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Tag: Baghdad

AP

Court Denies Trial for Vets Claiming DOJ Used Perjured Testimony

A federal judge has denied a new trial request filed by four decorated U.S. veterans, who were convicted of allegedly shooting indiscriminately into a crowd of Iraqi civilians back in 2007 while working as Blackwater security contractors hired by the federal government.

Wages, Pensions cut in ISIS controlled cities

Baghdad Cuts Off Wages, Pensions to ISIS-Controlled Cities

Iraq’s central government is cutting off wage and pension payments to Mosul, and other parts of northern Iraq controlled by the Islamic State. The move is expected to be one more crushing blow for people caught in the living nightmare of the Islamic State.

sako

Iraqi Catholic Leader Urges Christians Not to Leave

Patriarch Louis Sako, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad, is the latest Christian leader to ask Christians in the Middle East not to abandon their homelands despite threats from radical Islamic groups. He also slammed the countries who give preferential treatment to Christian refugees.

REUTERS/AHMED SAAD

Masked Gunmen Abduct 18 Turkish Workers in Baghdad

On Wednesday, masked gunmen wearing military uniforms kidnapped 18 Turkish nationals from a sports stadium they were building in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, according to their employer, Ankara-based Turkish conglomerate Nurol Holding.

AP

Australia Considers Sending More Troops to Iraq

AAP reports that Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said her government would consider sending more troops to help battle ISIS in Iraq, but the Iraqis have been oddly slow to request assistance, even as the Islamic State overruns cities and begins lining up an attack on Baghdad.

REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen

ISIS Captures 2,300 Humvees as US Plans to Send Iraq More Weapons

Observers have known Islamic State terrorists have managed to get their hands on Iraqi equipment, but on Sunday, the Iraqi Prime Minister revealed the stunning numbers. “In the collapse of Mosul, we lost a lot of weapons… We lost 2,300 Humvees in Mosul alone,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told Iraqi state television.

AP Photo

Islamic State Tramples Iraqi Govt Lines East Of Ramadi

REUTERS– Islamic State militants overran Iraqi government defences east of the city of Ramadi on Thursday, police and pro-government tribal fighters said. The defensive line was breached at Husaiba, about 10 km (six miles) from the city, on Thursday afternoon

Reuters

EU Approves Military Action Against African Smugglers

The European Union on Monday approved a multi-phase military operation to defeat human smugglers who are trafficking migrants from Libya to Europe. Smugglers have been charging migrants thousands of dollars each to make the trip, and there’s no guarantee of reaching Europe or even of surviving.

AP Photo

Sunni Tribes In Iraq Have Second Thoughts About Supporting ISIS

The sectarian and factional chaos unleashed in Iraq by the ISIS invasion has neighboring tribes literally at each other’s throats, according to a report by the Associated Press. Some Sunni tribes initially welcomed the Sunni extremists of ISIS when they rolled across the border, thinking they might help change the balance of power in Shiite-dominated Baghdad. After watching ISIS turn northern Iraq into a torture chamber, some members of the al-Lehib tribe changed their minds, and ended up fighting alongside Iraqi military forces and the Kurds.

assad

Iraq Cozies Up to Assad as Syria Looks to Unite Coalition against ISIS–and US

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday in an event that appears intended to strengthen ties between Baghdad and Damascus in light of their mutually shared threat of Islamic State (ISIS) invasion. Iraq’s desire to forge stronger ties with Assad flies in the face of American diplomatic efforts to isolate the dictator after his alleged use of chemical weapons on civilians.