, said "this heinous attack cannot be justified under any circumstance and must be soundly condemned," according to a statement by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

14 July 2019; AFP: Freed after years in jihadist captivity, Jihan faced an agonising ultimatum: abandon her three small children fathered by an Islamic State fighter or risk being shunned by her community.

"Of course I couldn't bring them home. They're Daesh (IS) children," said Jihan Qassem matter-of-factly, sitting in a sparse concrete structure she now calls home.

BAGHDAD, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU)'s top diplomat Federica Mogherini said on Saturday that the EU supports Iraq's proposal to hold peace conference to ease tensions between the United States and Iran.

Mogherini, the EU's high representative for Foreign affairs and Security Policy and European Commission vice president, made her comment during a joint press conference with the Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hakim during her official visit to the Iraqi capital Baghdad earlier in the day.

BAGHDAD, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A total of nine Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Saturday in an airstrike by U.S.-led coalition in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, the Iraqi military said.

Acting on intelligence reports provided by Nineveh's Operations Command, the coalition aircraft attacked an IS position at a valley in the western part of the province, the media office of the Joint Operations Command said in a brief statement.

6 July 2019; DW: The UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Friday designated the ancient city of Babylon as a World Heritage Site, recognizing its "outstanding value to humanity."

"The inscription represents a recognition of the outstanding human value and the unique significance of this ancient city and of the civilizations of Mesopotamia and their contributions to humanity," the Iraqi government said in a tweet.