Kurdish peshmerga

(AFP) – French president Emmanuel Macron was to pay a visit Sunday to the Islamic State group’s former Iraqi stronghold Mosul, a day after vowing to keep troops in the country.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has deployed Peshmerga forces to northern Iraq to combat “increased threats” of attacks by Islamic State (ISIS), Kurdish news outlet Rudaw reported on Thursday.

Iraqi Shiite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, in response to the backlash, had a change of heart and added the Kurdish Peshmerga into his speech about Iraq’s victory of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), listing them among the armed groups he praised for their contribution to the demise of the jihadist group.

Iranian control of a strategically significant Kurdish area near the border between Iraq and Syria represents a grave security threat to Israel, a senior Kurdish security official told The Algemeiner on Wednesday.

Hezbollah’s executive council deputy head Sheikh Nabil Qaouk has called the routing of Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk by Iranian-backed Iraqi troops a victory by the resistance over the United States and Israel.

Iraq is on the precipice of civil war with tens of thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga forces preparing to face down the Iraqi Army and thousands of Iran-backed Shia militia advancing towards the northern Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk.

The Kurds in northern Iraq’s autonomous region plan to move ahead with a referendum on independence after the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is defeated, according to a senior Kurdish official.

Contents: UN’s humanitarian agencies overwhelmed as hundreds of thousands flee Mosul; Concerns grow over chaos in Iraq after ISIS is defeated in Mosul

Retaking the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) will only push the jihadist group to other parts of the war-ravaged country, a Kurdish intelligence official predicted during an interview with Reuters.

A group affiliated with a predominantly Shiite paramilitary force backed by Iran and legally operating as a component of the Iraqi military has reportedly bombed Kurdish Peshmerga positions in northern Iraq’s Sinjar region, Rudaw reports.

Isis militants have executed scores more people around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul this week and are reported to be stockpiling dangerous chemicals in civilian areas, the UN human rights office said on Friday.

Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists have reportedly captured 25,000 civilians from northern Iraq to serve as future human shields in the latest desperate effort to prevent the advance of tens of thousands of U.S-backed Iraqi troops.

Iraqi investigators were probing a mass grave on Tuesday that was discovered the previous day by Iraqi troops advancing further into Islamic State-held territory near the city of Mosul.

Islamic State group fighters were shaving their beards and changing hideouts in Mosul, residents said, as Iraqi forces moved ever closer to the city Wednesday and civilians fled in growing numbers.

Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists are “dead set” on using chemical weapons and are likely to try to use them in an attack as U.S.-backed Iraqi troops advance on Mosul, which is considered the terrorist group’s last major stronghold in Iraq, warned the Pentagon.

The Iraqi army’s operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has stalled because of low morale among the force and heavy resistance, reports USA Today.

Iraq’s U.S.-backed military has launched an offensive to liberate the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).

The Kurdish forces that were until recently considered to be terrorist groups in Europe are charged with systematically cleansing northern Iraq of their ethnic enemies, so finds a report by Amnesty International. The groups were quickly catapulted to the status of valued

While the world waits to see if the tension between Turkey and Russia escalates, Turkey has also become embroiled in a dispute with the Iraqi government that has the potential to become more serious: Turkish troops have been crossing the border into Iraq without permission.

Six Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists, taken prisoner with the assistance of U.S. special forces, are reportedly being tortured, in violation of international law, by America’s Kurdish allies, The Daily Beast has learned from U.S. officials and humanitarian aid workers.

Kurdish forces have liberated the strategically important northern Iraqi town of Sinjar from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) after two-days of fighting, a Kurdish leader claims.

Kurdish forces and Yazidi fighters, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, have launched an offensive to seize back the strategically important Iraqi border town of Sinjar from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).