Baghdad

Iraqi feminist who saved thousands from honor killings slain by gunman outside home in Baghdad

Mohammed, who co-founded and directed the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, was rushed to hospital where she perished from her wounds, according to local reports and Amnesty International.

MARCH 5, 2026|ByDANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD

HEAD OF the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, Yanar Mohammed talks to press 24 August 2003 in Baghdad where she said that over 400 women in Iraq had been kidnapped, raped and sometimes sold since the Anglo-US occupation.

This aerial view shows vehicles by the tent shelters for people arriving from the Hol camp in eastern Syria, at the Akbaran camp near Akhtarin, in the north of Aleppo province, on February 17, 2026.

Iraq's FM says Ankara agreed to take back Turkish citizens among IS detainees moved from Syria

Iraq took in the detainees in an operation arranged with the United States after Kurdish forces retreated and shut down camps and prisons that had housed IS suspects for nearly a decade.

FEBRUARY 23, 2026|ByREUTERS

IRAQI LAWMAKERS attend the first session of the newly elected parliament, where members are set to be sworn in and begin the process of electing a speaker and two deputies, in Baghdad, Iraq, December 29, 2025.

Iraq faces political crisis as, months after elections, they still lack clear leadership - analysis

Months after an election in Iraq, there is still no new prime minister or president. The reason for this is that political parties cannot agree on who to appoint.

FEBRUARY 23, 2026|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN

KURDISH INTERNAL security forces stand guard after seizing a quantity of captagon pills in Qamishli, Syria, March 25, 2025.

Syria announces major drug bust through coordination with Iraq against Captagon trafficking

A source in the Syrian Ministry of Interior told The Media Line that anti-narcotics units carried out what he described as a “high-quality” security operation in Homs province.

FEBRUARY 23, 2026|ByRIZIK ALABI/THE MEDIA LINE

Iraq-Turkey tensions grow as Baghdad summons ambassador over 'interference' accusations

Baghdad issued a formal protest after remarks on PKK activity were seen as interference. Ankara says the comments were mistranslated and focused only on militants in Iraq.

FEBRUARY 11, 2026BySETH J. FRANTZMAN

Members of the Iraqi security forces take part in an event marking the Iraqi Police Day in Mosul, Iraq, January 9, 2026.

Paris court dismisses Jewish family's compensation claim against government for not paying rent

The claim sought unpaid rent from the French government for its use of the family's ancestral home in Iraq as an embassy.

FEBRUARY 5, 2026ByMATHILDA HELLER

View of the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, in Paris, France, January 25, 2024.

Kurds in Iraq are powerbrokers in Iraq’s politics, but do they benefit? - analysis

Iraqi Shi’ite leaders arrived in Erbil for talks with Kurdish officials as political deadlock deepens over appointing a new president and prime minister.

FEBRUARY 2, 2026BySETH J. FRANTZMAN

Supporters of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gather to protest what they say is U.S. interference in Iraq’s sovereignty near the entrance to the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. embassy and other missions, in Baghdad, Iraq, January 29, 2026.

ISIS numbers grow as Syrian instability continues, Iraq warns

In the rare interview, al-Shatri said Iraqi intelligence estimates suggest that ISIS’s presence in Syria has grown from roughly 2,000 fighters a year ago to as many as 10,000 terrorists today.

JANUARY 27, 2026ByASHER SMITH

A soldier in an ISIS uniform prepares ammunition.

Iraq's former PM who helped fuel ISIS makes unlikely comeback - analysis

Nouri al-Maliki let ISIS take over a third of Iraq in 2014. He spent years in the political wilderness, but now he is angling for a third term as prime minister.

JANUARY 25, 2026BySETH J. FRANTZMAN

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reacts at a polling station inside Al-Rasheed Hotel during the parliamentary election in Baghdad, Iraq, November 11, 2025.

Iraq moves to reclaim Ain al-Assad as US-led coalition ends mission

Assad's base was one of the few places the US remained, until Iran targeted the base with ballistic missiles in 2020 in response to the US killing Soleimani.

JANUARY 1, 2026BySETH J. FRANTZMAN

A member of the Iraqi security forces stands by a destroyed vehicle that was carrying rockets amdist sacks of flour, in the district of al-Baghdadi in al-Anbar province on July 8, 2021.

After Iraq legalizes child marriage, Baghdad bridal market booms as young girls sold to older men

Iraq’s decision to introduce the Ja’fari law in January means that girls can be married based on perceived “maturity and physical capacity.”

DECEMBER 29, 2025ByDANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD

A young Iraqi girl who has reached the age of wearing a hijab, is clothed in the head covering worn by many Muslim women for the first time during a ceremony organised at the Basra International Stadium in Iraq's southern city of Basra on December 11, 2025.

A Kurdish crisis and a missing American: Iran’s expanding influence in Iraqi Kurdistan - opinion

An internal Kurdish power feud has triggered mass arrests, alleged executions, and the unresolved detention of an American veteran amid rising Iranian influence.

DECEMBER 23, 2025ByOBSIDIAN RESEARCH BUREAU