Search

The article discusses Iraqi president Fuad Masum's nomination of Shiite Muslim political leader Haider al-Abadi as prime minister of Iraq, highlighting Iraqi prime minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's refusal to step down as prime minister. Topics addressed include allegations regarding Maliki's role in fueling sectarian tensions in the country and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Sunni Muslim extremist organization, as well as U.S. responses to political instability in Iraq.

The article discusses U.S. drone aircraft strikes and F-18 fighter jet strikes against Sunni Muslim militants in Iraq aligned with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Islamic extremist organization. Topics addressed include U.S. efforts to stop ISIS's advance toward the Kurdish capital city of Erbil, Iraq, as well as U.S. president Barack Obama's reasoning for authorizing the strikes.

The article focuses on the separation between Shiite Kadhimiya and Sunni Adhamiya, the two oldest communities in Baghdad, Iraq. Sunni boat operator Yassin Daoud states that the country is celebrating two Ramadan. History professor Ali al-Nashmi says that the habit of Shia of walking through Adhamiya to Imam Kadhim has been disrupted by the attacks occurred in Adhamiya in 2003.

The article discusses the efforts of the U.S. military's Central Command and security forces in Iraq to exploit fragmentation of Sunni extremist groups in Iraq that have aligned with the militant groups Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Baath Party. Topics include the militants' focus on the government of Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, research conducted by U. S Intelligence officials, and provinces battling with the extremists.

The article discusses Shiite militias responses to a Sunni Muslim insurgency in Iraq affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist organization as of July 9, 2014. Topics addressed include the presence of Shiite militias in areas around the Iraqi city of Samarra, as well as the significance of defending a Shiite shrine in Samarra.

The article discusses sectarian-motivated murders of Sunni Muslims by Shiite Muslim militias within the city of Baghdad, Iraq as of June 25, 2014. Topics addressed include the impact of an insurgency of Sunnis affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist organization, as well as a growing sense of fear amongst Sunnis in Baghdad as the number of Sunni disappearances and murders increases.

The article discusses assessments by U.S. and other Western officials that indicate that the Iraqi Army will be unable to effectively control a Sunni Muslim insurgency aligned with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist organization as of June 23, 2014. Topics addressed include Iraqi cities that have been captured by ISIS militants, the strength of ISIS' personnel and assets, and the possibility that ISIS fighters could reach the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The article reports on the 2014 efforts of Iraqi political leaders to replace Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki in light of the prime minister's alleged marginalisation of non-Shiites in Iraq. Topics discussed include the need for an Iraqi leader to convince the Sunnis and Kurds that he can keep the country together, the June 2014 Sunni-led uprising in Iraq, and possible candidates to replace Maliki, including Adel Abdul Mahdi, Ahmed Chalabi, and Bayan Jaber.

The article reports on the June 2014 killings of Sunni prisoners in Iraq held in prisons controlled by the Shiite government, possibly in response to violence caused by Sunni militants and with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant organization. Topics discussed include the possibility that the country will return to civil war, the spread of violence into the city of Baghdad, Iraq, and that the U.S. military is no longer in the country following the end of the Iraq War in 2011.

The article discusses Iraqi prime minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's decision to focus on recruiting Shiite Muslims to oppose Sunni Muslim militants aligned with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist organization who have captured a number of Iraqi cities, noting that Maliki has not focused on political reconciliation with Sunni Arabs and Kurds in Iraq. Topics addressed include Shiite politicians' concerns with Maliki's sectarian approach, as well as U.S. calls for involving the Sunnis.

The article discusses claims made by Sunni Muslim militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist organization that the group had executed 1,700 Shiite Muslim Iraqi soldiers as of June 15, 2014. Topics addressed include photographs of the alleged killings that the group posted on the Internet, concerns that the claims could escalate sectarian conflict in Iraq, and the Iraqi government's response to the photographs.

The article discusses Shiite Muslims in Iraq joining militias in order to fight against Sunni Muslim militants aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist organization who have captured a number of Iraqi cities as of June 14, 2014. Topics addressed include Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's calls for opposition to the Sunni militants, as well as the responses of the Iraqi Army and the government of Iraqi prime minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

The article discusses calls by Shiite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for Shiite Muslims in Iraq to take up armed opposition against Sunni Muslim militants aligned with extremist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who have captured a number of cities in Iraq as of June 14, 2014. Topics addressed include a possible U.S. and Iranian responses to the conflict in Iraq, as well the responses of Shiite militias and the Iraqi Army.

The article reports that Iraq's Parliament passed three laws designed to foster political reconciliation between its Shia, Sunni, and Kurd communities. A federal budget, a law setting a date for provincial government elections, and an amnesty for prisoners held in Iraqi jails, a key issue for Sunnis. Many of the most disputed details of the three proposals were omitted, leading to fears conflicts had been postponed rather than resolved.

The article focuses on the decline in violence in Iraq in the second half of 2007. Iraqi and U.S. officials in that country state that the decline stems from three factors, the number of Sunni insurgents who have begun cooperating with U.S. troops rather than fighting them, the halt of military action by the Shiite militia led by Moktada al-Sadr, and the increase of the U.S. forces. All of these developments are subject to sudden change. U.S. troop levels will decline in 2008.

The article reports that life in Baghdad, Iraq has shown increased signs of normality as violence there has lessened in the second half of 2007. Travel between some Sunni and Shia neighborhoods is occurring and public celebrations such as wedding, once avoided due to the threat of bombings, have resumed. Most of the hundreds of thousands of refugees created by sectarian violence, however, are still unable to return to their old homes.

The article reports that Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq have begun a campaign of targeted assassinations of Iraqi government officials, especially police. At least 10 such attacks were staged on September 24-25, 2007, and scores of persons were killed, including two police chiefs. The two largest attacks were on meetings of tribal leaders and government officials to plan strategies against the insurgents.

The article reports that a report by Iraq's Red Crescent relief organization has found a huge internal migration within the country that has reshaped its ethnic and sectarian populations in complex ways. Over a million persons in Baghdad alone have moved at least once. Sunni and Shiite populations remain mixed in Iraq's center, suggesting that partitioning the country, as some have proposed, would be difficult to accomplish without increased bloodshed.

The article reports that Abdul al-Rishawi, the Sunni tribal sheikh who aligned himself with U.S. forces in Anbar Province, Iraq, was assassinated in a bomb attack. Al-Rishawi had met with U.S. President George W. Bush in September, 2007 during Bush's visit to Iraq. His death comes as a setback to the U.S. alliance with Sunni tribal leaders in the region, a policy often cited as one of the few U.S. successes in the Iraq War.

The article reports that U.S. military forces in Iraq have begun arming Sunni Arab groups that promise to fight groups linked to Al-Qaeda. Some of the Sunni groups have been responsible for attacks on U.S. troops during the Iraq war. U.S. commanders acknowledge the risks involved in arming potential enemies, but think the chance to exploit the rift between native Sunnis and the Al-Qaeda militants, many from other countries, should not be missed.

This article reports that the largest bloc of Sunni Arabs in the Iraqi Parliament, the Iraqi Consensus Front, is threatening to withdraw its ministers from the Shiite-dominated cabinet in frustration over the failure of the government to address Sunni concerns. United States President George W. Bush has invited Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi to Washington in an effort to forestall the action. Two weeks ago six cabinet members left the already weakening the government.

The article discusses daylong fighting between Sunni militants, together with Fadhil neighborhood residents of Baghdad, against the Iraqi Army and U.S. troops on April 10, 2007. The conflict came after the Iraqi Army raided a mosque, killing two, reportedly including the muezzin. Shiite militias have been trying to dominate the neighborhood for more than a year.

The article discusses the contrast between Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad, Iraq. In Shiite areas, markets are thriving, community projects are underway, and fuel for electricity generators is available. Sunni streets have ruined buildings, uncollected trash, and so little electricity that refrigerators have been abandoned. The Sunnis consider anyone who works with the government to be an enemy collaborator, irrespective of sect.

The article reports that Iraq Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has accused the Kurds ethnic group in Kurdistan of supporting the actions of Sunni militants.

The article reports that the Iraqi Parliament has scheduled its meeting in July 2014 in an attempt to form a new government following a failed attempt, while conflict in northern and western Sunni provinces continued without decisive movement on both sides.

The article focuses on the questions asked by members of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to Muslims in Iraq to distinguish between Shiites and Sunnis such as what is their name, where do they live, and how do they pray.

The article reports on the control of Sunni militants to major Iraqi post on the border of Syria.

At least seven bombs exploded around Iraq on Thursday amid an uptick in violence as American troops prepared to withdraw from Iraqi cities by Tuesday. The bombings were widespread, making targets of both Shiites and Sunnis, civilians and Iraqi security forces, and American soldiers. There were at least five attacks in Baghdad. One, at a bus station, killed two people and wounded 30 in the late morning, security officials said, though witnesses at the scene said the toll was higher. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The American military said Wednesday that it was closely following the arrests of 15 leaders of the Awakening Councils, plus the threatened arrests of five others, but insisted that the detentions were not part of a deliberate Iraqi government campaign against these groups, which are mostly Sunni and include many former insurgents. Military officials say their fear is that the arrests, while relatively few so far, have created a public perception that the government is cracking down on the groups, which could undermine the Awakening program, widely credited with helping to end the insurgency in much of Iraq. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Members of the Sunni Awakening Councils, the former insurgents who switched sides to help bring calm to Iraq, are increasingly being besieged from all sides. Thirteen members were killed by a suicide bomber while they gathered to collect their pay south of Baghdad on Saturday, in the latest of a string of attacks against Awakening members in recent weeks. Some of the Sunnis also worry that the Shiite-led government has begun singling out the councils' leaders for arrest while their chief patron, the American military, slowly abandons them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Haunted by ghosts, the middle-aged farmer walked slowly through his home village, a place so devastated he had difficulty recognizing his own house among the ruins. Once a well-tended Shiite farming community in a part of Diyala Province with many Sunnis, it is now little more than piles of shattered concrete. Half-fallen roofs slant earthward at odd angles; the skeletons of rooms are filled with debris. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an operation with military and political objectives, the Iraqi Army continued to assemble troops in and around the southern city of Amara on Sunday. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki offered an amnesty to militants in the city who were willing to surrender, and he also offered to buy back heavy weapons from militia fighters. Similar offers in the past few months have presaged military operations against Shiite or Sunni militias in Basra, the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents information about the Yazidi minority in Iraq. In 2007, Yazidis suffered lot at the hands of both Arab and Kurdish Muslims. In a suicide bombing in August 2007, about 500 Yezidis were killed. It is said that Arab and Kurdish Muslims are pressing the minority to convert to Islam. Meanwhile, the Islamic State of Iraq, a radical Sunni Arab organization, has issued a fatwa calling for the killing of Yezidis wherever they are found.

The article reports that violence such as roadside bombings, assassinations and mortar attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, have killed several people. It is stated that the Sunni Arabs are being targeted in the Washash area with young men from three Sunni families being killed in front of their relatives. According to a U.S. military statement, Shiite majority areas have seen several mortar attacks. Information is also provided on the death of three U.S. soldiers in roadside bombings in Baghdad.

The article reports that 46 Iraqis were killed in assassinations, roadside bombs and a suicide car bomb. Not only this, two soldiers of the U.S. also died, one in a combat operation in Baghdad and another in a helicopter crash. Several sectarian killings indicated reasons for widespread anxiety over brutal acts by Shiite and Sunni groups. In separate incidents, two Iraqi reporters were also killed.

The article reports that some Sunni Arab leaders are negotiating with the government of Iraq regarding the arrest warrant issued for Iraqi culture minister Asad al-Hashimi. Hashimi has been accused of plotting the attempt to assassinate Sunni politician Mithal al-Alusi in 2005. According to Alaa Makki, a Sunni Arab who is leading the negotiation, the demands of the leaders include release of Hashimi's guards, restoration of Hashimi's good name, and an independent investigation committee.

The article reports on the raid by the Iraqi forces at the home of Sunni Cultural Minister Asad al-Hashimi in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 26, 2007. The raid was in the context of an arrest warrant for his alleged involvement in the 2005 attempted assassination of member of the Iraqi Parliament Mithal al-Alusi. The minister's political party has alleged that the raid was aimed at discrediting a Sunni leader.

The article reports on the protest of the Sunni and Shiite residents of a Sunni Arab enclave in Adhamiya, Iraq against the proposed construction of a wall around the enclave on April 23, 2007. The wall is aimed at protecting Sunni Arabs residing in the enclave. Following the protest, the U.S. was showing signs of backing away from the plan.

The article reports on the change of Iraqi government's policy regarding on-going construction of the wall protecting Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad, Iraq. While on a visit to Egypt, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki ordered a halt to the construction. Both Sunni and Shiite parties have opposed the project. His announcement is aimed at allaying the mounting criticism to the construction. He said that other methods would be explored to protect neighborhoods.

The article reports that U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Michael Gates arrived in Baghdad, Iraq on April 19, 2007 to force Iraqi prime minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to act faster for reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. Gates said that he would also urge the Iraqi government to pass legislation related to sharing of revenue earned from the petroleum industry in Iraq.

The article reports on the seizure of allegedly Iran-made arms and ammunition in Iraq. The American military officers captured arms in a Sunni majority area in Baghdad in the first week of April 2007. This indicates that Iran is providing aid to both Sunni and Shiite insurgents. However, some critics have cast doubt over the authenticity of the American accusation.

The article reports on the revenge killings of Sunnis following a double suicide bombing in a Shiite area in Tal Afar, Iraq. Two hours after the explosion of truck bombs, gunmen went house to house, dragged people into the street and shot them dead in a Sunni neighborhood. According to an Iraqi Army spokesman, the retaliatory violence killed 70 people and wounded 30 people.

The article focuses on the efforts by Iraqi government to reconcile Sunnis and Shiites. Announcement by Iraq Prime Minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to introduce a modification in the law that restricts members of the Baath Party of Saddam Husein from holding government jobs is a step in this direction. Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador to Iraq, who had served in Iraq for 21 months, emphasized to move with certain pace to sustain the U.S. support.

The article reports that nine people died in Baghdad, Iraq in an attempted assassination of Iraq's deputy prime minister Salam al-Zubaie. The assassination attempt took place when one of Al-Zubaie's Sunni guards blew himself up. Al-Zubaie received chest wounds. It is informed that there has been increase in such incidence of Sunni-on-Sunni violence in Iraq.

Iraq's largest Sunni bloc has agreed to return to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's cabinet after a boycott of nearly a year, several Sunni leaders said Thursday. They cited a recently passed amnesty law and the government's crackdown on Shiite militias as reasons for the move. The Sunni leaders said they were still working out the details of their return, an indication that the deal could still fall through. But such a return would represent a major political victory for Mr. Maliki in the midst of a military operation that has at times been criticized as poorly planned and fraught with risk. The principal group his security forces have been confronting is the Mahdi Army, a militia led by the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]