IRAQ

ISIS fighters were armed with 'numerous weapons, grenades, and explosive suicide belts,' said officials

Iraq signed an agreement with British energy giant British Petroleum on Thursday to develop four oil and gas fields in the northern province of Kirkuk.

A high-ranking Turkish delegation held talks in Baghdad on Thursday, discussing key security and energy issues ahead of an expected visit by Turkey's president, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said.

The resumed talks are aimed at transitioning U.S. forces from their long-standing role in assisting Iraq in combating IS and charting the way to a bilateral partnership.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the recent strikes from the U.S. are "not the end" of the president's ongoing military response.

The retaliatory strikes were carried out by the U.S. Central Command forces across seven facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, an official statement said Friday.

The U.S. government attributes the drone attack to Iran-backed militants and accuses Iran of financing and arming these groups.

The plans for a multi-day strike reportedly come as a response to drone and rocket attacks targeting U.S. forces in the region, including the Sunday drone attack that killed three U.S. service members and injured 41 others at the Tower 22 base inside Jordan, close to the Syrian border.

Iraqi no-frills carrier Fly Baghdad has condemned Washington's imposition of sanctions, saying the US Treasury provided no proof of its allegation the airline had assisted Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani on Thursday repeated his call for the US-led international anti-jihadist coalition to depart his country amid soaring regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.

Pakistan said Wednesday that Iran carried out an air strike on its territory that killed two children, after Tehran launched attacks in Iraq and Syria against what it called "anti-Iranian terrorist groups".

US forces carried out new strikes against two sites in Iraq early on Wednesday in retaliation for attacks by "Iran and Iran-backed groups," US Central Command said.

A dig in northern Iraq has unearthed a 2,700-year-old alabaster sculpture of the winged Assyrian deity Lamassu, which was found largely intact despite its large dimensions.

Turkey's parliament on Tuesday extended the military's authorisation to launch cross-border operations in neighbouring Syria and Iraq by two more years.

Iraqi gamers celebrated the release Thursday of the latest instalment of the "Assassin's Creed" action-adventure saga, set in ninth century Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate.

At least 100 people were killed and more than 150 injured when a fire broke out during a wedding at an event hall in the northern Iraqi town of Hamdaniyah, according to an initial tally released early Wednesday.

Abir Jassem is busy preparing stuffed vegetables at a kitchen in Iraq's Mosul, where after years of unrest a women-run catering service has helped single mothers like her achieve financial security.

Iraq's President Abdel Latif Rashid condemned on Tuesday "repeated Turkish attacks", a day after a drone strike on a northern airfield killed three Kurdish counterterrorism officers.

Iraq, which borders with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, has long been a transit country for the region's ballooning trade in the amphetamine-type drug and other narcotics.

Abu Hussein al-Qurashi was the third Islamic State leader to die during a military operation, following his predecessors' deaths in 2019 and 2022.

The protestors demand legal reform that would ensure harsher punishments for perpetrators.