Commentary / World Sep 21, 2017
Moving toward Kurdish independence?
by James M. Dorsey
The Kurds' quest for self-rule puts them in the crosshairs of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Russia and the United States.
World Sep 21, 2017
Russia becomes Iraq Kurds' top funder, quiet about independence vote
Russia, the only major power that has not called on Iraq's Kurds to cancel a referendum on independence next week, has swiftly become the top funder of Kurdish oil and gas deals, with as much as $4 billion pledged in less than a year, ...
World Sep 20, 2017
Two more arrests in Wales over London Underground bombing, police say
Two men were arrested Wednesday over last week's London Underground terrorist attack in which 30 people were injured, bringing the total number of people in custody to five, police said. The men, aged 48 and 30, were arrested under anti-terrorism legislation in Newport in Wales, ...
World Sep 18, 2017
Iraq supreme court orders suspension of Kurdistan referendum
Iraq's supreme court on Monday ordered the suspension of a Sept. 25 referendum on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan, to examine whether such a poll would be constitutional. "The supreme court has issued the order to suspend organizing the referendum set for Sept. 25 ... ...
World | FOCUS Sep 18, 2017
Iraqi Kurds push ahead with referendum despite international pressure, hoping to pressure Baghdad
Kurds in Iraq are set to vote on independence in a Sept. 25 referendum, but the poll is more of a tool to pressure Baghdad than a step toward real secession, observers say. Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani announced the referendum in June and has ...
World / Social Issues Sep 18, 2017
Aid officials 'gravely concerned' over fate of Iraq-held wives, kids of Islamic State fighters
Aid officials in Iraq said they were "gravely concerned" about the fate of about 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected Islamic State militants relocated by Iraqi authorities, who did not warn aid organizations. The families had been held by Iraqi authorities since Aug. 30 ...
World Sep 15, 2017
Iranians listed among 74 dead in Iraq attacks claimed by Islamic State targeting Shiites
Gunmen and suicide car bombers on Thursday killed at least 74 people, including Iranians, near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The attackers struck at midday, opening fire on a restaurant before getting into a car ...
National Sep 12, 2017
Japanese thought to be among suspected IS fighters' foreign wives, children held in Iraq
Iraqi forces are holding more than 1,300 foreign women and children, the families of Islamic State fighters — including people from Japan — at a camp in northern Iraq.
World Sep 12, 2017
In the Islamic State's shadow, al-Qaida has rebranded itself and is making a comeback: U.S. experts
Al-Qaida is on the rise again in the shadow of the Islamic State group in Syria, 16 years after the jihadis shocked the United States in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, experts said Monday. They said that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Sunni group that ...
World / Social Issues Sep 11, 2017
Iraq holding 1,400 foreign wives, kids of suspected Islamic State fighters in squalid camp
Iraqi authorities are holding 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected Islamic State fighters in a camp after government forces expelled the jihadi group from one of its last remaining strongholds in Iraq, security and aid officials said. Many of them say they are from ...
World Sep 4, 2017
Syria army closing in on Islamic State-besieged Deir Ezzor enclave
Syrian government soldiers and allied fighters have advanced further toward a government enclave besieged by the Islamic State group in the country's east, a monitor said on Sunday. Syria's army, backed by Russian military support, has been advancing toward Deir Ezzor city for weeks on ...
World Sep 4, 2017
Islamic State convoy split up in eastern Syria, U.S.-led coalition says
A 17-bus convoy carrying Islamic State militants and civilian evacuees from the Lebanon-Syria border has split into two groups as it tries to reach extremist-held territory farther east, the U.S.-led coalition said Sunday. The evacuees were allowed to relocate under a deal brokered by the ...