Middle Orient

Iraqi forces on Friday recaptured four villages and cut a supply route used by Daesh terrorists in Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk, according to an Iraqi military source. “Federal Police units and the Hashd al-Shaabi [a unit of the Iraqi army] have liberated the villages of Al-Awasi, Hamad al-Suwaid, Al-Amoudiya …

The U.S. has built a new military base in the Makhmour district of Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, according to a high-ranking Peshmerga officer. “U.S. forces are transferring supplies from the Qayara Base [near Mosul] to the new base to support forces now fighting to retake Kirkuk’s Hawija district from Daesh,” …

More than 92 per cent of Kurdish voters chose independence from Baghdad’s central government, Kurdish election monitors said on Wednesday. Hendrin Mohammed, head of the Iraqi Kurdish region’s election commission, announced the official results at a press conference, saying the referendum passed with 92.73 per cent support and a turnout …

Eighth round of talks in Geneva to start no later than early November, UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura says. A seventh round in July and a sixth in May ended without any breakthroughs in the almost six-and-a-half-year conflict. Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early …

The European Union stressed Tuesday that it has consistently confirmed its full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq. “It therefore appealed for the referendum not to be held in this unilateral manner, and especially not in disputed areas. It regrets that these calls have not been …

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi announced on Thursday that the first phase of the liberation to retake the town of Hwaija from the so-called Islamic State (IS) has begun. Al-Abadi said in a press statement that the operation began at dawn on Thursday, just two days after Iraqi forces began …

Iraqi security forces and paramilitary units launched a dawn assault Tuesday against one of the Daesh group’s last bastions in the vast western province of Anbar bordering Syria. The Joint Operations Command, which is co-ordinating Iraqi security forces battling Daesh, said an offensive had begun to retake the town of …

The European Union reiterated Wednesday its steadfast support for Iraq’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity and called for dialogue between Irbil and Baghdad to resolve outstanding issues. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini described the Kurdistan region’s planned September 25 independence referendum as “counterproductive,” saying that it “must be avoided.”

Iraqi armed forces on Saturday dislodged the Daesh terror group from a natural gas-rich border area with Syria, according to the military. Iranian-backed forces fighting with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s army simultaneously announced the start of an offensive to reach the same border area from the opposite side. An Iraqi …

Turkey launched a military drill featuring tanks close to the Iraqi border on Monday, the army said, a week before Iraq’s Kurdish region will hold an independence referendum. Despite opposition from Turkey, Iran and the United States, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s leaders have said they will hold the non-binding independence …