Category Archives: Iraq

US to drop death penalty for British Isis members accused of beheadings

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Assurances on Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh dependent on UK handing over evidence

The US has promised not to pursue the death penalty against two British Isis members accused of taking part in the beheadings of western hostages, in return for UK cooperation with the prosecution.

The pledge was given in a letter from the US attorney general, William Barr, in the case of Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, members of the “Beatles” group of British Isis members, who were captured by Syrian Kurds and then handed over to US custody last October.

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‘Coronavirus ruined everything’: the long wait for new limbs in Kurdistan

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Decades of war have resulted in a high demand for prosthetics – and patients are anxious to visit clinics as they finally reopen

Concentration is etched on Hussein’s face as he walks along a scuffed yellow line painted on the floor of the clinic’s rehabilitation room. He’s getting a feel for his new prosthetic.

Hussein lost his left leg below the knee in 1987 when he stepped on a landmine while fishing at Lake Dukan, around 100km (62 miles) east of Erbil in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Mines and other unexploded remnants of successive wars litter the landscape, causing new injuries every year. More than half the clinic’s 15,100 patients are amputees. Roughly 4,600 of them lost limbs as a result of conflict – 2,500 of these to landmines.

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Killing of Islamic State expert in Baghdad marks critical moment for Iraq

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Hisham al-Hashimi backed action to tackle Iraq’s powerful militias, despite knowing risks

As Hisham al-Hashimi pulled up outside his Baghdad home on Monday night, a gunman strode purposefully towards the Iraqi official’s white four-wheel drive, drew a pistol and fired four shots through the driver’s window.

Each jolting flash was captured by security footage from a camera on Hashimi’s roof. So was the hitman’s escape on the back of a motorbike, and the helpless vigil of his three young children as their father’s body was dragged on to the driveway.

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‘Yazidi women are strong’: Iraq’s female landmine clearance teams

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Isis planted mines across Sinjar and displaced the Yazidi community. Now a group of women are clearing the way for the return of their people

Behind Hana Khider is a large grey wall map, with the minefields her team have been clearing marked in green. “This is the place where Yazidis lived together,” she says. “It’s where I lived in my childhood; I have so many memories here, it’s very important to me.”

The place is Sinjar, or Shingal as Yazidis know it, on Iraq’s north-western border with Syria. Khider, 28, is speaking via video call from her office in the region.

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Iran issues arrest warrant for Donald Trump over Qassem Suleimani killing

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The leader of the Quds Force was killed in a drone strike in Iraq on 3 January

Iran has issued an arrest warrant for Donald Trump and 35 others over the killing of top general Qassem Suleimani and has asked Interpol for help, Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said on Monday.

The US killed Suleimani with a drone strike in Iraq on 3 January, accusing him of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on US forces across the middle east. The move caused unease in Europe, but the US claims that Suleimani’s death has weakened Iran’s grip on Iraq.

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Julian Assange indictment fails to mention WikiLeaks video that exposed US ‘war crimes’ in Iraq

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‘Shameful’ Collateral Murder footage shows Apache helicopter mowing down 11 civilians – including two Reuters journalists – in Baghdad

US prosecutors have failed to include one of WikiLeaks’ most shocking video revelations in the indictment against Julian Assange, a move that has brought accusations the US doesn’t want its “war crimes” exposed in public.

Assange, an Australian citizen, is remanded and in ill health in London’s Belmarsh prison while the US tries to extradite him to face 18 charges – 17 under its Espionage Act – for conspiracy to receive, obtain and disclose classified information.

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US ‘Caesar Act’ sanctions and could devastate Syria’s flatlining economy

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Critics say legislation is being used for US strategy and could cause further problems for country and wider region

Its currency has plunged by 70% since April, more than half its people face food scarcity, and hopes of rebuilding a country shattered by war continue to ebb.

Syria seems barely able to absorb new shocks, but new US sanctions that take effect next week, could devastate what is left of its flatlining economy and amplify the gravest regional decline in decades.

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Just the tonic: app helps Iraqi patients locate vital medicines

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In Mosul, sourcing essential medication can be an expensive struggle – but entrepreneur Ameen Hadeed may have found the solution

When Ameen Hadeed’s father had heart surgery in 2015, the tricky part was not the operation but finding the drugs to aid his recovery.

The clinic had no medicine, so Hadeed was told to hustle around his home city Mosul to find the prescriptions. It took hours and cost a small fortune, as he visited store after store.

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Can Iraq’s new PM, and the region, escape Suleimani’s long shadow?

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Rise of spy chief to premier comes as Iran struggles to maintain momentum months after killing of powerful general

In late February, six weeks after the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani was killed by a US drone, a candidate for Iraq’s vacant premiership was nervously preparing for an interview that would secure him the role.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s rise from intelligence chief to the seat of national power had been unorthodox, as was the journey he had just made – from Baghdad, where high-stakes appointments like his had mostly been made over the past decade.

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Iraq appoints new prime minister after months of protests and jockeying

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Intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi is regarded as being acceptable to both US and Iran

Iraqi lawmakers have approved a new prime minister and government after six months without one as parties squabbled until the last minute over cabinet seats in backroom deals.

The new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Iraq’s intelligence chief and a former journalist, will head the new government. He will begin his term without a full cabinet, however, after several ministerial candidates were rejected.

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Isis mounts deadly assault on Iraqi militia members near Samarra

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Series of recent attacks raises concern the group is staging a comeback in the country

Islamic State militants have killed at least 10 Iraqi militia members in a coordinated overnight assault near the central city of Samarra, adding to concerns that the group, which once controlled large areas of the country, is staging a comeback.

The Iraqi military and the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shia militias allied with the government, confirmed the attack in separate statements. It was the deadliest in a series of attacks in recent weeks that come as the country’s economic crisis deepens and the authorities try to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

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The good neighbour who wants to iron out the problems of the weekly wash

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A low-tech washing machine offers a way to wash where there is limited access to power and running water

With a plastic drum, plywood and a few secret components, a London-based engineer has created a rudimentary washing machine that he says will ease the workload for families with little power or water.

Nav Sawnhey has designed a £24 crank-handled machinefor people in places without reliable, affordable power.

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Iran hits back after Trump claims it is planning Iraq attacks

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US president accuses Tehran or its proxies of planning ‘sneak’ assault on US bases

Iran’s military and diplomatic leadership has hit back at Donald Trump’s claims that its proxies were planning a sneak attack on US bases in Iraq, claiming Tehran only ever acts in self-defence and has no proxies in Iraq, only allies.

The US and Iran are already at loggerheads over the impact of US sanctions on Tehran’s ability to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and the threat of a military attack on the US is likely to widen the dispute. The Iranian army chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri, said the recent spate of attacks on US bases in Iraq were nothing to do with Iran, but were “a natural response by the Iraqi people”. He said US forces were being closely monitored minute by minute and any US attack would produce the most severe response.

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EU court rules three member states broke law over refugee quotas

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Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland failed to comply with 2015 programme, ECJ says

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic broke European law when they failed to give refuge to asylum seekers arriving in southern Europe, often having fled war in Syria and Iraq, the EU’s top court has ruled.

The three central European countries now face possible fines for refusing to take a share of refugees, after EU leaders forced through mandatory quotas to relocate up to 160,000 asylum seekers at the height of the 2015 migration crisis.

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Bill sets five-year limit to prosecute UK armed forces who served abroad

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Legislation to stop ‘vexatious’ claims excludes alleged crimes by military personnel in Northern Ireland

A five-year time limit on bringing prosecutions against soldiers and veterans who have served abroad – except in “exceptional circumstances” – is to be imposed under legislation introduced by the government.

Clauses in the overseas operations (service personnel and veterans) bill would protect serving and former military personnel from what the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, claimed was a “vexatious” cycle of claims and re-investigations.

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UK’s air war against Isis ends after five years

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RAF has launched no attacks in Syria or Iraq since September, but controversy continues over civilian casuality numbers

Britain’s five-year air war against Isis has quietly come to an end, with official figures revealing no bombs have been dropped since September – yet the MoD still acknowledges only one civilian casualty in the entire conflict.

The data shows that over a period longer than the first world war, 4,215 bombs and missiles were launched from Reaper drones or RAF jets in Syria and Iraq, and a wide discrepancy has emerged between UK and US estimates of the number of civilians killed.

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US launches airstrikes in Iraq in retaliation for rocket attack that killed three

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Pentagon says attacks targeted Iran-backed militia, which it blames for Wednesday’s killing of two US soldiers and UK servicewoman

US forces have carried out air strikes in Iraq against what the Pentagon described as five weapons storage sites run by an Iranian-back militia, in retaliation for a rocket attack which killed two American and one British soldier near Baghdad.

The tit-for-tat attacks come just two months after a similar escalation brought the US and Iran to the brink of direct conflict. This time the two sides are facing off in Iraq while struggling to contain coronavirus outbreaks at home.

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Rocket attack on Iraq base leaves two Americans and one UK soldier dead

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  • 11 others injured by fusillade of Katyusha rockets
  • Trump responded to previous attack by killing Iranian general

Two Americans and a British soldier are reported to have been killed and 11 others injured, by a rocket attack on a coalition base in Iraq, according to US defence officials.

Within hours air strikes were reported on an area of the Iraqi-Syrian border used as a base by an Iran-backed militia, raising fears of a fresh round of US-Iranian escalation that brought both countries close to war in January.

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‘We are power’: the world marks International Women’s Day – video report

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People around the world marked International Women's Day on Sunday with rallies, marches and protests. In London, topless protesters formed a human chain on Waterloo bridge to highlight the vulnerability of women in the face of the climate crisis. In Kyrgyzstan, dozens of protesters were arrested after masked men attacked them at a rally for gender equality. On the Greek-Turkish border, asylum seekers marched to demand entry into the EU

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