Timeline of Iraq (D) 2016 to Present

Iraq A thru 1999
Iraq B 2000-2005
Iraq C 2006-2007
Iraq D 2006-2015
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2016        Jan 1, In Iraq Islamic State militants launched suicide attacks in the western city of Ramadi days after troops drove them out of the city center.
    (AP, 1/2/16)

2016        Jan 2, The United States and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 1/3/16)

2016        Jan 3, In Iraq suicide attackers from the Islamic State group killed at least 12 Iraqi forces in a brazen attack on police training at Speicher base, near Tikrit. Police managed to kill 7 attackers but 3 were able to detonate their suicide vests.
    (AFP, 1/3/16)

2016        Jan 4, Islamic State militants attacked Iraqi troops and allied tribal fighters outside the western town of Haditha, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens. In central Iraq overnight blasts rocked two Sunni mosques, amid fears of renewed sectarian strife following Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
    (AP, 1/4/16)(AFP, 1/4/16)

2016        Jan 6, Iraqi officials said the Islamic State group has stepped up attacks on the western town of Haditha, where at least 45 Iraqi security forces and Sunni tribal fighters have been killed in clashes over the past three days and another 30 wounded.
    (AP, 1/6/16)
2016        Jan 6, The United States and its allies staged 36 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 1/7/16)

2016        Jan 7, In Iraq clashes between a joint Turkish-Iraqi force and Islamic State militants near the Bashiqa camp training camp outside the city of Mosul reportedly left at least 18 IS fighters dead. The commander of the training camp, Maj Gen. Mohammed Yahya, said there were no such clashes.
    (AP, 1/8/16)
2016        Jan 7, The US-led coalition launched 23 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and three in Syria.
    (Reuters, 1/8/16)

2016        Jan 9, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi pledged to stamp out corruption this year amid criticism from the nation's highest Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, that his government has done little to combat graft.
    (Reuters, 1/9/16)
2016        Jan 9, In northern Iraq 9 fighters from a Shi'ite Muslim militia battling Islamic State were killed when an Iraqi army aviation drone opened fire on mistaken coordinates.
    (Reuters, 1/10/16)
2016        Jan 9, The US-led coalition conducted 11 air strikes against Islamic State forces in Syria and 15 in Iraq.
    (Reuters, 1/10/16)

2016        Jan 11, In Iraq 5 people were killed and 12 others wounded when a car bomb claimed by Islamic State went off in a crowded Baghdad market area. 4-7 gunmen charged into the Jawhara shopping mall in eastern Baghdad after a car bomb exploded outside. 18 people were killed in the mall attack. The two blasts were claimed by the Islamic State. A double-suicide bombing in Muqdadiyah killed 24 people.
    (Reuters, 1/11/16)(Reuters, 1/12/16)(SFC, 1/13/16, p.A2)
2016        Jan 11, The United States and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 1/12/16)

2016        Jan 12, In Iraq a suicide bomber attacked a police convoy near Baquba, critically wounding a senior police officer and killing 3 other members of the security forces. 2 Iraqi journalists were killed outside Baquba. At least seven Sunni mosques and dozens of shops were firebombed in the east.
    (Reuters, 1/12/16)

2016        Jan 13, Iraq sent an armored army division and a police strike force into the southern oil city of Basra to disarm residents amid intensified feuding among rival Shi'ite Muslim tribes.
    (Reuters, 1/15/16)
2016        Jan 13, The US-led coalition conducted 20 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 1/14/16)

2016        Jan 14, In northern Iraq early-morning attacks by the Islamic State on Tal Kusaiba village killed the police station chief and his guard along with nine fighters from a powerful Shi'ite militia and Sunni tribal force. The Iraqi army retook Tal Kusaiba hours later in a counter- attack.
    (Reuters, 1/14/16)
2016        Jan 14, In northern Iraq French warplanes bombed overnight an Islamic State communications hub near Mosul.
    (AFP, 1/14/16)

2016        Jan 15, In Iraq unknown gunmen seized three American citizens from a private apartment in the southeastern Dora district of Baghdad.
    (Reuters, 1/18/16)

2016        Jan 18, The United States and its allies staged two dozen strikes against the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq.
    (Reuters, 1/19/16)

2016        Jan 19, The UN said the number of civilians killed in violence in Iraq over the past two years is "staggering", with at least 18,802 people killed and another 36,245 injured. The figures count only documented casualties from January 1, 2014, through October 31, 2015, and the actual numbers were likely far higher.
    (AFP, 1/19/16)
2016        Jan 19, The UN said an estimated 3,500 people, mainly women and children, are being held as slaves in Iraq by Islamic State militants.
    (Reuters, 1/19/16)
2016        Jan 19, The United States and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, focused in Ramadi where a half dozen strikes hit multiple targets.
    (Reuters, 1/20/16)

2016        Jan 20, Amnesty International released a report saying Iraqi Kurdish forces are deliberately destroying Arab villages under their control. The group also found that Arab civilians were barred from returning to their villages by Kurdish forces.
    (AP, 1/20/16)
2016        Jan 20, The US-led coalition staged 16 strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting the against Islamic State militant group.
    (Reuters, 1/21/16)

2016        Jan 24, The United States and its allies staged 19 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in the coalition's latest round of daily attacks on the militant group.
    (Reuters, 1/25/16)

2016        Jan 25, The Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka said his government has approved a plan to donate further weapons and ammunition to Iraq and also ammunition to Jordan to help them fight Islamic State militants.
    (AP, 1/25/16)
2016        Jan 25, The coalition of the United States and its allies conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 1/26/16)

2016        Jan 26, Iraqi security forces found a mass grave in Ramadi containing the remains of at least 18 people killed by the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 1/26/16)

2016        Jan 27, In western Iraq a series of suicide attacks killed at least 4 security forces and wounded ten others in al-Baghdadi, in Anbar province.
    (AP, 1/27/16)

2016        Jan 29, In Iraq a pipeline for gas used to generate around half the electricity for the northern Kurdistan region was blown up, knocking out power. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
    (Reuters, 1/29/16)

2016        Jan 30, The Islamic State group released a video purporting to show a French-speaking jihadist threatening attacks against the West and executing so-called apostates and spies in Iraq. At the end of the almost eight-minute video, the speaker and other IS fighters shoot dead five kneeling men in orange jumpsuits.
    (AFP, 1/30/16)

2016        Jan 31, The UN launched an appeal for $861 million in international humanitarian assistance to help millions of people in Iraq who are suffering from war and displacement.
    (AFP, 1/31/16)

2016        Feb 3, Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani declared that the "time has come" for the country's Kurds to hold a referendum on statehood, a move likely to raise tensions with Baghdad.
    (AFP, 2/3/16)

2016        Feb 4, In Iraq a string of roadside bombs and a shooting left 9 people dead and 33 wounded across Baghdad.
    (AP, 2/4/16)

2016        Feb 7, The United States and its allies conducted ten strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 2/8/16)

2016        Feb 9, Iraqi forces recaptured territory from Islamic State militants which links the recently recaptured city of Ramadi to a major army base in western Iraq.
    (Reuters, 2/9/16)
2016        Feb 9, Protests intensified in Iraq's Kurdistan region after the government unveiled new austerity measures to avert an economic collapse that officials warn could undermine the war effort against Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 2/9/16)

2016        Feb 13, Powerful Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said the country needed a technocratic government, threatening to quit politics if PM Haider al-Abadi failed to carry out promised reforms.
    (Reuters, 2/13/16)

2016        Feb 16, An Iraqi army helicopter crashed due to a technical malfunction during a routine flight, killing all 9 crew members.
    (Reuters, 2/16/16)

2016        Feb 17, In Turkey a car laden with explosives detonated next to military buses as they waited at traffic lights near the armed forces' headquarters, parliament and government buildings in the administrative heart of Ankara. 28 people were killed. Within hours, Turkish warplanes bombed bases in northern Iraq of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which PM Davutoglu accused of collaborating in the car bombing.
    (Reuters, 2/18/16)
2016        Feb 17, The United States and its allies conducted 19 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 2/18/16)

2016        Feb 18, An Iraqi court sentenced 40 men to hang over the June 2014 massacre by Sunni jihadists and allied militants of hundreds of military recruits in Tikrit.
    (AFP, 2/18/16)
2016        Feb 18, An Iraqi militia group said the government has decided to cut the number of state-financed paramilitary forces due to a shortage of funds as the international oil price declines.
    (AP, 2/18/16)   

2016        Feb 19, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State militants in Iraq with 16 strikes and nine in Syria.
    (AFP, 2/20/16)

2016        Feb 20, Iraqi tribesmen battled Islamic State group militants inside their Fallujah stronghold for a second day, a significant challenge to longstanding jihadist control that may be undermined by a lack of supplies.
    (AFP, 2/20/16)

2016        Feb 24, The United States and its allies said they have conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria over the last 24 hours.
    (Reuters, 2/24/16)

2016        Feb 28, In Iraq a double bombing in Baghdad claimed by the IS group killed 73 people in the Shiite district of Sadr City. Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi warned residents along the Tigris river of a possible collapse of the Mosul Dam and asked residents along the Tigris river to move at least six kilometers (3.7 miles) away from its banks.
    (AP, 2/29/16)
2016        Feb 28, The United States and its allies conducted 24 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 2/29/16)

2016        Feb 29, In Iraq a suicide bomber struck a funeral, killing at least 38 people, including a local Shiite militia leader, in Muqdadiyah. Late in the day four Islamic State group suicide bombers infiltrated an army headquarters in Haditha, killing Staff Brigadier General Ali Aboud, Lieutenant Colonel Farhan Ibrahim and four others.
    (AP, 2/29/16)    (AFP, 3/1/16)(SFC, 3/1/16, p.A2)
2016        Feb 29, The US-led coalition conducted 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in its latest round of daily attacks.
    (Reuters, 3/1/16)

2016        Feb, In northern Iraq US special forces captured the head of the Islamic State group's unit trying to develop chemical weapons in a raid last month. Sleiman Daoud al-Afari had worked for Saddam Hussein's now-dissolved Military Industrialization Authority where he specialized in chemical and biological weapons.
    (AP, 3/9/16)

2016        Mar 1, In Iraq separate attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 13 people and wounded 31 others.
    (AP, 3/1/16)
2016        Mar 1, The United States and its allies staged 21 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/2/16)

2016        Mar 2, Iraq signed a deal with an Italian company to repair and maintain its largest dam, near the northern, Islamic State-held city of Mosul.
    (AP, 3/2/16)
2016        Mar 2, The US and its allies in Iraq and Syria staged 29 strikes against Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 3/3/16)

2016        Mar 3, The United States and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/4/16)

2016        Mar 4, Iraq's influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has reiterated calls for government reform as thousands rallied across the country in his support.
    (AP, 3/4/16)
2016        Mar 4, It was reported that a two-day UN assessment this week in Iraq found that nearly every building in Ramadi had been damaged or destroyed in frontline areas. In other districts, one in three or four buildings were damaged. Islamic State fighters still held pockets in the northern and eastern outskirts.
    (Reuters, 3/4/16)
2016        Mar 4, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State militants in Iraq with 12 strikes and two in Syria. Abu Omar al-Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen and described by the Pentagon as the group's "minister of war", was targeted near the town of al-Shadadi in Syria. Al-Shishani was critically wounded and reportedly died on March 14.
    (Reuters, 3/5/16)(AFP, 3/13/16)(SFC, 3/16/16, p.A2)

2016        Mar 5, The United States and its allies conducted 19 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/6/16)

2016        Mar 6, In Iraq Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack with an explosive-laden fuel tanker on a police checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing 61 people and wounding more than 70.
    (Reuters, 3/6/16)(AFP, 3/7/16)

2016        Mar 6, The United States and its allies conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/7/16)

2016        Mar 9, In Iraq a large number of rockets were fired on Taza from the nearby village of Bashir, which is held by the jihadists. The suspected mustard gas attack on Taza left Fatima Samir (3) dead.
    (AFP, 3/12/16)
2016        Mar 9, The Turkish military carried out air strikes against Kurdish rebel targets across the border in northern Iraq, killing at least 67 militants.
    (AP, 3/12/16)

2016        Mar 10, Iraqi forces retook a town from the Islamic State jihadist group in Anbar province and evacuated 10,000 civilians as they advanced up the Euphrates valley.
    (AFP, 3/10/16)

2016        Mar 12, Iraq's powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a sit-at the gates of Baghdad's heavily fortified government district, stepping up pressure on PM Haider al-Abadi to deliver on promised anti-corruption reforms.
    (Reuters, 3/12/16)
2016        Mar 12, The United States and its allies carried out more than a dozen air strikes on Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/13/16)

2016        Mar 13, Iraq said the Islamic State group said it has pulled its fighters out of Rutba, a desert town in the western province of Anbar.
    (AP, 3/13/16)

2016        Mar 14, In northern Iraq Muhammad Jamal Amin (27) of Virginia, a fighter for the Islamic State  surrendered to Kurdish peshmerga forces near Sinjar.
    (Reuters, 3/14/16)(SFC, 3/15/16, p.A2)
2016        Mar 14, In western Iraq the Islamic State group returned to the desert town of Rutba, less than a day after vacating it.
    (AFP, 3/14/16)
2016        Mar 14, Turkey detained four suspects over the previous day’s suicide car bombing in Ankara, as warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq over the attack. At least 45 Kurdish rebels were killed in the air strikes. Turkey declared a round-the-clock curfew in the southeastern town of Sirnak in order to carry out operations against Kurdish militants in the area.
    (AFP, 3/14/16)(Reuters, 3/14/16)(AP, 3/15/16)

2016        Mar 15, In Iraq terrified residents fled the town of Hit as security forces closed in and jihadist fighters hunkered down to defend one of their main bastions in Anbar province.
    (AFP, 3/15/16)
2016        Mar 15, The United States and its allies carried out 11 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/16/16)

2016        Mar 16, An Iraqi army plane crashed during a reconnaissance flight near the city of Kirkuk and its three crew went missing.
    (AFP, 3/16/16)

2016        Mar 17, The United States and its allies conducted 20 strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/18/16)

2016        Mar 18, In Iraq thousands of followers of influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took to the streets in Baghdad, pushing through security lines to cross a bridge on the Tigris River to begin setting up tents in anticipation of a prolonged sit-in close to the Green Zone, where the government is headquartered.
    (AP, 3/18/16)

2016        Mar 19, Major General Ali Ibrahim Daboun said Iraqi forces have launched a broad offensive to retake the city of Hit from the Islamic State group in the western province of Anbar.
    (AFP, 3/19/16)
2016        Mar 19, In northern Iraq US service member Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin died from wounds from rocket fire at Fire Base Bell outside Mosul. Eight Marines were injured in the Islamic State attack. 
    (SSFC, 3/20/16, p.A6)(AP, 3/22/16)   

2016        Mar 20, The United States and its allies carried out 11 strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/21/16)

2016        Mar 21, The United States and its allies conducted 15 strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/22/16)

2016        Mar 24, Iraqi authorities decided to shut down the Al-Jazeera channel's Baghdad office, accusing Qatar's state-funded TV network of inciting violence and sectarianism.
    (AFP, 4/28/16)
2016        Mar 24, The Iraqi army said its troops and allied militia have launched what is expected to be a long and difficult offensive to retake the second city of Mosul, the Islamic State group's main hub in Iraq. The IS fighting strength in Mosul was estimated at around 10,000 fighters.
    (AFP, 3/24/16)(Econ, 4/16/16, p.37)

2016        Mar 25, In Iraq thousands rallied in Baghdad in support of firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr's associate, Sheik Asad al-Nasiri, delivered a message from the cleric giving PM Haider al-Abadi 24 hours to implement wide-ranging reforms.
    (AP, 3/25/16)
2016        Mar 25, In Iraq a suicide attack ripped through a trophy ceremony after a football tournament and killed 41 people in the Babil province village of Al-Asriya. Mayor Ahmed Shaker was among the dead, as was one of his bodyguards and at least 5 members of the security forces.
    (AFP, 3/26/16)(AP, 3/26/16)
2016        Mar 25, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State militants in Iraq with 22 strikes and four in Syria.
    (Reuters, 3/26/16)

2016        Mar 26, In Iraq a group of suicide bombers from the Islamic State group killed three Iraqi soldiers in an attack on the Al-Asad air base military base hosting hundreds of coalition advisers in Anbar province.
    (AFP, 3/26/16)
2016        Mar 26, Turkish Air Force jets joined coalition forces in attacking Islamic State targets in northern Iraq, hours after a Turkish soldier was killed at a military base in the region from rockets fired by the extremist militants.
    (AP, 3/26/16)

2016        Mar 27, Iraqi security forces stepped aside to allow influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to start his sit-in in Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone after weeks of protests in the capital. Sadr met with PM Haider al-Abadi as he began the sit-in.
    (AP, 3/27/16)(SFC, 3/28/16, p.A2)

2016        Mar 28, Iraq's parliament gave embattled PM Haider al-Abadi until March 31 to present a cabinet of technocrats as Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr expanded his protest movement for reform. Sadr himself spent the night camping in the Green Zone.
    (AFP, 3/28/16)

2016        Mar 29, In Iraq a suicide bombing in Tayaran Square in central Baghdad killed at least 7 people and wounded 23. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.
    (AP, 3/29/16)

2016        Mar 30, The Czech government approved a Defense Ministry plan to send up to 35 instructors to Iraq to train pilots for Czech-made planes. The deployment still needed approval by Parliament.
    (AP, 3/30/16)

2016        Mar 31, Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to end a two-week sit-in at entrances to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone aimed at pressuring the government to carry out reforms. The announcement came after PM Haider al-Abadi presented a proposed lineup for new cabinet ministers to parliament -- a measure which Sadr had demanded.
    (AFP, 3/31/16)
2016        Mar 31, The United States and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in their latest round of daily attacks in Iraq and Syria against the militant group.
    (Reuters, 4/1/16)

2016        Apr 1, Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes in northern Iraq, destroying ammunition depots and shelters in an areas where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has camps.
    (Reuters, 4/1/16)

2016        Apr 2, Iraq's PM Haider al-Abadi ordered an investigation into corruption allegations against senior oil officials following an expose into bribe-taking published in international media outlets.
    (AP, 4/2/16)

2016        Apr 3, In northern Iraq militant Jasim Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer not considered a high-value target, was reported killed by a drone strike overnight. He was believed responsible for an attack on US troops in northern Iraq last month that left a Marine dead.
    (Reuters, 4/3/16)(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016        Apr 3, The United States and its allies conducted two dozen strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 4/4/16)

2016        Apr 4, In Iraq about 25 people were killed on across the country, most of them in suicide attacks targeting members of Shi'ite militias and military forces. Iraqi troops entered Hit under cover of heavy air strikes a week after launching an operation to retake the town.
    (Reuters, 4/4/16)(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A4)
2016        Apr 4, The Turkish military carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq against targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
    (Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016        Apr 4, The United States and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, focusing on rebel forces near towns that guard the approach to the key Iraqi city of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 4/5/16)

2016        Apr 5, The United States and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
    (Reuters, 4/6/16)

2016        Apr 6, The United States and its allies conducted 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 4/7/16)

2016        Apr 7, The United States and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 4/8/16)

2016        Apr 9, The US Air Force deployed B-52 bombers to Qatar to join the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the first time they have been based in the Middle East since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.
    (Reuters, 4/9/16)

2016        Apr 11, The United States and its allies stages 13 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 4/12/16)

2016        Apr 13, The U.S.-led coalition staged 21 strikes against the Islamic State militant group, according to the coalition leading the operations in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 4/14/16)

2016        Apr 16, Iraqi lawmakers postponed a vote to oust speaker Selim al-Jabouri after failing to reach a quorum in their second failed attempt this week, part of a stalled effort to remove top officials who the parliamentarians accuse of failing to combat corruption and mismanagement.
    (AP, 4/16/16)

2016        Apr 17, The United States and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria over the last 24 hours.
    (Reuters, 4/17/16)

2016        Apr 18, The US said it will deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq and to send Apache helicopters for the first time into the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq, the first major increase in US forces in nearly a year.
    (AP, 4/18/16)

2016        Apr 19, In Iraq arrested Islamic State militants led authorities to two mass graves inside the soccer stadium in Ramadi containing up to 40 bodies.
    (SFC, 4/22/16, p.A2)

2016        Apr 20, Turkish warplanes struck militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq.
    (Reuters, 4/20/16)

2016        Apr 22, In Iraq a suicide bomb attack claimed by Islamic State killed at least 9 people following Friday prayers at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in southwestern Baghdad. A second suicide attacker at the mosque in al-Radwaniya district was shot and killed by security forces before he could set off his explosives. A separate bomb went off in the district of Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, killing 2 and wounding nine.
    (Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016        Apr 22, It was reported that explosives planted by Islamic State have killed dozens of Iraqi civilians who returned to Ramadi despite warnings that much of the western city remains unsafe nearly four months after its recapture from the militants.
    (Reuters, 4/22/16)
2016        Apr 22, The US military acknowledged that its air strikes killed 20 civilians in Iraq and Syria between Sep 10, 2015, and Feb 2, 2016. Six of the strikes were in Iraq and three were in Syria.
    (SFC, 4/23/16, p.A2)

2016        Apr 23, The United States and its allies conducted 28 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 4/24/16)

2016        Apr 24, In Iraq heavy clashes erupted between Kurdish peshmerga forces and Shiite paramilitary troops inside Tuz Khormato, a contested town north of Baghdad. A peshmerga brigadier general and another fighter and two members of Turkmen forces were among the nine people killed.
    (AFP, 4/24/16)
2016        Apr 24, The United States and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 4/25/16)

2016        Apr 25, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State with 25 strikes in their latest assault against the militant group in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 4/26/16)

2016        Apr 26, Iraqi lawmakers threw water bottles towards Iraq's premier and chanted against the parliament speaker, impeding a planned vote on a new cabinet lineup as thousands demonstrated for reforms nearby.
    (AFP, 4/26/16)
2016        Apr 26, The United States and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq.
    (Reuters, 4/27/16)

2016        Apr 27, The US-led military coalition targeted Islamic State in Iraq and Syria with 22 strikes.
    (Reuters, 4/28/16)

2016        Apr 30, In Iraq hundreds of supporters of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed into Baghdad's Green Zone and entered the parliament building after lawmakers failed to convene for a vote on overhauling the government.
    (Reuters, 4/30/16)
016        Apr 30, In Iraq an Islamic State attack targeted Shiite civilians shopping in an open-air market killing at least 21 people and wounded at least 42 others in Nahrawan.
    (AP, 4/30/16)

2016        May 1, In Iraq two suicide car bombs claimed by Islamic State killed at least 32 people and wounded 75 others in the center of the southern Iraqi city of Samawa.
    (Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016        May 1, The United States and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/2/16)

2016        May 2, In Iraq an explosives-laden car detonated in Baghdad, killing at least 18 Shiite pilgrims. Tens of thousands of Shiite faithful have been making their way this week to the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiyah, where the 8th century Imam Moussa al-Kadhim is buried.
    (AP, 5/2/16)
2016        May 2, Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, killing 18 militants.
    (AP, 5/3/16)
2016        May 2, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State on Monday with 29 strikes against the militants in Syrian and Iraq, including the northern city of Mosul under militant control.
    (Reuters, 5/3/16)

2016        May 3, In northern Iraq Islamic State militants killed a US Navy SEAL after blasting through Kurdish defenses and overrunning a town in the biggest offensive in the area for months.
    (Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016        May 3, In Iraq tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims converged on a golden-domed Shiite shrine in Baghdad to commemorate the anniversary of the death of a revered imam as authorities tightened security measures in the capital amid concerns of more attacks by Sunni extremists.
    (AP, 5/3/16)
2016        May 3, Amnesty International said Iraq is holding more than 1,000 detainees, some as young as 15, without charge in "inhumane and degrading conditions" at makeshift holding centers in western Anbar province.
    (Reuters, 5/3/16)
2016        May 3, The United States and its coalition partners launched 22 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, including 10 near the key city of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 5/4/16)

2016        May 4, The United States and its allies conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/5/16)

2016        May 5, The United States and its allies conducted 24 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/6/16)

2016        May 6, Iraqi security forces ramped up their presence across Baghdad, blocking most major roads and bridges to keep followers of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr from reaching the government district they stormed a week earlier.
    (Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016        May 6, In Iraq Australia-born terrorist and former rapper Neil Prakash (24) was killed in an American air strike in Mosul.
    (SSFC, 5/8/16, p.A4)

2016        May 7, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State in Iraq with 17 air strikes, and hit the militant group with eight air strikes in Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/8/16)

2016        May 8, In Iraq separate attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens.
    (AP, 5/8/16)

2016        May 9, In Iraq an evening suicide bombing in a commercial Shiite neighborhood of Baqouba killed at least 13 people.
    (AP, 5/10/16)

2016        May 11, In Iraq three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 93 people. IS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the attack in Sadr City and saying a suicide bomber it identified as "Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari" detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle killing at least 64.
    (AFP, 5/11/16)(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016        May 11, In Iraq the Islamic State group of Nineveh province released a video showing five alleged "spies" being shot dead in Iraq by young men from a crowd assembled for the execution.
    (AFP, 5/12/16)

2016        May 12, Islamic State insurgents killed at least 17 Iraqi soldiers with suicide truck bombs in a major attack on government forces in Jarayshi, 10 km (6 miles) north of Ramadi. They also surrounded an army regiment, seized a bridge and cut a key supply route linking Ramadi to the Thirthar district further north. The jihadist group also killed two policemen and wounded eight others in two suicide bombings in Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad.
    (Reuters, 5/12/16)

2016        May 13, In northern Iraq shooting and bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State killed at least 16 people in Balad.
    (Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016        May 13, The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State militants in Iraq with 17 strikes and five in Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/14/16)

2016        May 14, In Iraq more 14 suicide bombers attacked a residential and government complex at Amiriyat Fallujah, killing at least 6 people. Five of the attackers blew up themselves while clashing with security forces, while others holed up inside the buildings, and were later killed.
    (AP, 5/14/16)

2016        May 15, In Iraq Jihadist suicide attackers broke into a gas plant north of Baghdad, killing at least 14 people and setting fire to gas tanks. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Taji plant. A string of attacks in or close to Baghdad killed 15 others.
    (Reuters, 5/15/16)(SFC, 5/16/16, p.A4)
2016        May 15, Turkish and US-led coalition forces struck Islamic State targets north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, killing 27 fighters. The United States and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/16/16)

2016        May 16, Iraqi security forces and allied fighters launched an operation to retake the town of Rutba from the Islamic State jihadist group.
    (AFP, 5/16/16)
2016        May 16, The United States and its allies conducted 12 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/17/16)

2016        May 17, In Iraq four bombings killed at least 69 people and wounded more than 100 in Baghdad.
    (Reuters, 5/17/16)(SFC, 5/17/16, p.A2)

2016        May 18, The United States and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/19/16)

2016        May 19, Iraq announced that its forces have recaptured the western town of Rutba, which had been held by the Islamic State jihadist group since 2014.
    (AFP, 5/19/16)
2016        May 19, The United States and its allies conducted 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/20/16)

2016        May 20, Iraqi forces killed at least two protesters while defending Baghdad's Green Zone. The two supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr were the first casualties of the months-old protest movement started by the young cleric to push for political change.
    (AFP, 5/21/16)

2016        May 23, Iraqi government forces fought Islamic State militants near Falluja and bombarded central districts at the outset of an offensive to retake the longtime jihadist stronghold on the western approaches to the capital Baghdad. It was estimated that there are currently between 500 and 700 IS militants in Falluja.
    (Reuters, 5/23/16)

2016        May 24, The United States and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 5/25/16)

2016        May 25, Iraqi troops concentrated artillery fire on Falluja's northern and northeastern neighborhoods. A Falluja hospital source said that six civilians were killed and 11 wounded on Wednesday morning, raising the overall death toll since the May 23 launch of the government offensive to 35 - 21 civilians and 14 militants.
    (AP, 5/25/16)

2016        May 26, US-backed Syrian fighters (SDF) and Iraqi forces pursued twin assaults against the Islamic State group, but experts warned the battles will be drawn out.
    (AFP, 5/26/16)

2016        May 27, A US military spokesman said coalition strikes supporting Iraqi forces in the recapture of Falluja have killed 70 Islamic State militants including the group's commander in the city. He said the coalition had carried out 20 strikes in support of the campaign over the past four days.
    (Reuters, 5/27/16)

2016        May 29, Iraq's special forces completed a troop buildup around Fallujah ahead of an operation to retake the Islamic State-held city west of Baghdad, as the militants attacked Hit, a newly-liberated town to the west. Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga forces launched an offensive to retake areas east of Mosul, the main IS hub in the country.
    (AP, 5/29/16)(AFP, 5/29/16)

2016        May 30, Iraqi forces started pushing into the city of Fallujah as a wave of bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in Baghdad and nearby killed at least 24 people.
    (AP, 5/30/16)

2016        May 31, Iraqi forces battling their way into Fallujah repelled a four-hour counterattack by the Islamic State group, a day after entering the southern part of the militant-held city with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes. An estimated 50,000 people remain trapped in the city.
    (AP, 5/31/16)

2016        Jun 1, PM Haider al-Abadi said Iraq delayed its assault on the city of Falluja because of fears for the safety of civilians, as his forces halted at the city's edge in the face of ferocious resistance from Islamic State fighters.
    (Reuters, 6/1/16)

2016        Jun 4, In Iraq bombings targeting a police checkpoint, a restaurant and two markets killed 15 people and wounded more than 40 in and around Baghdad. Iraqi forces gained new ground from the Islamic State group in a key area west of the jihadist bastion of Fallujah.
    (AP, 6/4/16)(AFP, 6/4/16)
2016        Jun 4, Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey and the army killed 27 fighters near its borders with Iraq and Iran.
    (Reuters, 6/5/16)
2016        Jun 4, The United States and its allies conducted a total of 23 military strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
    (Reuters, 6/5/16)

2016        Jun 5, In Iraq Islamic State militants reportedly shot and killed 7 civilians and 7 IS defectors inside Fallujah as they attempted to flee the city.
    (AP, 6/6/16)

2016        Jun 7, In Iraq a car bombing in Karbala killed 7 civilians and wound almost two dozen.
    (SFC, 6/8/16, p.A2)

2016        Jun 8, Iraqi forces said they had begun to make progress against Islamic State inside a built-up district of Falluja, the militants' stronghold to the west of Baghdad.
    (Reuters, 6/8/16)
2016        Jun 8, Islamic State insurgents have posted a video showing a 3,000-year-old temple being blown up at the Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, in their latest assault on some of the world's greatest archaeological and cultural treasures. The UN confirmed in a statement that satellite imagery showed "extensive damage to the main entrance" of the temple of Nabu, the Babylonian god of wisdom.
    (Reuters, 6/9/16)

2016        Jun 9, In Iraq two suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed 31 people with 78 wounded.
    (AP, 6/9/16)
2016        Jun 9, In northern Iraq Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other Islamic State leaders were reportedly wounded in a coalition air strike on one of the group's command headquarters close to the Syrian border according to a local source in Nineveh province.
    (Reuters, 6/10/16)

2016        Jun 11, Iraqi forces in Fallujah secured a new exit route, known as al-Salam (Peace) Junction. Over four thousand people used it to flee in the first day it was open.
    (Reuters, 6/12/16)

2016        Jun 12, Iraqi forces advanced towards Qayyarah, which lies south of the Islamic State group's main hub of Mosul, reviving a weeks-old operation that has made slow progress so far.
    (AFP, 6/12/16)

2016        Jun 13, Iraq said it had launched an investigation into possible human rights abuses against civilians fleeing the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah as an aid group said more than 4,000 more people had left the city over the weekend.
    (AP, 6/13/16)
2016        Jun 13, In Iraq a suicide attack carried out by Islamic State group fighters killed at least 5 members of the Iraqi security forces in the city of Ramadi.
    (AFP, 6/13/16)

2016        Jun 14, In Iraq Brig. Ahmed Badr al-Luhaibi, the commander of Brigade 71st of Division 15, was reported killed by a sniper during an operation to retake a village south of Mosul.
    (AP, 6/15/16)

2016        Jun 16, Kurdish official Masrour Barzan said that once the Islamic State is defeated, Iraq should be divided into three separate entities to prevent further sectarian bloodshed, with a state each given to Shi'ite Muslims, Sunnis and Kurds.
    (Reuters, 6/16/16)
2016        Jun 16, United Nations investigators said the Islamic State is committing genocide against the Yazidis in Syria and Iraq to destroy the religious community of 400,000 people through killings, sexual slavery and other crimes.
    (Reuters, 6/16/16)

2016        Jun 17, Iraqi special forces entered the center of Fallujah city early today, taking over a government complex and a neighborhood that served as a base for the Islamic State group militants after intense fighting.
    (AP, 6/17/16)

2016        Jun 18, Iraqi forces hunted down holdout jihadists in Fallujah after retaking the city center and trained their sights on Mosul, the Islamic State's last remaining major hub in the country. Iraqi authorities arrested Iran-backed Shiite militia fighters accused of executing 49 Sunni men fleeing Fallujah.
    (AFP, 6/18/16)(SSFC, 6/19/16, p.A4)

2016        Jun 20, An Iraqi military commander said his forces are battling Islamic State militants in the northern neighborhoods of Fallujah days after most of the city was declared liberated.
    (AP, 6/20/16)

2016        Jun 22, Iraqi forces hunted jihadist fighters in their last Fallujah redoubts as tens of thousands of displaced civilians massed in overcrowded camps around the city.
    (AFP, 6/22/16)

2016        Jun 23, Iraqi forces focused on removing roadside bombs and booby traps after having retaken more than 80 percent of Fallujah from the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 6/23/16)

2016        Jun 25, In Iraq a US airstrike in Mosul killed the Islamic State's deputy war minister, Basim Muhammad Ahmad Sultan al-Bajari, and a military commander named Hatim Talib al-Hamduni.
    (AP, 7/2/16)

2016        Jun 26, A senior Iraqi commander said the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State militants, after a more than monthlong military operation.
    (AP, 6/26/16)

2016        Jun 27, In Iraq a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Sunni mosque in Abu Ghraib, killing at least 9 people and wounding at least 28.
    (AFP, 6/28/16)

2016        Jun 28, In Syria the US-led coalition carried out eight air strikes near Albu Kamal and five near Al-Qaim, on the Iraqi side. The New Syrian Army (NSA) advanced overnight on IS territory near the Albu Kamal border crossing and adjacent town, but IS recaptured it by the following afternoon.
    (AFP, 6/29/16)

2016        Jun 29, In Iraq more than 20 helicopters took part in a mission that destroyed more than 138 vehicles described as a convoy of Islamic State fighters fleeing the western city of Fallujah. The US-led coalition also conducted airstrikes on two large concentrations of Daesh vehicles and fighters.
    (AP, 6/30/16)
2016        Jun 29, The US said it has extended a $2.7-billion credit facility to Iraq for the purchase of military equipment amid the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group.
    (AP, 6/29/16)

2016        Jul 3, In Iraq at least 115 people were killed in a suicide blast in the Karada district of Baghdad. Another 5 people were killed in a Shiite neighborhood east of Baghdad. The death toll from the truck bombing in the Karada district continued to rise to at least 186 as more human remains were recovered. The Health Ministry put the toll at 292.
    (AP, 7/4/16)(AP, 7/4/16)(AP, 7/7/16)(Reuters, 7/7/16)

2016        Jul 4, Iraq executed 5 convicted terrorists in Baghdad. A string of bombings in Baghdad killed 16 people.
    (SFC, 7/5/16, p.A3)

2016        Jul 5, Iraq said government forces have now seized all villages in the Haj Ali area and reached the eastern bank of the Tigris, around 60 km (40 miles) south of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 7/5/16)

2016        Jul 6, Former British PM Tony Blair voiced "sorrow, regret and apology" after Sir John Chilcot’s 2.6m-word damning report on the Iraq war, but said he did not mislead parliament and did not regret toppling Saddam Hussein.
    (AFP, 7/6/16)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.14)

2016        Jul 7, In Iraq a triple suicide attack late today near a Shi'ite mausoleum north of Baghdad killed 37 people. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.
    (AP, 7/8/16)

2016        Jul 8, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi fired Baghdad's security chief following a recent series of attacks.
    (AP, 7/8/16)
2016        Jul 8, Turkish fighter jets struck Kurdish militant targets in southeastern Hakkari province and northern Iraq, killing 12 militants.
    (Reuters, 7/8/16)

2016        Jul 9, Iraqi government forces recaptured an air base in Qayara from the Islamic State group, a victory hailed by the prime minister as a key step ahead of the long-awaited operation to push the militants from the northern city of Mosul.
    (AP, 7/9/16)

2016        Jul 11, US Defense Secretary Ash Carte announced that The United States is stepping up its military campaign against Islamic State (IS) by sending hundreds more troops to assist Iraqi forces in an expected push on Mosul, the militants' largest stronghold, later this year.
    (Reuters, 7/11/16)

2016        Jul 12, In Iraq a suicide car bomb ripped through an outdoor vegetable and fruit market in al-Rashidiya, a Shiite-dominated northeastern district of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people.
    (AP, 7/12/16)

2016        Jul 13, In Iraq three bombings in Baghdad killed at least 12 people, including a suicide bombing in a mainly Shiite neighborhood that had been attacked the day before.
    (AP, 7/13/16)

2016        Jul 15, Thousands of Iraqis defied warnings from authorities and rallied in the heart of Baghdad, renewing pressure on the government to carry out reforms targeting corruption and sectarianism.
    (AFP, 7/15/16)

2016        Jul 19, The Iraqi Cabinet announced a two-day mandatory official holiday for all government workers as temperatures soared above 123 degrees Fahrenheit.
    (SFC, 7/20/16, p.A2)

2016        Jul 20, Iraqis endured the hottest day so far this year, with temperatures soaring up to 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit) in Baghdad and as much as 53 degrees Celsius (127 Fahrenheit) in the southern part of the country.
    (AP, 7/20/16)

2016        Jul 22, President Francois Hollande said France will supply weapons to Iraq to support its fight against the Islamic State group, but ruled out any troop deployment in the country.
    (AFP, 7/22/16)

2016     Jul 24, In Iraq a suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 15 people in a Shiite area of northern Baghdad. The bombing struck near a checkpoint in the Kadhimiyah area, home to a major Shiite shrine, also wounded at least 29 people.
    (AFP, 7/24/16)

2016        Jul 25, In Iraq a suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed 12 people at a crowded checkpoint north of Baghdad. In Baghdad, separate bomb explosions rocked three commercial areas, killing 9 people and wounding 26.
    (AFP, 7/25/16)(AP, 7/25/16)

2016        Jul 26, In Iraq the Babil Provincial Council approved a decision allowing authorities to demolish homes of convicted militants and banish their families from the province.
    (AP, 7/27/16)

2016        Jul 27, In Iraq militants unleashed a series of attacks in and around Baghdad, killing at least 18 people.
    (AP, 7/27/16)(SFC, 7/28/16, p.A2)

2016        Jul 31, Iraq's Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi said that Islamic State group leaders and their families have sold their belongings and fled Mosul as Iraqi forces close in on the northern city.
    (AFP, 7/31/16)
2016        Jul 31, In northern Iraq militants attacked a gas facility and oil field in Dibbis killing 5 people. 3 attackers were killed but firefighters were still trying to extinguish a fire.
    (AP, 7/31/16)(AFP, 7/31/16)

2016        Aug 2, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi imposed a travel ban on several parliamentary officials accused of corruption, but parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi rejected the order saying this could only be ordered by the judiciary and calling for everyone to respect both it and the constitution.
    (AFP, 8/2/16)

2016        Aug 3, A UN commission investigating human rights abuses in Syria said the Islamic State group is still committing genocide and other crimes against the Yazidi minority in Iraq.
    (AP, 8/3/16)

2016        Aug 4, The UN refugee agency said it has received reports that the Islamic State group may have captured up to 3,000 Iraqis who were fleeing violence and that 12 of them may have been killed.
    (AP, 8/5/16)

2016        Aug 5, In Iraq officers and local officials said the Islamic State group has killed several residents attempting to flee Hawijah, as Iraqi forces prepared for an operation against the jihadist-held area.
    (AFP, 8/5/16)

2016        Aug 10, In Iraq a fire ripped through a maternity ward at a Baghdad hospital overnight, killing 12 newborn babies. The deadly blaze was likely caused by faulty electrical wiring.
    (AP, 8/10/16)
2016        Aug 10, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the top US commander for the fight against the Islamic State, said military campaigns in Iraq and Syria have taken 45,000 enemy combatants off the battlefield and reduced the total number of IS fighters to as few as 15,000.
    (AP, 8/11/16)

2016        Aug 11, Turkish jets raided suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border in northern Iraq, following a wave of attacks that killed at least 12 people.
    (AP, 8/11/16)

2016        Aug 14, Iraqi Kurdish forces retook five villages east of Islamic State-held Mosul in an operation launched early today.
    (AP, 8/14/16)

2016        Aug 21, Iraq hanged 36 men convicted over the 2014 "Speicher" massacre by Sunni jihadists and allied militants of hundreds of military recruits.
    (AFP, 8/21/16)

2016        Aug 23, Iraqi special forces led an operation aimed at retaking the jihadist-held town of Qayyarah, a key staging base for operations to attack Mosul. Islamic State militants abandoned Qayyarah after setting fire to many of the region's oil wells.
    (AFP, 8/23/16)(Reuters, 8/30/16)

2016        Aug 28, In Iraq five attackers and a suicide bomber killed at least 15 people and injured 16 at a wedding party in the oasis town of Ain al-Tamer 50 km from Karbala late today. The IS claimed responsiility. All the attackers were killed by security forces.
    (Reuters, 8/29/16)

2016        Sep 2, In Iraq a blast caused by a fire at a weapons storage depot in eastern Baghdad set off rockets that hit neighboring districts, killing at least 4 residents and injuring 14 others.
    (Reuters, 9/2/16)

2016        Sep 6, In Iraq an overnight car bombing, claimed by the Islamic State group, struck a bustling commercial area of central Baghdad, killing at least 12 civilians.
    (AP, 9/6/16)

2016        Sep 9, In Iraq a camp housing members of an Iranian opposition group was officially closed after the last 280 residents were flown to Albania. The Mujahedeen-e-Khalq had been based in Iraq since the 1980s, when they received arms and support from Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war.
    (AP, 9/10/16)
2016        Sep 9, In Iraq two bomb blasts, claimed by the Islamic State group, hit just before midnight outside a shopping mall in central Baghdad killing at least 13 people.
    (AFP, 9/10/16)
2016        Sep 9, The Dutch government says it is extending its involvement in a military training mission in Iraq until the end of 2017.
    (AP, 9/9/16)

2016        Sep 20, Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake the northern town of Shirqat from Islamic State, a stepping stone in their campaign to recapture the jihadists' stronghold of Mosul before the end of the year.
    (Reuters, 9/20/16)

2016        Sep 21, Iraq's parliament sacked Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari over corruption allegations, a move that risks further destabilizing the major OPEC producer's fragile economy as it struggles with a massive budget deficit.
    (Reuters, 9/21/16)

2016        Sep 22, Iraqi forces backed by air strikes from the US-led coalition gained complete control of the northern district of Shirqat, bringing the military a step closer to a main push on Mosul later this year.
    (Reuters, 9/22/16)

2016        Sep 23, A senior Royal Air Force officer said British Tornado and Typhoon aircraft stationed at a U.K. air base in Cyprus are pounding Islamic State targets ahead of a major offensive by Iraqi security forces next month to recapture the key northern city of Mosul from IS militants.
    (AP, 9/24/16)
2016        Sep 23, Iraq and the UN signed an agreement aimed at helping the Baghdad government tackle sexual violence in conflict, an issue that made headlines following the capture and rape of Yazidi women by Islamic State extremists in 2014.
    (AP, 9/23/16)

2016        Sep 24, In Iraq 12 people were killed when militants attacked a police checkpoint north of Tikrit and then detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the city. One militant was killed at the checkpoint after shooting dead four police officers in the attack.
    (Reuters, 9/24/16)

2016        Sep 25, In Iraq a suicide bomber blew himself up in a commercial street of Baghdad, killing 7 and wounding 28.
    (Reuters, 9/25/16)

2016        Sep 27, In Iraq two suicide bombings in Baghdad killed at least 17 civilians. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.
    (SFC, 9/28/16, p.A2)

2016        Sep 29, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi asked Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani not to exploit the war on Islamic State to expand the Kurds' territory.
    (Reuters, 9/29/16)
2016        Sep 29, Norway's Rafto Prize for human rights was awarded to Yanar Mohammed of Iraq for her efforts to help minorities and women subjected to sexual abuse in the war-torn country.
    (AFP, 9/29/16)

2016        Oct 2, In Iraq a booby-trapped drone launched by Islamic State militants killed two Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and wounded two French soldiers north of the IS-controlled city of Mosul. French soldiers had been training Kurdish fighters near the site of the drone crash near the town of Dohuk.
    (Reuters, 10/12/16)

2016        Oct 3, In Iraq suicide bombers attacked two Shi'ite Muslim processions in Baghdad, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 40. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blasts.
    (Reuters, 10/3/16)(AP, 10/3/16)

2016        Oct 5, In Iraq around 19 pro-government Sunni tribal fighters south of Mosul were killed in an air strike east of the town of Qayyarah most likely conducted by the US-led coalition in a case of mistaken identity.
    (AFP, 10/5/16)(SFC, 10/6/16, p.A2)
2016        Oct 5, The Czech government said it has approved a plan to send medical personnel and additional military instructors to Iraq. The deployment still requires parliamentary approval.
    (AP, 10/5/16)

2016        Oct 7, It was reported that President Barack Obama has issued waivers that continue millions of dollars in US military assistance for troubled South Sudan and six other nations where child soldiers have been used, disappointing advocates who say his administration hasn't made curbing the use of children in combat a higher priority. Waivers also have been granted to Somalia, Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, Iraq and Myanmar.
    (AP, 10/7/16)

2016        Oct 9, In Iraq three bomb attacks killed 10 people and wounded at least 37 across Baghdad.
    (AP, 10/9/16)

2016        Oct 10, Iraq's federal court ruled that PM Haider al-Abadi's move to abolish the largely ceremonial posts of the country's vice president and deputy prime minister is unconstitutional.
    (AP, 10/10/16)

2016        Oct 14, The US-led coalition said it is increasing airstrikes in and around the militant-held city of Mosul as Iraqi ground forces build up ahead of a planned operation to retake the city.
    (AP, 10/14/16)

2016        Oct 16, The Iraqi army dropped tens of thousands of leaflets over Mosul before dawn, warning residents an offensive to recapture the city from Islamic State was in its final stages of preparation. A suicide bomber struck a gathering of Shiite mourners in Baghdad, killing at least 4 people and wounding another 12.
    (Reuters, 10/16/16)(AP, 10/16/16)

2016        Oct 17, Iraqi government forces launched a US-backed offensive to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul. the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said up to 100,000 Iraqis may flee to Syria and Turkey to escape the assault.
    (Reuters, 10/17/16)

2016        Oct 18, In Iraq residents of Mosul said Islamic State was using civilians as human shields as Iraqi and Kurdish forces captured outlying villages in their advance on the jihadists' stronghold.
    (Reuters, 10/18/16)
2016        Oct 18, Turkey’s PM Binali Yildirim said Turkish air force jets will join in the air operation backing Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga to retake Iraq's second city of Mosul from jihadists.
    (AFP, 10/18/16)

2016        Oct 19, A senior Iraqi general called on Iraqis fighting for the Islamic State group in Mosul to surrender as a wide-scale operation to retake the militant-held city entered its third day. Residents began returning to the village of Sheikh Amir on the road to Mosul, recaptured overnight by advancing Kurdish fighters.
    (AP, 10/19/16)(Reuters, 10/19/16)

2016        Oct 20, Iraqi special forces charged into the Mosul battle with a pre-dawn advance on a nearby town held by the Islamic State group, a key part of a multi-pronged assault on eastern approaches to the besieged city.
    (AP, 10/20/16)
2016        Oct 20, In Iraq Islamic State set a sulfur plant ablaze during fighting around al-Mishraq, south of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 10/22/16)

2016        Oct 21, About 100 Islamic State militants armed with assault rifles and explosives attacked targets in and around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, in an assault that appeared aimed at diverting Iraqi security forces from a massive offensive against the IS-held city of Mosul. At least 13 workers, including four Iranians, were killed. IS militants stormed a power plant north of Kirkuk and then blew themselves up. A local TV reporter was killed by a sniper while covering the clashes.
    (AP, 10/21/16)(Econ, 10/29/16, p.41)
2016        Oct 21, The UN said Islamic State militants have taken 550 families from villages around Mosul and are holding them close to Islamic State locations in the city, probably as human shields.
    (Reuters, 10/21/16)

2016        Oct 22, Iraqi forces advanced to 5 km (3 miles) from Mosul in an offensive against Islamic State's last major Iraq stronghold. Iraqi cameraman Ali Raysan was killed covering the military offensive. Iraqi security forces battled for a second day with Islamic State group gunmen who infiltrated Kirkuk. The Kirkuk police chief said 48 jihadist attackers had been killed so far and several others wounded.
    (Reuters, 10/22/16)(AFP, 10/22/16)
2016        Oct 22, Iraq's parliament passed a law late today forbidding the import, production or selling of alcoholic beverages in a surprise move that angered many in the country's Christian community who rely on the business. Some lawmakers planned to submit an appeal at the High Federal Court.
    (AP, 10/23/16)

2016        Oct 23, Kurdish fighters said they had taken the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from Islamic State as coalition forces pressed their offensive against the jihadists' last stronghold in Iraq.
    (Reuters, 10/23/16)

2016        Oct 25, Iraqi forces backed by US-led coalition airstrikes battled Islamic State militants for a third day in Ruba, Anbar province, hundreds of km to the south of the operation to retake the northern city of Mosul.
    (AP, 10/25/16)

2016        Oct 26, Iraq's army said it had regained full control of the western town of Rutba, three days after Islamic State attacked it.
    (Reuters, 10/26/16)

2016        Oct 27, The United States said up to 900 Islamic State group jihadists have been killed in the offensive to retake Iraq's Mosul, as camps around the city filled with fleeing civilians.
    (AFP, 10/27/16)
2016        Oct 27, Two Yazidi women who survived a nightmare ordeal of kidnapping, rape and slavery at the hands of Islamic State jihadists won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize. Yazidis are followers of an ancient religion with more than half a million believers concentrated in northern Iraq.
    (AFP, 10/27/16)

2016        Oct 28, The UN human rights office said Islamic State forces in Iraq have abducted tens of thousands of men, women and children from areas around Mosul and are using them as "human shields" in strategic sites in the city as Iraqi troops advance.
    (Reuters, 10/28/16)

2016        Oct 29, In Iraq Islamic State militants killed 40 former members of the Iraqi Security Forces near Mosul and threw their bodies in the Tigris river.
    (Reuters, 11/1/16)
2016        Oct 29, In Iraq a suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group targeted Shiite Muslims in Baghdad, killing at least four people.
    (AFP, 10/29/16)
2016        Oct 29, Iraqi Shi'ite militias said they had launched an offensive towards the west of Mosul, an operation that could inflame sectarian tension in the mainly Sunni region.
    (Reuters, 10/29/16)

2016        Oct 30, In Iraq a parked car bomb exploded in Baghdad's northwestern neighborhood of Hurriyah, killing at least 10 and wounding 34. It was the fifth such explosion in the capital today. The day's casualty toll from the attacks in Baghdad stood at 17 dead and over 60 wounded.
    (AP, 10/30/16)
2016        Oct 30, Iraqi troops and security forces edged closer to Mosul on two southern fronts but a leader of the Shi'ite militias newly participating in the offensive warned that the battle for Islamic State's Iraq stronghold would be long and grueling.
    (Reuters, 10/30/16)

2016        Oct 31, Iraqi troops entered the Karama district of the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, their first advance into the city itself after two weeks of fighting in the surrounding area to dislodge the militants. The Islamic State executed 50 people for desertion at the Ghazlani military base in Mosul.
    (Reuters, 10/31/16)(Reuters, 11/4/16)

2016        Nov 1, Elite Iraqi forces recaptured Gogjali village and a television station on the edge of Mosul. Iraqi army forces managed to push into the Judaidat Al-Mufti area of Mosul. Some 4,000 to 7,000 jihadists were believed to be in and around Mosul. Islamic State militants transported 1,600 abducted civilians from the town of Hammam al-Alil to Tal Afar, possibly for use as human shields against air strikes.
    (AFP, 11/1/16)(Reuters, 11/4/16)

2016        Nov 2, In Iraq a spokesman for a leading Shiite militia said its fighters have gained control of a highway linking the Islamic State group-held city of Mosul to the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants' self-proclaimed caliphate. An Iraqi officer said troops have killed eight Islamic State group militants while carrying out house-to-house clearances in the newly-recaptured Mosul neighborhood of Gogjali. 180 former Iraqi government employees died as Islamic State retreated from Kokjali town.
    (AP, 11/2/16)(Reuters, 11/4/16)

2016        Nov 3, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told his followers there could be no retreat in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against them, as advancing soldiers battled the militants inside their northern Iraqi stronghold.
    (Reuters, 11/3/16)

2016        Nov 4, In Iraq bulldozers and tanks backed by air strikes pushed into the streets of Mosul from the east for the first time since Iraqi forces launched a broad offensive to retake the city on October 17. Jihadist fighters unleashed a deluge of bombs and gunfire on forces punching into the streets of Mosul, forcing some units into a partial pullback. At least seven suicide attackers in explosives-laden vehicles attacked troops, five of whom were killed before nearing their targets.
    (AFP, 11/4/16)(AP, 11/5/16)
2016        Nov 4, In northern Iraq two roadside bombs struck a convoy carrying families fleeing the Islamic State-controlled town of  Hawija late today, killing 18 people.
    (Reuters, 11/5/16)

2016        Nov 5, In Iraq four separate bombings hit neighborhoods across Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 37. Iraqi special forces cleared buildings in neighborhoods they entered in eastern Mosul a day earlier, after pushing out Islamic State militants in their drive to take back the city. Some 1 million civilians remained in the city.
    (AP, 11/5/16)

2016        Nov 6, In Iraq Islamic State fighters targeted troops with car bombs and ambushes in Mosul, stalling an army advance, but faced attack on a new front as US-backed Kurdish-Arab forces launched a campaign for the Syrian city of Raqqa.
    (Reuters, 11/6/16)(AFP, 11/6/16)
2016        Nov 6, In Iraq ten Iranian pilgrims were killed in a suicide attack in Samarra.
    (Reuters, 11/6/16)

2016        Nov 7, Iraqi forces retook the key town of Hamam al-Alil, from the Islamic State group, a crucial objective on the southern front of the offensive to wrest back Mosul. Iraqi security forces announced the discovery of a mass grave in the Hamam al-Alil area. The first officials at the site said the grave likely holds about 100 bodies, many of them decapitated.
    (AFP, 11/7/16)(AP, 11/8/16)

2016        Nov 8, Iraqi Kurdish forces seized the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from the Islamic State group. About five percent of the town remained under jihadist control. US-backed militia forces advanced on the jihadists' Syrian stronghold Raqa.
    (AFP, 11/8/16)

2016        Nov 9, In Iraq residents of Mosul said Islamic State militants fighting to hold on to the city have displayed the crucified bodies of five people they said gave information to "the enemy", and were back on the city streets policing the length of men's beards. Islamic State militants posted a video showing four children, who appeared to be 10-14 years old, shooting four civilians accused of disloyalty in Mosul near the Tigris River.
    (Reuters, 11/9/16)(SFC, 11/12/16, p.A2)
2016        Nov 9, In Iraq and Syria US-backed forces pressed offensives on the Islamic State group's strongholds. An air strike by the American-led coalition reportedly killed 20 civilians in the village of Heisha near the Syrian city of Raqa (Raqqa).
    (AFP, 11/9/16)(AP, 11/9/16)

2016        Nov 10, The Pentagon said that airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria likely killed 59 civilians and injured five others in the first seven months of this year. The deaths brought the estimated toll since the air campaign began in August 2014 to 119 with another 37 injured.
    (http://tinyurl.com/yyr8sm96)

2016        Nov 14, In Iraq suicide bombers targeted Fallujah and Karbala killing at least 6 people in each city.
    (SFC, 11/15/16, p.A3)

2016        Nov 15, Canada’s Chief of Defense Gen. Jonathan Vance said Canadian troops are allowed to fire first in Iraq.
    (http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/liberals-canadians-shoot-first-raq/)

2016        Nov 16, In Iraq heavy fighting broke out in Mosul's eastern Tahrir neighborhood, where a suicide car bomber from the Islamic State group disabled an Abrams tank belonging to the Iraqi army. Special forces now controlled 70 percent of the Tahrir district, where most residents were sheltering indoors.
    (AP, 11/16/16)

2016        Nov 18, Iraqi troops advanced cautiously into eastern districts of Mosul as air strikes, automatic fire and artillery were heard from dawn. One soldier was reported killed in the clashes.
    (SFC, 11/19/16, p.A4)

2016        Nov 19, Iraqi troops faced stiff resistance from Islamic State militants as they pushed deeper into eastern Mosul, backed by aerial support from the US-led international coalition. Three members of the Iraqi security forces were killed when an Islamic State group truck bomb they were trying to defuse exploded west of Baghdad. Islamic State killed seven Sunni tribal fighters who support the Iraqi government and five policemen on in a town south of Mosul.
    (AP, 11/19/16)(AFP, 11/19/16)(Reuters, 11/19/16)

2016        Nov 20, Iraqi troops fortified their positions in Mosul neighborhoods retaken from the Islamic State group as their advance toward the city center was slowed by sniper fire and suicide bombings, as well as concern over the safety of civilians.
    (AP, 11/20/16)
2016        Nov 20, In Iraq millions of Shiite Muslim pilgrims beating their chests in mourning thronged Karbala under the protection of thousands of members of the security forces. The commemoration of Imam Hussein's death in 680 AD culminates on Nov 21.
    (AFP, 11/20/16)

2016        Nov 22, In Iraq US forces said they have carried out an air strike on a bridge spanning the Tigris river, restricting militant movements between western and eastern parts of Mosul. The air strike hit the number four bridge in the past 48 hours. A month ago a US air strike destroyed the No. 2 bridge and two weeks later another strike took out the No. 5 bridge. The strike leaves Mosul's oldest British-built bridge as the only one still standing out of five in the center of the city.
    (Reuters, 11/22/16)(AFP, 11/22/16)

2016        Nov 23, A Baghdad court issued arrest warrants for two correspondents with a Saudi newspaper over a false news report accusing Iranian pilgrims of sexually harassing Iraqi women. The Nov 20 article quoted a purported World Health Organization spokesman as saying that after last year's pilgrimage more than 169 Iraqi women became pregnant out of wedlock.
    (AFP, 11/23/16)

2016        Nov 23, In Iraq Iranian-backed Shi'ite paramilitaries said they had linked up with Kurdish peshmerga forces west of Mosul, a move they said completed the encircling of the Islamic State-held city and nearby town of Tal Afar.
    (Reuters, 11/23/16)

2016        Nov 24, In Iraq a car bomb attack at a gas station near the city of Hilla killed at least 73 people including about 40 Iranians returning from Karbala. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. The death toll was later raised to 92.
    (AP, 11/25/16)(AP, 12/3/16)

2016        Nov 25, In Iraq IS militants reportedly shot to death 27 civilians in Muhandiseen Park in northern Mosul.
    (AP, 11/29/16)

2016        Nov 26, Iraq's parliament voted to accord full legal status to 110,000 government-sanctioned Shiite popular mobilization forces (PMF) as a "back-up and reserve" force for the military and police and empower them to "deter" security and terror threats facing the country, like the Islamic State group. The legislation, supported by 208 of the chamber's 327 members, was promptly rejected by Sunni Arab politicians and lawmakers who said it was evidence of what they called the "dictatorship" of the country's Shiite majority.
    (AP, 11/26/16)(Econ, 1/7/17, p.39)

2016        Nov 28, Iraqi residents in Mosul said the Islamic State has arrested dozens of shop owners accused of raising food prices in the nearly besieged city, to tamp down discontent as a US-backed offensive closes in on the group's stronghold.
    (Reuters, 11/28/16)

2016        Nov 29, An Iraqi official said water supplies to about 650,000 residents of Mosul have been cut off after a pipeline was hit during fighting between the army and Islamic State militants.
    (Reuters, 11/29/16)
2016        Nov 29, The Hashed al-Jabour militia, made up of Sunni tribal fighters backed by the government, killed four men it had captured in a village north of Mosul. Witnesses said the men were shot in the presence of Iraqi security forces without any judicial proceedings.
    (AP, 12/18/16)

2016        Nov 30, The UN warned that op to 500,000 civilians in Mosul are facing a "catastrophic" drinking water shortage, as Iraqi forces advanced against the Islamic State group in the city.
    (AFP, 11/30/16)

2016        Nov, Almost 2,000 Iraqi troops were killed this month across the country.
    (Econ, 2/25/17, p.41)

2016        Dec 1, The UN mission in Iraq said 1,959 Iraqi forces were killed last month and at least 450 others wounded. The UN statement also said at least 926 civilians were killed, bringing to 2,885 the number of Iraqis killed in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict last month.
    (AFP, 12/1/16)

2016        Dec 2, Iraqi special forces fighting in Mosul seized a new neighborhood and took full control of the densely-populated Zohour neighborhood, where troops happened upon a residential complex for IS fighters.
    (AP, 12/2/16)

2016        Dec 3, In Iraq Islamic State militants staged attacks over the last 24 hours on positions of state-sanctioned militias west and south of Mosul, apparently taking advantage of bad weather conditions that normally disrupt air support. Forces from the Iraqi army retook four villages from the Islamic State group northeast of Mosul.
    (AP, 12/3/16)(AFP, 12/3/16)

2016        Dec 4, In Iraq two militants tried to attack army barracks in Anbar province. Police and army sources said the attackers were killed before they reached the base. Iraqi commanders say they have killed at least 1,000 Islamic State fighters. A government adviser estimated the jihadist group now had about 4,000 fighters in Mosul.
    (Reuters, 12/4/16)
2016        Dec 4, Human Rights Watch said Kurdish restrictions on the movement of goods are harming the recovery of Iraq's Yazidi minority, which was targeted for genocide by the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 12/4/16)

2016        Dec 5, Western-backed Iraqi forces have begun shelling parts of west Mosul, in preparation for a new front against Islamic State seven weeks into a difficult campaign to drive the militants from the city.
    (Reuters, 12/5/16)

2016        Dec 6, Iraqi army units surged towards the center of Mosul in an attack from the city's southeastern edges that could give fresh impetus to the seven-week-old battle for Islamic State's Iraqi stronghold.
    (Reuters, 12/6/16)

2016        Dec 7, Iraqi army troops entered another neighborhood held by the Islamic State group in the southeastern part of Mosul. Soldiers from the 9th Division took over the hospital building in the al-Salam neighborhood.
    (AP, 12/7/16)
2016        Dec 7, Iraq's parliament speaker said an airstrike targeting the Islamic State-held town of Qaim near the Syrian border killed and wounded "dozens" of civilians, and that he is holding the Iraqi government responsible.
    (AP, 12/8/16)

2016        Dec 9, In Iraq separate bombings in Baghdad killed 10 people and wounded another 22.
    (AP, 12/9/16)
2016        Dec 9, Turkish jets carried out air strikes against Kurdish militants in the Gara region of northern Iraq and killed 19 militants.
    (Reuters, 12/9/16)

2016        Dec 10, The Iraqi army said it took full control of two more districts of east Mosul, pushing back Islamic State militants in a slow and hard-fought advance into the city whose 1 million residents face growing shortages of fuel, water and food.
    (Reuters, 12/10/16)

2016        Dec 12, Turkey detained over 200 people including dozens of officials from pro-Kurdish parties and struck Kurdish militants in Iraq in response to this weekend's twin bombings claimed by a radical Kurd separatist group.
    (AFP, 12/12/16)

2016        Dec 14, The UN said that Islamic State extremists have destroyed the ancient site of Nimrud in Iraq almost beyond recognition.
    (SFC, 12/15/16, p.A2)

2016        Dec 20, In northern Iraq a bombing killed five Iranian Kurdish fighters and an Iraqi Kurdish policeman in Koy Sanjaq, east of Erbil. An Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group the next day accused Iran of the bombing.
    (AP, 12/21/16)

2016        Dec 22, In Iraq three suicide car bombs killed at least 15 civilians and eight Iraqi policemen in Kokjali (Gogjali), an eastern suburb of Mosul. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. Mortar fire also killed 11 people including four aid workers as civilians gathered to receive assistance in Mosul city.
    (Reuters, 12/22/16)(AFP, 12/22/16)

2016        Dec 25, In Iraq separate bombings in and around Baghdad killed at least 11 civilians and wounded 34 others.
    (AP, 12/25/16)

2016        Dec 27, Iraqi journalist Afrah Sawqi al-Qaisi was kidnapped after gunmen broke into her Baghdad home. The veteran journalist and employee of the Iraqi Culture Ministry is a leading critic of the country's endemic corruption. Al-Qaisi was released on Jan 3.
    (AP, 12/27/16)(AP, 1/4/17)
2016        Dec 27, In Iraq an air strike disabled the last bridge linking eastern and western Mosul, a city Iraqi forces are fighting to retake from jihadists.
    (AFP, 12/28/16)

2016        Dec 29, Iraqi security forces began the second phase of their offensive against Islamic State militants in Mosul, pushing from three directions into eastern districts where the battle has been deadlocked for nearly a month.
    (Reuters, 12/29/16)

2016        Dec 30, Iraqi forces faced car bombs and fierce resistance from Islamic State militants in southern Mosul, the second day of a renewed push to take back the city after fighting stalled for several weeks.
    (Reuters, 12/30/16)

2016        Dec 31, In Iraq three bombs killed 29 people in Baghdad as fighting intensified in the northern city of Mosul, where Iraqi government forces are trying to rout Islamic State militants from their last major stronghold in the country.
    (Reuters, 12/31/16)

2016        Iraq’s oil production reached record lows this year. The IMF extended a $5.3 billion loan.
    (Econ, 1/7/17, p.40)
2016        Transparency International listed Iraq as the 8th most corrupt government in the world.
    (Econ, 4/16/16, p.38)
2016        Violence in Iraq claimed the lives of at least 6,878 civilian this year.
    (AP, 1/3/17)

2017        Jan 1, A top commander said Iraqi forces have retaken more than 60 percent of eastern Mosul from the Islamic State group since the battle for the city began in mid-October.
    (AFP, 1/1/17)

2017        Jan 2, In Iraq a suicide bomber driving a pickup loaded with explosives struck a bustling market in Baghdad, killing at least 36 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Three smaller bombings elsewhere in the city killed another seven civilians and wounded at least 30.
    (AP, 1/2/17)

2017        Jan 4, The UN said more than 2,000 Iraqis a day are fleeing Mosul, several hundred more each day than before U.S.-led coalition forces began a new phase of their battle to retake the city from Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 1/4/17)

2017        Jan 5, Iraqi forces launched an offensive against the Islamic State group near the Syrian border, piling further pressure on the jihadists' crumbling "caliphate".
    (AFP, 1/5/17)
2017        Jan 5, In Iraq several attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 27 people including a suicide car bombing in a commercial area in central Baghdad that killed at least 11 civilians.
    (AP, 1/5/17)(SFC, 1/6/17, p.A3)

2017        Jan 7, Iraqi government troops made fresh progress in their push against IS inside the northern city of Mosul, dislodging militants from new areas and for the first time reaching the nearest point to Tigris river that divides the city since the operation began in mid-October.
    (AP, 1/7/17)
2017        Jan 7, Turkish PM Binali Yildirim commenced a two-day visit to Iraq, the first since the two governments quarreled over the presence of unauthorized Turkish troops in northern Iraq.
    (AP, 1/7/17)

2017        Jan 8, Iraqi special forces battling Islamic State reached the eastern bank of the Tigris river in Mosul for the first time in a three-month, US-backed offensive to capture the city from the militants. In Baghdad, a suicide attacker killed 13 people when he drove an explosives-rigged car into vegetable market in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim eastern Jamila district. A few hours later, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up at a market in another mostly Shi'ite district, Baladiyat, killing seven.   
    (Reuters, 1/8/17)

2017        Jan 9, Iraqi special forces made further advances against Islamic State in Mosul, pushing militants from another eastern district and edging closer to army units nearby.
    (Reuters, 1/9/17)

2017        Jan 10, Iraqi forces pushed Islamic State fighters back further in Mosul in a renewed effort to seize the northern city and deal a decisive blow to the militant group, though progress was slow in some districts.
    (Reuters, 1/10/17)

2017        Jan 12, Iraqi forces joined flanks in northern Mosul and drove back Islamic State militants in the southeast in a renewed push that has brought them closer to controlling the eastern half of the city.
    (Reuters, 1/12/17)

2017        Jan 14, Iraqi government troops retook the eastern edge of a third bridge in Mosul and a cluster of buildings inside Mosul university.
    (AP, 1/14/17)

2017        Jan 15, Iraqi special forces swept through the campus of Mosul University to clear it of any remaining Islamic State militants after taking full control of the area.
    (Reuters, 1/15/17)

2017        Jan 16, Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State group in Mosul retook the Nabi Yunus area where the jihadists levelled one of the city's most well-known shrines in 2014. Two other neighborhoods in eastern Mosul were also retaken from the IS.
    (AFP, 1/16/17)

2017        Jan 17, In Iraq a car bomb blast in southern Baghdad killed at least seven people and wounded 20.
    (Reuters, 1/17/17)

2017        Jan 18, Iraqi commanders said their forces have retaken control of east Mosul from the Islamic State group, three months after a huge offensive against the jihadist bastion was launched.
    (AFP, 1/18/17)

2017        Jan 20, In Iraq the Islamic State blew up a landmark hotel in western Mosul in an apparent attempt to prevent advancing Iraqi forces from using it as a base in their offensive to capture the city.
    (Reuters, 1/22/17)

2017        Jan 22, Iraqi forces retook two areas from the Islamic State group in Mosul, sealing their control of the east bank three months into an offensive to reclaim the city. Army Col. Sabhan Hasan al-Jubouri died in fighting on the eastern bank.
    (AFP, 1/22/17)(Reuters, 1/22/17)

2017        Jan 23, Iraq's PM Haider al-Abadi ordered an investigation into violations of human rights and other abuses purportedly committed by government troops and paramilitary forces battling the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul.
    (AP, 1/23/17)

2017        Jan 25, In Iraq local residents said Islamic State fighters have taken up sniper positions in buildings on the west bank of the Tigris river ahead of an expected government offensive into that side the city. Iraqi forces estimated the number of militants inside Mosul at 5,000-6,000 at the start of the battle, and have said 3,300 have been killed in the fighting.
    (Reuters, 1/25/17)

2017        Jan 26, Germany's Parliament extended the country's training mission in northern Iraq for another year.
    (AP, 1/26/17)

2017        Jan 28, Iraqi special forces Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil said French officials tested a chemical from Mosul this week and confirmed it was a mustard agent. It was found alongside a cache of Russian surface-to-surface missiles.
    (AP, 1/28/17)

2017        Jan 29, Iraqi parliamentarians said they will lobby against new travel limits to the United States by Iraqis, arguing both countries need to uphold their fight against Islamic State (IS).
    (Reuters, 1/29/17)

2017        Jan 30, Iraq's lawmakers backed a non-binding "reciprocity measure" that would bar Americans from entering Iraq in retaliation for Pres. Donald Trump's banning of Iraqis and citizens of six other majority-Muslim countries from traveling to the US.
    (AP, 1/30/17)

2017        Feb 2, The US military said 11 civilians were killed in four separate air strikes by the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria between Oct. 25 and Dec. 9.
    (Reuters, 2/2/17)

2017        Feb 8, In Iraq hundreds of supporters of Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated in Baghdad to demand electoral reform ahead of a planned provincial vote in September.
    (AFP, 2/8/17)

2017        Feb 10, In Iraq at least five people were killed and 19 wounded in two suicide bombings that hit an army position and a restaurant in eastern Mosul.
    (Reuters, 2/10/17)

2017        Feb 11, In Iraq six demonstrators and one policeman were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters loyal to prominent Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who had gathered in Baghdad to demand political reforms.
    (AFP, 2/11/17)(AP, 2/12/17)
2017        Feb 11, The Iraqi air force carried out a strike on a house where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was thought to be meeting other commanders. It published the names of 13 Islamic State commanders it said had been killed in the air strike, but the list did not include Baghdadi. Three other Islamic State positions in western Iraq were targeted in the same wave of air strikes, killing 64 fighters.
    (Reuters, 2/13/17)

2017        Feb 12, Iraqi forces thwarted an attempt by around 200 jihadist fighters to flee their bastion of Tal Afar towards Syria, west of the city of Mosul.
    (AFP, 2/13/17)

2017        Feb 15, In Iraq a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle in a Shiite majority neighborhood of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people.
    (Reuters, 2/15/17)

2017        Feb 16, In Iraq a car packed with explosives blew up in southern Baghdad, killing at least 55 people and wounding more than 60, in the deadliest such attack in Iraq this year.
    (Reuters, 2/16/17)(SFC, 2/17/17, p.A2)

2017        Feb 17, In Iraq the Islamic State group attacked a battalion of state-sponsored militia southeast of Tikrit, killing at least eight militia members.
    (AP, 2/17/17)
2017        Feb 17, In Iraq US-led military coalition forces destroyed a building in the main medical complex of western Mosul that was suspected of housing an Islamic State command center. The IS soon disputed the assertion, saying in an online statement that the strike killed 18 people, mostly women and children, and wounded 47 others.
    (Reuters, 2/18/17)

2017        Feb 19, In Iraq US-backed Iraqi forces launched a ground offensive to dislodge Islamic State militants from their remaining stronghold in western Mosul. Save the Children warned that around 350,000 children are trapped in western Mosul.
    (Reuters, 2/19/17)(AFP, 2/19/17)

2017        Feb 20, Iraqi forces backed by jets and helicopters battled their way towards southern Mosul and prepared to take on the Islamic State group's stronghold in the city's west bank.
    (AFP, 2/20/17)
2017        Feb 20, Jamal al-Harith (50), a former Guantanamo Bay detainee released in 2004, died in a suicide bomb attack on Iraqi-led coalition forces near Mosul. He was a Muslim convert from Manchester, England, born as Ronald Fiddler.
    (http://tinyurl.com/zjw8622)(SFC, 2/23/17, p.A3)

2017        Feb 22, Iraq's government-sanctioned paramilitary forces, made up mainly of Shiite militiamen, launched a new push to capture villages west of the city of Mosul from Islamic State militants.
    (AP, 2/22/17)

2017        Feb 23, Iraqi forces thrust into Mosul airport on the southern edge of the jihadist stronghold for the first time since the Islamic State group overran the region in 2014.
    (AFP, 2/23/17)

2017        Feb 24, Iraq's PM Haider al-Abbadi said he had ordered the Iraqi air force to strike Islamic State positions inside Syria in retaliation for recent bomb attacks in Baghdad.
    (Reuters, 2/24/17)
2017        Feb 24, Iraqi forces entered west Mosul neighborhoods, a key stronghold in the shrinking "caliphate" of the Islamic State group, which replied with deadly suicide attacks in Iraq and Syria.
    (AFP, 2/24/17)

2017        Feb 25, Iraqi forces backed by jets and helicopters battled jihadists inside west Mosul. Shifa Gardi, a female reporter working for Iraqi Kurdish channel Rudaw, was killed by the explosion of a roadside bomb during the fighting in Mosul. Four bombs went off near a minor pipeline from an oilfield close to the northern city of Kirkuk. One member of the Kurdish security forces was killed.
    (AFP, 2/25/17)(Reuters, 2/25/17)

2017        Feb 26, Iraqi forces battled jihadists in west Mosul, aiming to build a floating bridge across the Tigris to establish an important supply route linked to the recaptured east bank.
    (AFP, 2/26/17)

2017        Feb 27, Iraqi forces pushed deeper into western Mosul, gaining control of a neighborhood along the Tigris River and the foot of one of the city's five bridges amid intense clashes with Islamic State militants.
    (AP, 2/27/17)

2017        Feb 28, In Iraq hundreds of civilians fled through the desert to escape fighting and privation in Mosul, joining thousands of others who left their homes amid dire conditions in the city's west.
    (AFP, 2/28/17)
2017        Feb 28, The Italian foreign ministry said in a statement that an inspection had found "irregularities" in granting visas at its consulate in the Iraqi city of Irbil and that the head of the visa section has been replaced. Visa-seekers, including Syrians, Arab and Kurdish Iraqis, had allegedly paid as much as 10,000 euros ($10,600) for visas instead of the actual 90-euro ($96) fee.
    (AP, 2/28/17)

2017        Mar 2, Kurdish forces seized an oil facility in Kirkuk to send a message to the Iraqi government to build a refinery.
    (Reuters, 3/2/17)

2017        Mar 3, In Iraq thousands of civilians fled Mosul overnight as government forces advanced north of a sprawling military base near the city's airport. Seven people, among them five children, were reported hospitalized over the past two days near Mosul with injuries from chemical weapons.
    (AP, 3/3/17)(AFP, 3/3/17)
2017        Mar 3, In Iraq rival Kurdish groups clashed in the northwestern Sinjar region. The YBS, a local affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), said the fighting began when the Peshmerga Rojava tried to seize its positions in Khanasor. The YBS accused Turkey of instigating the violence.
    (Reuters, 3/3/17)

2017        Mar 5, Iraqi forces battled the Islamic State group in hours of heavy clashes in west Mosul. The number of people who fled fighting in the area topped 45,000. At least six suicide car bombs dispatched by militants were destroyed before reaching troops.
    (AFP, 3/5/17)(SFC, 3/6/17, p.A2)
2017        Mar 5, Britain agreed to arrange 10 billion pounds ($12.3 billion) in loans to finance infrastructure projects in Iraq over a 10 year period, in a program that would only benefit British companies.
    (Reuters, 3/5/17)
2017        Mar 5, The UN said tens of thousands of civilians have fled offensives against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, where the jihadists are battling to keep what remains of their territory.
    (AFP, 3/5/17)

2017        Mar 7, Iraqi government forces fighting to drive Islamic State from western Mosul recaptured the main government building, the central bank branch and the museum where three years ago the militants had smashed statues and artifacts.
    (Reuters, 3/7/17)

2017        Mar 8, Iraqi forces saw off an overnight Islamic State counter-attack near Mosul's main government buildings and took full control of the last major road leading west to the militant-held town of Tal Afar.
    (Reuters, 3/8/17)

2017        Mar 10, Iraqi special forces battling the Islamic State group pushed deeper into west Mosul, where a commander said jihadist resistance is showing signs of weakening under repeated assaults. The Islamic State released dozens of prisoners held in jails in the districts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that remained under its control.
    (AFP, 3/10/17)(Reuters, 3/11/17)

2017        Mar 11, Iraqi paramilitary forces announced that they had discovered a mass grave at Badush prison near Mosul containing the remains of hundreds of people executed by the Islamic State group in 2014.
    (AP, 3/11/17)

2017        Mar 12, An Iraqi commander of the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) said government forces have retaken around 30 percent of west Mosul from Islamic State militants.
    (Reuters, 3/12/17)
2017        Mar 12, In Iraq two investigators for Sallyport Global were fired abruptly and flown out of Iraq. They had been looking into timesheet fraud allegations and were set to interview company managers, whom they considered suspects. The company was paid nearly $700 million to secure an Iraqi base for F-16 fighter jets, but turned a blind eye to alcohol smuggling, theft, security violations, and allegations of sex trafficking and terminated the investigators who uncovered the wrongdoing.
    (AP, 5/3/17)

2017        Mar 13, Iraqi forces said that they have taken more territory from jihadists and were searching for militants and bombs on the edge of the Old City as they press an offensive in west Mosul. An airstrike hit a residential area in Mosul. Scores of residents were later reported killed.
    (AFP, 3/13/17)(AP, 3/24/17)

2017        Mar 14, Iraqi forces said they have recaptured Mosul train station, once one of the country's main rail hubs and the latest in a series of key sites retaken from jihadists.
    (AFP, 3/14/17)

2017        Mar 16, Iraqi government forces besieged Islamic State militants around Mosul's Old City, edging closer to the historic mosque from where the group's leader declared a caliphate nearly three years ago.
    (Reuters, 3/16/17)

2017        Mar 17, In Iraq an airstrike hit the residential area in Mosul for the 2nd time in four days. Many residents were later reported killed. US officials acknowledged the airstrike on March 25 that witnesses said killed at least 100 people. On May 25 the US military acknowledged the bombing saying it set off explosive materials that militants had planted inside causing the structure to collapse.
    (AP, 3/24/17)(SSFC, 3/26/17, p.A6)(SFC, 5/26/17, p.A2)

2017        Mar 18, Elite Iraqi forces said they were battling house by house in the Old City of Mosul, inching towards the mosque where the Islamic State group proclaimed its "caliphate" in 2014.
    (AFP, 3/18/17)

2017        Mar 19, Iraqi forces backed by helicopter strikes engaged in heavy fighting with jihadists on the outskirts of the Old City as they pressed an offensive to recapture west Mosul.
    (AFP, 3/19/17)

2017        Mar 20, Iraqi forces battled Islamic State group fighters to push into Mosul's Old City where thousands of civilians remained trapped under jihadist rule. A car bombing in Baghdad killed 27 people.
    (AFP, 3/20/17)(SFC, 3/22/17, p.A2)

2017        Mar 22, In Iraq Islamic State militants shelled areas recaptured by government forces in western Mosul, hitting civilians fleeing the fighting. Heavy mortar fire killed at least five civilians and wounded more than 20 in Mosul Jadida and Rifak districts.
    (Reuters, 3/22/17)

2017        Mar 26, Iraq's military said that 61 bodies were recovered from a collapsed building that Islamic State had booby-trapped in west Mosul, but there was no sign the building had been hit by a coalition air strike. Witnesses and local officials that said as many as 200 bodies were pulled from the building after a March 17 coalition strike targeted IS militants and equipment in the Jadida district.
    (Reuters, 3/26/17)

2017        Mar, In Iraq American officers estimated that as few as 500 Islamic State fighters remained in Mosul.
    (Econ, 3/11/17, p.45)

2017        Apr 1, Iraqi state TV said Ayad al-Jumaili, the man believed to be the deputy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed in an air strike. A government statement said Iraqi fighter jets have carried out airstrikes on Islamic State targets outside Mosul, killing more than 100 militants in Baaj.
    (Reuters, 4/1/17)(AP, 4/1/17)

2017        Apr 3, President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq with the top US military officer to meet Iraqi leaders and review the fight against the Islamic State group.
    (AP, 4/3/17)

2017        Apr 4, Iraqi air strikes resumed on Islamic State positions Mosul. The United Nations said it was expanding camps for people fleeing the city.
    (Reuters, 4/4/17)
2017        Apr 4, In northern Iraq at least 31 people were killed late today, including 14 police officers, and more than 40 wounded in attacks overnight by Islamic State militants in Tikrit. Five suicide bombers were among the dead.
    (Reuters, 4/5/17)(SFC, 4/6/17, p.A4)

2017        Apr 6, The Islamic State group shot down an Iraqi helicopter operating over Mosul. Two pilots were killed. Security forces announced they recaptured another neighborhood in their nearly six-month-old offensive against the jihadist stronghold.
    (AP, 4/6/17)(Reuters, 4/6/17)

2017        Apr 14, In Iraq Islamic State militants reportedly launched a gas attack in a newly-liberated area in western Mosul. Seven soldiers suffered breathing problems and were treated in a nearby field clinic.
    (AP, 4/15/17)

2017        Apr 16, Iraqi forces launched a new attack on Islamic State in Mosul's Old City, trying to break the stalemate in attempts to seize the militants' last stronghold. Some 400,000 people were trapped in the Old City.
    (Reuters, 4/16/17)

2017        Apr 17, The UN said the six-month-old operation to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group has forced around half a million people to flee their homes.
    (AFP, 4/17/17)

2017        Apr 18, Iraqi's army opened a new pontoon bridge over the Tigris river south of Mosul, after flooding had blocked all crossing points, opening an escape route for families fleeing fighting between government forces and Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 4/18/17)

2017        Apr 20, Iraqi forces retook two more neighborhoods in west Mosul, tightening the noose around jihadists holed up in the Old City.
    (AFP, 4/20/17)

2017        Apr 21, Iraq released 26 hostages, including members of Qatar's ruling family. The group was kidnapped December 16, 2015, from a desert camp for falcon hunters in southern Iraq. They apparently had permits to hunt in that area inside Muthanna province. Qatar reportedly paid a billion dollars to Iran and to the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee and Ahrar al-Sham, which are involved in the evacuation and transfer of detainees.
    (AP, 4/21/17)(Econ 6/10/17, p.14)

2017        Apr 22, In Iraq hundreds of people fled Mosul after government forces retook two more districts in the west of the city from Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 4/22/17)

2017        Apr 23, In Iraq three policemen were killed in a suicide attack south of Mosul. Heavy two-way traffic of carts carrying children, clothes, and the elderly crowded the main Baghdad-Mosul road as hundreds of Iraqis fled heavy fighting or made their way back to areas seized back from Islamic State. Militants ambushed a convoy of off-duty soldiers near the town of Rutba in the country's sprawling western desert, killing at least 10 and wounding 20.
    (Reuters, 4/23/17)(AP, 4/24/17)
2017        Apr 23, In Iraq hundreds of thousands of Shiite faithful thronged the mausoleum of Imam Kadhim in Baghdad for the climax of a week-long pilgrimage that saw millions converge on the capital. Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered imams in Shiite Islam, died in 799 AD.
    (AP, 4/23/17)

2017        Apr 25, Iraqi forces launched a fresh push southwest of Mosul to retake the Hatra area, which includes a UN-listed World Heritage site. Iraqi forces retook full control of the Tenek neighborhood of west Mosul from the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 4/25/17)
2017        Apr 25, Turkish warplanes killed at least 28 Kurdish fighters in strikes in Syria and Iraq, where the Kurds are key players in the battle against the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 4/25/17)(AFP, 4/26/17)

2017        Apr 26, Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and killed six militants, in a second day of cross-border raids.
    (Reuters, 4/26/17)

2017        Apr 27, Iraqi forces retook the town of Hatra, southwest of Mosul, on the third day of an operation that saw them wrest back a nearby UNESCO-listed ancient city.
    (AP, 4/27/17)

2017        Apr 29, In Iraq a US service member was killed by an explosive device outside Mosul.
    (SSFC, 4/30/17, p.A3)
2017        Apr 29, Turkey's military reportedly killed 14 members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in air strikes in northern Iraq.
    (Reuters, 4/29/17)

2017        May 2, In Syria a jihadist assault led by suicide bombers killed dozens at a camp for the displaced near the border with Iraq. The violence left at least 38 people dead and came as another surprise IS attack killed 10 soldiers in Iraq.
    (AFP, 5/2/17)

2017        May 4, Iraqi forces rescued 1,000 families as they pushed into Mosul from the north.
    (Reuters, 5/5/17)

2017        May 5, Iraqi forces pushed further into Mosul from the north on the second day of a new push to speed up the nearly seven-month attempt to dislodge Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 5/5/17)

2017        May 7, In northern Iraq at least two people were killed and six injured when multiple Islamic State suicide bombers attacked a base in the Kirkuk area where US military advisers are stationed. Two of the militants died when they detonated their vests at the entrance to the K1 base overnight, and three more were killed by Kurdish peshmerga forces.   
    (Reuters, 5/7/17)

2017        May 8, In Iraq armed men kidnapped seven young anti-corruption activists in central Baghdad.
    (AFP, 5/9/17)

2017        May 9, In Iraq corpses of Islamic State militants (IS) littered the streets of a district in Mosul as US-backed Iraqi forces chipped away at the last remaining handful of districts under the jihadists' control. A spokesman for the Emergency Response Division said 250 Islamic State members had been killed in Harmat district over the past 5 days.
    (Reuters, 5/9/17)

2017        May 12, Iraq's Shi'ite paramilitaries launched an offensive to drive Islamic State from a desert region near the border with Syria as security forces fought the militants in the city of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 5/12/17)

2017        May 14, US-backed Iraqi forces pushed deeper into the last pocket of Mosul controlled by Islamic State militants as the battle for the city approached an end after seven months of grueling urban combat.
    (Reuters, 5/14/17)

2017        May 15, Unidentified fighter jets struck a mosque and surrounding houses in Boukamal (Albu Kamal) on the Syria-Iraq border. The airstrikes destroyed 15 homes and killed 62 people, including 42 civilians who had fled from other areas in Iraq and Syria. On May 16 the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group said it did not conduct strikes in the eastern Syrian town of Albu Kamal.
    (AP, 5/15/17)(AFP, 5/17/17)

2017        May 18, In central Syria the Islamic State group attacked several government-held villages, capturing at least one of them in violence that left 52 people dead including more than two dozen women and children, some of whom were beheaded, as well as Syrian troops in Hama province. Pres. Assad met with Iraq's national security adviser Faleh al-Fayad to discuss steps to improve coordination between their countries' militaries in the anti-terrorism campaign along their shared border.
    (AP, 5/18/17)
2017        May 18, In Iraq Abu Khattab al-Rawi, an Islamic State military leader, was killed in a US coalition air strike in al Qaim.
    (AP, 5/26/17)

2017        May 19, In Iraq Islamic State group suicide bombings at checkpoints in Baghdad and Basra killed at least 35 people and wounded dozens more.
    (AFP, 5/20/17)

2017        May 23, Iraqi military engineers installed a new floating bridge across the Tigris river, reconnecting the two halves of Mosul to facilitate troop deployments ahead of a final assault to dislodge Islamic State.
    (AP, 5/23/17)

2017        May 24, Iraq's interior minister ordered an investigation into allegations that members of the security forces had tortured, killed and abused civilians in the campaign to oust Islamic State militants from Mosul.
    (Reuters, 5/24/17)

2017        May 25, Four Turkish soldiers and a village guard were killed in two separate clashes with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in eastern Turkey. Three PKK militants, believed to be preparing for an attack, were killed in air strikes targeting the Metina region of northern Iraq.
    (Reuters, 5/25/17)

2017        May 26, Iranian Shaaban Nassiri, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was killed fighting Islamic State near Baaj, west of the Iraqi city of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 5/27/17)(SSFC, 5/28/17, p.A7)

2017        May 27, Iraqi armed forces launched an operation to capture the last Islamic State-held enclave in Mosul. The United Nations expressed "deep concern" for the hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped behind Islamic State lines.
    (Reuters, 5/27/17)

2017        May 28, In Iraq the advance of government troops slowed in the last push to drive Islamic State group militants from remaining pockets of Mosul as IS militants deployed snipers, suicide car bombers and suicide attackers on foot.
    (AP, 5/28/17)
2017        May 28, Turkey's military killed 13 members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in air strikes in northern Iraq.
    (AP, 5/28/17)

2017        May 29, Iraqi forces pressed forward with an offensive against jihadist-held areas of Mosul as the UN warned of grave danger to civilians in the final stages of the battle.
    (AFP, 5/29/17)
2017        May 29, The Popular Mobilization force, an Iraqi Shi'ite group backed by Iran, said it pushed Islamic State out of several villages on the border with Syria, potentially reopening a supply route to send Iranian weapons to President Bashar al-Assad.
    (AP, 5/29/17)

2017        May 30, In Iraq two car bombs killed at least 31 people in Baghdad and wounded about 80 others early today, one targeting the late-night crowds typical of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan who shop and eat ahead of the next day's fast. Later in the day, bombings in and around the Iraqi capital killed seven more people.
    (Reuters, 5/30/17)(AP, 5/30/17)

2017        Jun 1, In Iraq at least seven civilians were killed and 23 wounded by Islamic State mortar shells as they tried to flee Mosul's militant-controlled Zanjili district. A resident said IS militants have blocked the area around the highly symbolic al-Nuri mosque in Mosul's Old City where the group's leader made his first and only public appearance in 2014. It was later reported that at least 163 people were shot and killed by the Islamic State group to prevent them from fleeing Mosul.
    (Reuters, 6/1/17)(AP, 6/1/17)(AFP, 6/6/17)

2017        Jun 4, In Iraq Shi'ite paramilitaries captured the town of Baaj from Islamic State, further shrinking the northern region under jihadist control.
    (Reuters, 6/4/17)

2017        Jun 8, The UN rights office said it has credible reports that the Islamic State group has killed more than 230 civilians trying to flee western Mosul since May 26.
    (AFP, 6/8/17)

2017        Jun 9, In Iraq a suicide attacker blew himself up in a market south of Baghdad, killing at least 21 people, while another bomb in a nearby city wounded five others.
    (AP, 6/9/17)

2017        Jun 10, Iraq's paramilitary Hashed al-Shaabi forces said that they had retaken all areas west of Mosul from the Islamic State group except the town of Tal Afar.
    (AFP, 6/10/17)

2017        Jun 12, Iraqi forces backed by the US pushed toward a medical complex in western Mosul, trying to dislodge Islamic State militants from two neighborhoods they still partly hold outside the Old City.
    (AP, 6/12/17)

2017        Jun 13, Iraqi and UN officials said a mass food poisoning at a camp for displaced civilians outside Mosul has left at least two dead and hundreds requiring urgent treatment.
    (AFP, 6/13/17)

2017        Jun 14, In Iraq more than 100 Islamic State militants launched a counterattack in Mosul, killing 11 Federal Police and four civilians in clashes that were still underway.
    (AP, 6/14/17)
2017        Jun 14, Fighters from Iraq's Yazidi community, brutally targeted by the Islamic State group, detained and executed 52 civilians in apparent revenge killings after capturing territory from the jihadists. A later report said the Ezidkhan Brigades were responsible for the abduction and killing.
    (AFP, 12/27/17)

2017        Jun 17, Iraqi forces captured the al-Waleed border crossing point to Syria from the Islamic State group, increasing pressure on the extremists and getting closer to meeting up with Syrian troops and their allies who reached the border earlier this month for the first time in years.
    (AP, 6/17/17)

2017        Jun 18, Iraqi forces launched an assault to retake Mosul's Old City, the last district still held by the Islamic State group. Around 100,000 people remained trapped in Mosul's Old City.
    (AFP, 6/18/17)

2017        Jun 19, The European Union discouraged Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region from holding an independence referendum in September.
    (AP, 6/19/17)
2017        Jun 19, In Iraq French video journalist Stephan Villeneuve (48) and Iraqi Kurdish journalist Bakhtiyar Haddad (41) were killed in a mine blast while covering the operation to root out Islamic State extremists from Mosul. Swiss journalist Veronique Robert (54) was severely wounded and died later this week after being flown back to France for treatment.
    (AP, 6/20/17)(AFP, 6/24/17)

2017        Jun 21, In Iraq the leaning al-Habda minaret, which has towered over Mosul for 850 years, was demolished by retreating Islamic State militants.
    (Reuters, 6/22/17)
2017        Jun 21, Iran began exporting gas to neighboring Iraq through a pipeline straight to Baghdad.
    (AP, 6/22/17)

2017        Jun 23, In Iraq a suicide bomber blew himself up among civilians fleeing the Old City of Mosul, killing at least 12 people. Around 100,000 people are believed to remain trapped in Mosul by the jihadists.
    (AFP, 6/23/17)

2017        Jun 24, Iraqi forces opened exit routes for hundreds of civilians to flee the Old City of Mosul as they battled to retake the quarter from Islamic State militants mounting a last stand in what was the de facto capital of their self-declared caliphate.
    (AP, 6/24/17)

2017        Jun 27, Iraqi forces pushed towards the river side of Mosul's Old City, their key target in the eight-month campaign to capture Islamic State's de-facto capital. PM Haider al-Abadi predicted victory very soon.
    (Reuters, 6/27/17)
2017        Jun 27, The United States asserted that Myanmar is no longer one of the world's worst offenders on human trafficking, while removing both Myanmar and Iraq from a list of countries that use child soldiers.
    (AP, 6/27/17)

2017        Jun 28, Iraq's military pushed deeper into Mosul's Old City, taking two more districts from Islamic State and bringing it closer to total control of the city.
    (Reuters, 6/28/17)

2017        Jun 29, Iraqi forces said they had retaken control of the iconic mosque in Mosul where IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance.
    (AFP, 6/29/17)
2017        Jun 29, Canada said it is extending its military mission against the Islamic State group in Iraq for another two years.
    (AP, 6/29/17)

2017        Jun 30, In Iraq US-backed Iraqi forces attacked Islamic State's remaining redoubt in Mosul's Old City, a day after hailing the end of the insurgents' self-declared caliphate with the capture of an historic mosque that symbolized their power.
    (Reuters, 6/30/17)

2017        Jul 1, Iraqi Interior ministry forces in Mosul recaptured the Ibn Sina Teaching Hospital along with other medical facilities including a blood bank and a clinic.
    (AFP, 7/2/17)

2017        Jul 2, Iraqi forces said hundreds of civilians were fleeing Mosul as airstrikes pound the last pockets of territory held by the Islamic State group. In Anbar province a suicide bomber dressed in a woman's all-covering robe killed 14 people this evening.
    (AP, 7/2/17)(AP, 7/3/17)

2017        Jul 3, In Iraq Islamic State fighters battled to hold on to the last few streets under their control in the Old City of Mosul, making a doomed last stand in their former Iraqi stronghold. Seven female suicide bombers blew themselves up in Mosul. At least one Iraqi soldier was killed in two separate suicide attacks.
    (Reuters, 7/3/17)(AP, 7/3/17)(SFC, 7/4/17, p.A3)

2017        Jul 5, A senior Iraqi commander said some 300 Islamic State fighters remained in a small patch of territory still controlled by the group in Mosul’s Old City.
    (SFC, 7/6/17, p.A2)

2017        Jul 6, Iraqi commanders said female Islamic State militants are firing on their forces and using children as human shields as the extremist group defends its last sliver of Mosul's Old City.
    (AP, 7/6/17)
2017        Jul 6, Iraq's Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani said that there was no turning back on a bid to achieve an independent Kurdish state, but he would pursue it through dialogue with Baghdad and regional powers to avoid conflict.
    (Reuters, 7/6/17)

2017        Jul 7, In Iraq Islamic State militants attacked the village of Imam Gharbi south of Mosul, killing several people including two journalists. A major Islamic State group counterattack along the northern edge of Mosul's Old City neighborhood pushed Iraqi Army forces back some 75 meters (82 yards) and threatened recent gains in other Old City fronts.
    (Reuters, 7/7/17)(AP, 7/7/17)

2017        Jul 8, Iraqi military commanders said they would take full control of the city from the insurgents at any moment. Islamic State militants vowed to “fight to the death”.
    (AP, 7/8/17)

2017        Jul 9, Iraq's PM Haider al-Abadi celebrated with troops after they drove Islamic State militants from some of their last strongholds in Mosul, even as heavy fighting continued in a small portion of the Old City neighborhood.   
    (AP, 7/9/17)
2017        Jul 9, Iraq’s oil minister said drilling has started at the first well in the Huwaiza oil field near the Iranian border, which may contain one billion barrels in reserves.
    (Reuters, 7/9/17)

2017        Jul 10, Iraqi forces still battled Islamic State militants in a small area of Mosul, a day after the prime minister visited to congratulate the troops on retaking nearly all of Iraq's second largest city. PM Haider al-Abadi came to Mosul for the second day in a row to declare "total victory".
    (AP, 7/10/17)    (AP, 7/11/17)

2017        Jul 11, In Iraq sporadic clashes erupted in Mosul, a day after Iraq's prime minister declared "total victory" over the Islamic State group, with several airstrikes hitting the Old City neighborhood that was the scene of the fierce battle's final days.
    (AP, 7/11/17)
2017        Jul 11, Amnesty Int’l. released a report accusing the US-led coalition in Iraq of violating int’l. law during the fight against the Islamic State in Mosul. It said some 5,805 civilians may have been killed by coalition attacks in the fight for western Mosul.
    (SFC, 7/13/17, p.A2)

2017        Jul 12, Iraqi forces clashed with Islamic State militants holding out in Mosul's Old City, more than 36 hours after Baghdad declared victory over the jihadists in what they had declared the de facto Iraqi capital of their "caliphate".
    (Reuters, 7/12/17)

2017        Jul 13, In Iraq the US-led coalition backing the Iraqi military campaign conducted two air strikes in the Mosul area, destroying 22 fighting positions and a tunnel.
    (Reuters, 7/14/17)

2017        Jul 14, Iraqi forces hit further pockets of resistance from Islamic State militants in Mosul's Old City, four days after the prime minister declared victory. The group still controlled areas south and west of Mosul inhabited by tens of thousands of people.
    (Reuters, 7/14/17)

2017        Jul 27, Human Rights Watch said an Iraqi army division trained by American forces summarily executed prisoners in west Mosul.
    (AFP, 7/27/17)

2017        Jul 28, High-ranking Iraqi security officials said up to 7,000 Islamic State group affiliates remain in Iraq after the fall of Mosul. They also said there are up to another 7,000 IS militants and 5,000 supporters in Syria.
    (AP, 7/28/17)

2017        Aug 4, Iraqi officials said troops have found a mass grave in the western city of Ramadi containing the bodies of 40 men believed to have been executed by the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 8/4/17)

2017        Aug 12, In Iraq an Islamic State suicide car bomb late today on Iraqi troops outside Karbala left one person dead.
    (AP, 8/13/17)

2017        Aug 13, In northern Iraq two American soldiers were killed during combat operations, but their deaths were not caused by enemy contact.
    (SFC, 8/14/17, p.A2)

2017        Aug 14, Iraq's Integrity Commission issued a statement asking the foreign ministry in Baghdad to ask Iran to repatriate Majid al-Nasrawi, the governor of the oil city of Basra. He has stepped down and gone to Iran after Iraq's anti-corruption body began investigating graft allegations against him.
    (Reuters, 8/15/17)
2017        Aug 14, The Saudi cabinet decided to establish a joint trade commission with Iraq.
    (Reuters, 8/15/17)

2017        Aug 15, In Iraq a spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council said Samir Kubba, the director general of Iraqi Airways, has been arrested and referred to trial on graft charges.
    (Reuters, 8/15/17)
2017        Aug 15, Iraq's air force commander said Iraqi and coalition planes have stepped up airstrikes on Islamic State targets in the town of Tal Afar ahead of a planned offensive there.
    (AP, 8/15/17)
2017        Aug 15, Saudi media said Saudi Arabia and Iraq plan to open the Arar border crossing for trade for the first time since 1990, when it was closed after the countries cut ties following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.
    (Reuters, 8/15/17)

2017        Aug 16, In Iraq Islamic State group suicide bombers killed seven members of the security forces in an attack on police and army base in Baiji.
    (AFP, 8/16/17)

2017        Aug 18, The Iraqi military said its forces have moved into positions around the city of Tal Afar, their next objective in the US-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants.
    (Reuters, 8/18/17)

2017        Aug 19, The Al-Misbar, a diving support ship owned by Iraq's ports authority, sank after a collision with another vessel. Eleven sailors were rescued and the bodies of 20 sailors were recovered over the next few days.
    (Reuters, 8/24/17)

2017        Aug 20, Iraqi forces pounded the Islamic State group in Tal Afar, one of its last bastions in the country.
    (AFP, 8/20/17)

2017        Aug 21, The Iraqi military said its forces have made significant progress as they closed in on the Islamic State-held town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul.
    (AP, 8/21/17)

2017        Aug 22, Iraqi forces breached the city limits of Tal Afar, an Islamic State stronghold west of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 8/22/17)

2017        Aug 23, Iraqi forces recaptured several districts and advanced towards the center of Tal Afar, one of the Islamic State group's last strongholds in the country.
    (AFP, 8/23/17)

2017        Aug 25, Iraqi government forces broke through Islamic State's lines inside Tal Afar, and reached the old city center and the neighborhood around the Ottoman-era citadel.
    (Reuters, 8/25/17)

2017        Aug 26, Iraqi forces announced the ouster of Islamic State group jihadists from central Tal Afar and its historic citadel, leaving them poised to fully recapture one of the last IS urban strongholds in the country.
    (AFP, 8/26/17)
2017        Aug 26, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France is to grant a 430-million euro loan to Iraq and will help reconstruction and reconciliation efforts as it emerges from the war against Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 8/26/17)(AFP, 8/26/17)

2017        Aug 27, The Iraqi military says it has "fully liberated" Tal Afar's town center from the Islamic State group.
    (AP, 8/27/17)

2017        Aug 28, In Iraq a car bomb killed at least 12 people in a crowded vegetable market in a Shi'ite Muslim district of Baghdad, in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 8/28/17)(AFP, 8/28/17)(AP, 8/28/17)

2017        Aug 29, Iraq's ethnically-mixed Kirkuk province, long claimed by both the Arab-led central government and the autonomous Kurdish region, voted to take part in a vote on Kurdish independence slated for next month.
    (AP, 8/29/17)
2017        Aug 29, The US Treasury Department named Salim Mustafa Muhammad al-Mansur, a finance official for the Islamic militant group, as a "specially designated global terrorist" and said the US and Iraq have banished him from their financial systems. As of early this year, Mansur had moved to Turkey but was still serving as an Islamic State finance official for Mosul.
    (Reuters, 8/29/17)

2017        Aug 30, In Iraq more than 1,300 foreign wives and children of suspected Islamic State militants surrendered to Kurdish Peshmerga after government forces expelled the jihadist group from Tal Afar, one of its last remaining strongholds in Iraq.
    (Reuters, 11/21/17)
2017        Aug 30, Iraq and Jordan reopened their only border crossing after a two-year closure, taking a step toward stabilizing an area devastated by Islamic State extremists and allowing for a resumption of vital trade.
    (AP, 8/30/17)

2017        Aug 31, Iraq declared that its forces had retaken the northern city of Tal Afar and the surrounding region in another major victory over Islamic State group jihadists.
    (AFP, 8/31/17)

2017        Sep 1, The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants said it had confirmed another 61 likely civilian deaths caused by its strikes in Iraq and Syria, raising to 685 the number of civilians it has acknowledged killing since the conflict began.
    (Reuters, 9/1/17)

2017        Sep 2, In Iraq at least three suicide bombers, disguised as workers, struck a state-run power station north of Baghdad early today, killing seven people and forcing the facility to shut down in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 9/2/17)(SSFC, 9/3/17, p.A4)

2017        Sep 5, The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria swore in a new commanding general, with the fight against the jihadists now in its fourth year. Lieutenant General Paul Funk assumed command of the Operation Inherent Resolve joint task force at a ceremony on a military base in the region.
    (AFP, 9/5/17)

2017        Sep 9, The Iraqi air force and the US-led coalition stepped up a campaign of airstrikes on the Islamic State group-held town of Hawija ahead of a planned ground assault there.
    (AP, 9/9/17)

2017        Sep 12, Iraq's parliament voted to reject a referendum on Kurdish independence planned for Sept. 25, authorizing the prime minister to "take all measures" to preserve Iraq's unity.
    (Reuters, 9/12/17)
2017        Sep 12, Iraq sentenced a Russian Islamic State fighter to death by hanging, a rare conviction of a foreign militant on terrorism charges. The Russian was a member of Daesh operating in Mosul since 2015.
    (Reuters, 9/12/17)

2017        Sep 14, Iraq's parliament voted to remove the governor of Kirkuk, a staunch supporter of Kurdish independence, following a request from PM Haider al-Abadi just days before a referendum on whether to split from Baghdad. Governor Najmaddin Kareem said he was not going anywhere and Kurdish leaders vowed to carry on with the vote planned for Sept. 25.
    (AP, 9/14/17)
2017        Sep 14, In Iraq suicide attacks near the southern city of Nassiriya left more than 80 people killed, with wounded dozens more. The area targeted is used by Shiite pilgrims and visitors from neighboring Iran headed for the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala further north. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.
    (Reuters, 9/14/17)(AFP, 9/14/17)(AP, 9/17/17)

2017        Sep 16, Iraqi forces captured Akashat, a desert outpost of the Islamic State group near the Syrian border, in preparation for a drive up the Euphrates Valley towards the frontier. Iraqi commanders estimated IS still has more than 1,500 fighters in its Al-Qaim enclave.
    (AFP, 9/16/17)

2017        Sep 17, Iraq moved 509 wives of Islamic State group jihadists to a detention center in preparation to deport them after they were captured along with 813 children. Around 300 of the women were Turkish.
    (AP, 9/18/17)
2017        Sep 17, In Iraq eight members of a paramilitary unit died in a booby-trap explosion in a school near the city of Mosul that was retaken from jihadists. 13 others were wounded in the blast at the school that was being used as a training center. Suicide bombers attacked a US-coalition base in northern Iraq, without causing any Iraqi or foreign casualties. All the attackers were killed.
    (AFP, 9/17/17)(AP, 9/17/17)
2017        Sep 17, Russia and Iraq restored scheduled commercial airline services for the first time since 2004, in what officials hailed as a sign of stability returning to the war-torn country.
    (AFP, 9/17/17)

2017        Sep 18, Iraq's supreme court ordered the suspension of a September 25 referendum on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan, as legal and political pressure mounted on the Kurds to call off the vote. Clashes erupted in Kirkuk between Kurds and Turkmen amid preparations for the referendum.
    (AFP, 9/18/17)(SFC, 9/20/17 p.A3)

2017        Sep 19, In northern Iraq two suicide bombers killed at least three people and wounded 34 in a restaurant frequented by militiamen battling the Islamic State group in Hajaj, Salaheddin province.
    (AP, 9/19/17)

2017        Sep 21, The foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Iraq voiced concerns that a Kurdish referendum on independence would endanger gains Iraq has made against Islamic state, and reiterated worries of potential new conflicts in the region and agreed to consider counter-measures against the planned independence referendum.
    (Reuters, 9/21/17)
2017        Sep 21, The UN Security Council unanimously decided to set up an investigation team to collect evidence on the massacres of Iraq's Yazidi minority and other atrocities committed by the Islamic State group in Iraq.
    (AFP, 9/21/17)

2017        Sep 24, Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard launched a military exercise in its northwestern Kurdish region one day ahead of Iraqi Kurds voting in an independence referendum, in a sign of Tehran's concerns over the vote. Iran also closed its airspace to flights taking off from Iraq's Kurdish region following an Iraqi request.
    (AP, 9/24/17)
2017        Sep 24, Iraq executed 42 Sunni Muslim militants convicted on terrorism charges ranging from killing members of security forces to detonating car bombs.
    (Reuters, 9/25/17)

2017        Sep 25, Iraqi Kurds cast ballots in their autonomous region and in a wide sweep of captured territories on whether to seek independence from Baghdad, a historic vote that has also raised tensions and fears of instability. A 73% turnout approved the referendum by 93%.
    (AP, 9/25/17)(SFC, 9/28/17, p.A3)
2017        Sep 25, Iraq’s parliament demanded that troops be sent to disputed areas in the north controlled by the Kurds since 2003 as the autonomous Kurdish area staged a referendum on independence.
    (AFP, 9/25/17)
2017        Sep 25, The governorate of Kirkuk declared an overnight curfew in the Iraqi oil city as tension simmered following a referendum on independence organized by the local Kurdish authorities but rejected by the central government in Baghdad.
    (Reuters, 9/25/17)
2017        Sep 25, In Iraq 42 people belonging to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda were put to death for terrorism offences in Nasiriyah prison.
    (AFP, 12/14/17)

2017        Sep 26, The Arab League called on Iraqis to renounce their differences and open comprehensive dialogue to avoid clashes following a controversial independence referendum held by the country's Kurds.
    (AP, 9/26/17)

2017        Sep 27, Baghdad piled pressure on Iraq's Kurds, demanding they cancel their vote for independence while parliament urged the Iraqi central government to send troops to take control of vital oil fields held by Kurdish forces. Final results released today showed nearly 93 percent in favor of independence, and 7.3 percent against.
    (Reuters, 9/27/17)
2017        Sep 27, Turkey said it will suspend flights to the northern Iraqi cities of Erbil and Sulaimaniya starting on 1500 GMT on Sep 29, in response to a Kurdish independence referendum held earlier this week.
    (Reuters, 9/27/17)

2017        Sep 28, Iraqi officials said all foreign flights to and from the Kurdish capital Arbil will be suspended from Sep 29, as Baghdad increases pressure on the Kurds over this week's independence referendum.
    (AFP, 9/28/17)

2017        Sep 29, Iraqi forces launched an assault on the northern town of Hawija, one of the last bastions in the country still held by the Islamic State group, which is also under attack in neighboring Syria.
    (AFP, 9/29/17)
2017        Sep 29, In Iraq the last international flight left Erbil airport as the Baghdad government imposed an air ban in retaliation for an independence vote by Iraqi Kurds that has drawn widespread opposition from foreign powers.
    (Reuters, 9/29/17)
2017        Sep 29, The Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq refused to relinquish control of its border crossings to the Iraqi government.
    (Reuters, 9/29/17)

2017        Sep 30, Iran's state television reported that Iranian and Iraqi central government forces are to hold joint military exercises near their borders, as part of Tehran's effort to support Baghdad after the Kurdish independence referendum. Media reported that Iran has embargoed exports and imports of fuel products to and from Iraqi Kurdistan in response to the region's controversial independence referendum.
    (Reuters, 9/30/17)(AFP, 9/30/17)

2017        Oct 1, In Iraq hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims gathered in Karbala for ceremonies marking the year 680 killing of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson.
    (AP, 10/1/17)
2017        Oct 1, In Iraq a US service member from the coalition fighting Islamic State was killed and another injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) struck their vehicle.
    (Reuters, 10/2/17)

2017        Oct 2, Iraqi forces and Shi'ite paramilitaries captured the Rashad air base from Islamic State, gaining a strategic foothold in the north of the country as they push toward the town of Hawija.
    (Reuters, 10/2/17)
2017        Oct 2, A Kurdish official said Iranian and Iraqi forces staged joint military exercises near the border with Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
    (AFP, 10/2/17)

2017        Oct 3, Iraq's parliament voted on "a formula to halt financial transactions" with the Kurdistan region, in retaliation for last week's independence referendum, without specifying if the vote was binding on the government. Kurdish lawmakers did not show up for the session.
    (Reuters, 10/3/17)(AP, 10/3/17)
2017        Oct 3, Iraqi security forces pushed to recapture Hawija. The UN said up to 78,000 people could be trapped in the northern Islamic State-held city.
    (Reuters, 10/3/17)
2017        Oct 3, Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region said it is calling presidential and parliamentary elections for Nov. 1, as the Kurdish leadership cements its case for independence. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would impose further sanctions on northern Iraq over the vote.
    (Reuters, 10/3/17)
2017        Oct 3, Iraqi Kurdish leader and ex-Iraqi president Jalal Talabani (b.1933) died in Germany, a week after Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region held a referendum on independence.
    (Reuters, 10/3/17)

2017        Oct 4, Iraqi forces pushed into the Islamic State group stronghold of Hawija and seized some territory, stepping up their assault against one of the jihadists' last enclaves in the country.
    (AFP, 10/4/17)
2017        Oct 4, The presidents of Iran and Turkey vowed during talks in Tehran to work closely together to prevent the disintegration of Iraq and Syria and to oppose the Iraqi Kurds' drive for independence.
    (Reuters, 10/4/17)

2017        Oct 5, Iraqi forces announced they had captured Hawija and the surrounding areas, the Islamic State's last stronghold in northern Iraq, leaving the militant group holed up near the Syrian border as its self-proclaimed "caliphate" shrinks further. Hundreds of suspected Islamic State militants surrendered to Kurdish authorities after the jihadist group was driven out of Hawija.
    (Reuters, 10/5/17)(Reuters, 10/10/17)
2017        Oct 5, France offered to mediate in a political crisis pitting Iraq's government against Kurdish regional authorities, and promised to maintain a military presence there until Islamic State was defeated.
    (Reuters, 10/5/17)

2017        Oct 9, Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi warned there could be a "civil war" over the Kurdish-administered city of Kirkuk if talks over Kurdish independence are left unresolved. Iraq's central government ordered the Kurdish-based cellular network operators to relocate their headquarters Baghdad.
    (AP, 10/9/17)(AP, 10/10/17)

2017        Oct 10, Iraq's Oil Ministry ordered the restoration of an oil pipeline from the city of Kirkuk to Turkey that would bypass the country's northern Kurdish region in the wake of the area's pro-independence referendum.
    (AP, 10/10/17)

2017        Oct 11, An Iraqi court ordered the arrest of senior Kurdish officials responsible for organizing an independence referendum. A court in east Baghdad issued warrants against the chairman of the vote's organizing commission Hendren Saleh and two other members.
    (AP, 10/11/17)

2017        Oct 13, The Iraqi army launched an operation to retake Kurdish-held positions around the disputed oil city of Kirkuk amid a bitter row with the Kurds over a vote for independence last month. Kurdish forces overnight moved back their defensive line around the oil region of Kirkuk by 2 km (1.2 miles) to reduce the possibility of friction with nearby Iraqi forces.
    (AFP, 10/13/17)(Reuters, 10/13/17)

2017        Oct 15, In Iraq nearly 700,000 people from the former jihadist stronghold of Mosul and nearby areas were still displaced despite the city's recapture in July.
    (AFP, 10/15/17)
2017        Oct 15, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters rejected a warning from an Iraqi paramilitary force to withdraw from a strategic junction south of Kirkuk, which controls the access to some of the region's main oilfields. Kurdish media said the three official border crossings between Iraq's Kurdish region and Iran have been closed. One semi-official crossing remained open. Iran denied the reports.
    (Reuters, 10/15/17)(AP, 10/15/17)

2017        Oct 16, Iraqi government forces captured the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk, responding to a Kurdish vote on independence with a bold lightning strike that transforms the balance of power in the country. Several Peshmerga and members of the Iraqi forces were reported killed in an overnight clash south of Kirkuk. At least 25 Kurdish fighters were killed in the clashes. Kirkuk is of the most ethnically and religiously diverse cities in Iraq and located just outside the autonomous Kurdish zone.
    (Reuters, 10/16/17)(AP, 10/17/17)
2017        Oct 16, Iraqi forces pillaged and torched Kurdish districts in the multi-ethnic town of Tuz Khurmatu following clashes with Kurdish fighters. Locals later said at least 11 civilians were killed in "indiscriminate attacks" as heavy weaponry was used in densely-populated areas of the city.
    (AFP, 10/24/17)
2017        Oct 16, Trading sources said Iraq's Kurdistan has shut down some 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production from major fields Bai Hassan and Avana due to security concerns after a flare-up in tensions with the central government. Iraq said it was considering using security forces to prevent Kurdistan from shutting down output from the oil area of Kirkuk.
    (Reuters, 10/16/17)
2017        Oct 16, Turkey announced that it is closing its airspace to flights to and from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region and have Baghdad take control of the Iraqi side of its main border crossing.
    (AP, 10/16/17)(Reuters, 10/16/17)

2017        Oct 18, A senior Iraqi commander said Kurdish Peshmerga forces have retreated to positions they held in northern Iraq in June 2014 in response to an Iraqi army advance into the region after a Kurdish independence referendum.
    (Reuters, 10/18/17)

2017        Oct 19, A Baghdad court issued an arrest warrant for Kosrat Rasul, the vice president of Iraqi Kurdistan, on charges of "provocation" against Iraq's armed forces. The UN expressed concern at reports of forced displacement of civilians, mainly Kurds, and the looting and destruction of their houses and businesses in northern Iraq.
    (AFP, 10/19/17)(Reuters, 10/19/17)

2017        Oct 20, Iraqi forces shelled Kurdish military positions north and south of Altun Cupric, a town of about 9,000 people just outside the country's autonomous Kurdish region. Organized Kurdish forces responded with rocket fire. Iraqi forces took control of the last district in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk still in the hands of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters following a three-hour battle.
    (AP, 10/20/17)(Reuters, 10/20/17)

2017        Oct 22, A new joint body between Iraq and Saudi Arabia convened an inaugural meeting to coordinate their fight against IS and on rebuilding Iraqi territory wrested from the group.
    (AP, 10/22/17)

2017        Oct 24, Parliament in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region decided to hold legislative elections in eight months after they were delayed amid tensions with the central government in Baghdad over disputed territories.
    (AFP, 10/24/17)

2017        Oct 25, Kurdish authorities in Iraq offered to put an independence drive on hold, stepping up efforts to resolve a crisis in relations with Baghdad via dialogue.
    (Reuters, 10/25/17)

2017        Oct 26, Iraqi forces launched an attack to drive Islamic State from the last territory it holds in Iraq. Approximately 1,500 Islamic State fighters were estimated to be still in the immediate vicinity of al-Qaim. The Syrian army and its allies said they planned to march on Albu Kamal, the jihadist's last Syrian stronghold.
    (Reuters, 10/26/17)

2017        Oct 27, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi ordered a 24-hour suspension of military operations against Kurdish forces in northern Iraq. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have reached an agreement to stop fighting in northern Iraq, although the status of any ceasefire remained unclear.
    (Reuters, 10/27/17)(Reuters, 10/29/17)

2017        Oct 29, Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters started a second round of talks to resolve a conflict over control of the Kurdistan region's border crossings.
    (Reuters, 10/29/17)
2017        Oct 29, Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani confirmed his intention to step down on Nov. 1 and asked parliament to take measures to fill the presidential power vacuum.
    (Reuters, 10/29/17)

2017        Nov 1, Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani departed office, leaving his nephew to reconcile with the central government in Baghdad, with regional neighbors and with rival Kurdish parties after a failed referendum on independence.
    (Reuters, 11/1/17)

2017        Nov 2, Iraqi forces captured the Akkas gas field from Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 11/2/17)
2017        Nov 2, Iraq's Kurdish region said it has offered a joint Kurdish-Iraqi deployment at a strategic crossing into Turkey with the participation of US-led international forces as part of a compromise with Baghdad. This came hours after Iraqi armed forces threatened to resume military operations against the Kurds, accusing them of delaying the handover of control of borders and taking advantage of negotiations to bolster their defenses.
    (AP, 11/2/17)

2017        Nov 3, Iraqi forces entered Al-Qaim, quickly taking several districts, and also recaptured an important border crossing nearby the Syrian border.
    (AFP, 11/3/17)

2017        Nov 4, Islamic State militants inside Syria repelled an attack by Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, the paramilitary group of mostly Shiite fighters within the Iraqi security forces. The attack over the last 24 hours took place near the border town of Boukamal but that the PMF fighters crossed back into Iraq.
    (AP, 11/4/17)

2017        Nov 5, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi raised the Iraqi flag at a border crossing with Syria days after Iraqi forces retook it from the Islamic State group. Al-Abadi visited the newly-liberated town of Qaim and the nearby Husaybah border crossing in western Iraq. A twin suicide attack killed at least six people in the center of Iraq's disputed Kirkuk city.
    (AP, 11/5/17)(AFP, 11/5/17)

2017        Nov 8, Iranian state television reported that more than two million Iranian pilgrims have crossed the border into Iraq for the annual Arbaeen Shiite pilgrimage to be celebrated on Nov. 9.
    (AFP, 11/8/17)
2017        Nov 8, Syria's army and its allies began an assault on the largest remaining stronghold of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, signaling the imminent fall of the militant group's self-proclaimed caliphate.
    (Reuters, 11/8/17)

2017        Nov 10, In Iraq hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims from around the world gathered in the city of Kerbala for one of the most sacred rituals in their religious calendar.
    (Reuters, 11/10/17)

2017        Nov 11, Iraq's PM Haider al-Abadi said Iraqi forces are launching an operation to push Islamic State group fighters out of a patch of territory on the western edge of the country near the border with Syria.
    (AP, 11/11/17)

2017        Nov 12, A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake late today near the Iraq-Iran border killed over 530 people across both countries. Iran's western Kermanshah province bore the brunt of the temblor. In Iraq, nine people were killed and 550 were injured, all in the country's northern Kurdish region.
    (AP, 11/13/17)(Reuters, 11/14/17)(AFP, 11/26/17)(AP, 1/11/18)

2017        Nov 16, In northern Iraq two Turkish soldiers were killed and one was wounded in northern Iraq's Avasin Basyan region by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.
    (Reuters, 11/16/17)
2017        Nov 16, In Iraq a KDP lawmaker said Kurdish lawmakers are returning to Baghdad in hopes that their presence in Baghdad will bring the prime minister to the negotiating table.
    (AP, 11/16/17)

2017        Nov 17, Iraqi forces captured the border town of Rawa, the last remaining town under Islamic State control, signaling the collapse of the group's self-proclaimed caliphate.
    (Reuters, 11/17/17)

2017        Nov 20, Iraq's Supreme Federal Court ruled that the Sept. 25 Kurdish independence referendum was unconstitutional and the results void. Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government called on the international community to intervene and help lift sanctions imposed by the central government in Baghdad in retaliation for a September referendum on Kurdish independence.
    (Reuters, 11/20/17)

2017        Nov 21, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi said the Islamic State had been defeated from a military perspective but he would only declare final victory after IS militants were routed in the desert. A suicide bomber detonated a pickup truck loaded with explosive killing 32 people at a marketplace in Tuz Khormato, a contested town claimed by Baghdad and the Kurdish region.
    (Reuters, 11/21/17)(AP, 11/21/17)(SFC, 11/22/17, p.A2)
2017        Nov 21, Iraqi authorities said they have moved hundreds of foreign wives and children of suspected Islamic State militants from a northern detention center to Baghdad, citing security concerns and the difficulties of keeping them in a remote location. Around 700 more were still being held at the facility in the northern town of Tal Keif.
    (Reuters, 11/21/17)

2017        Nov 23, Iraqi forces launched a sweep through the western desert to flush out remaining Islamic State group fighters.
    (AFP, 11/23/17)

2017        Nov 24, Iraqi forces said that Islamic State group fighters are withdrawing deep into the desert to escape an offensive aimed at a final defeat of the jihadists.
    (AFP, 11/24/17)

2017        Nov 25, Iraqi forces thrust north from the Euphrates Valley into the desert, opening up a new front in the drive to flush out fugitive Islamic State group fighters.
    (AFP, 11/25/17)

2017        Nov 26, Iraq’s oil ministry said Iraq is to build a new pipeline to allow oil exports to resume from the northern province of Kirkuk to neighboring Turkey.
    (AFP, 11/26/17)

2017        Nov 27, In northern Iraq more than 80 militants were killed in an air strike, where Turkish jets have frequently targeted PKK fighters.
    (AP, 11/29/17)

2017        Nov 29, British PM Theresa May paid a surprise visit to Baghdad where she met her Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi and praised the country's efforts to battle the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 11/29/17)

2017        Nov 30, A US coalition report said at least 800 civilians have been killed in strikes in Iraq and Syria by the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State since the campaign began in 2014.
    (Reuters, 11/30/17)

2017        Dec 2, French President Emmanuel Macron with Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region. Macron says France will "do everything" to help preserve Iraq's unity and the recognition of the rights of Iraq's Kurds through new negotiations.
    (AP, 12/2/17)

2017        Dec 3, Iraqi Kurdish officials said around half of the Yazidis kidnapped by the Islamic State group three years ago are still missing. Some 6,417 Yazidis were abducted by the jihadists from August 3, 2014.
    (AFP, 12/3/17)

2017        Dec 5, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the United States-led international coalition fighting Islamic State, estimated that fewer than 3,000 fighters belonging to the hardline Sunni militant group remain in Iraq and Syria.
    (Reuters, 12/5/17)
2017        Dec 5, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Iraqi federal and Kurdish regional judiciaries are violating the rights of Islamic State suspects with flawed trials, arbitrary detentions under harsh conditions and broad prosecutions.
    (Reuters, 12/5/17)

2017        Dec 7, It was reported that Iraqi historian, scholar and blogger Omar Mohammed (31) has unveiled himself as Mosul Eye. Since 2014 Mosul Eye told the world what was happening in occupied Mosul. If caught, he too would be killed.
    (AP, 12/7/17)

2017        Dec 9, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi said that Iraqi forces had driven the last remnants of Islamic State from the country, three years after the militant group captured about a third of Iraq's territory.
    (Reuters, 12/9/17)

2017        Dec 11, Turkey's armed forces said its warplanes hit Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq and killed 17 of the group's militants.
    (Reuters, 12/11/17)

2017        Dec 14, Iraq hanged 38 Sunni jihadists belonging to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda for terrorism offences in Nasiriyah prison.
    (AFP, 12/14/17)

2017        Dec 18, Protesters in Iraqi Kurdistan torched offices of the main political parties and security services as anger at the authorities boiled over in the wake of a failed independence push. Several thousand people across the region took to the streets to air their ire.
    (AFP, 12/18/17)

2017        Dec 19, In Iraq three people were killed and more than 80 wounded as Kurdish protesters, angered by years of austerity and unpaid public sector salaries, took to the streets in a second day of violent unrest amid tensions with Baghdad.
    (Reuters, 12/19/17)

2017        Dec 20, It was reported that Iraqi or coalition forces are responsible for at least 3,200 civilian deaths from airstrikes, artillery fire or mortar rounds between October 2016 and the fall of the Islamic State group in July 2017. AP also obtained a list of 9,606 names of people killed during the operation from Mosul's morgue. Hundreds of dead civilians are believed to still be buried in the rubble.
    (AP, 12/20/17)
2017        Dec 20, Protests raged for a third day in Iraqi Kurdistan despite a clampdown by security forces after five people were killed as ire exploded at the calamitous fallout from an independence vote. Leading Kurdish opposition movement Gorran withdrew its ministers from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its member Yousif Mohamed resigned as parliament speaker. The Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), another opposition party with a smaller presence in parliament, also withdrew from the government.
    (AFP, 12/20/17)(Reuters, 12/20/17)

2017        Dec 24, Italian PM Paolo Gentiloni said he would propose to parliament transferring some of the country's 1,400 troops stationed in Iraq to Niger to fight people smuggling and terrorism.
    (Reuters, 12/24/17)

2017        Dec 25, In Turkey two soldiers were killed and another was wounded in an attack by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the southeastern province of Hakkari. Separately, one soldier was killed and two others were wounded in northern Iraq when a grenade detonated by accident.
    (Reuters, 12/25/17)

2017        Dec 27, The United States-led international coalition fighting ISIS, the hardline Sunni militant group, said fewer than 1,000 Islamic State fighters remain in Iraq and Syria, a third of the estimated figure only three weeks ago.
    (Reuters, 12/27/17)

2018        Jan 1, It was reported that in Iraq some 133 mass graves, left behind by defeated extremists, contained an estimated 11,000 to 13,000 graves.
    (SFC, 1/1/18, p.A3)

2018        Jan 2, Iran re-opened two crossings with the Iraqi Kurdistan region that it had closed after a referendum in favor of independence in the Kurdish area.
    (Reuters, 1/2/18)

2018        Jan 7, It was reported that Iraqi security forces are forcibly returning civilians from refugee camps to unsafe areas in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province, exposing them to death from booby-traps or acts of vigilantism.
    (Reuters, 1/7/18)

2018        Jan 12, Northern Iraq's Yazidi community, that suffered so terribly under Islamic State group persecution, celebrated as it inaugurated the temple at Bashiqa to the sound of traditional drums and flutes. This was one of 68 Yazidi temples destroyed by IS, and one of the last of 23 in the region to be restored.
    (AFP, 1/12/18)

2018        Jan 13, In Iraq a suicide bombing in Baghdad targeting a police checkpoint killed eight and wounded at least 10 others.
    (AP, 1/13/18)

2018        Jan 15, In Iraq a twin suicide bombing killed at least 31 people in Baghdad in the second such attack in three days. PM Haider al-Abadi called for the elimination of jihadist "sleeper cells".
    (AP, 1/15/18)

2018        Jan 18, Iraq signed a contract with British energy giant BP aimed at more than doubling production from oil fields in the northern province of Kirkuk that were retaken from the Kurds last year.
    (AFP,  1/18/18)

2018        Jan 19, The United Nations said about half the 2.6 million people displaced in Iraq after a three-year war with Islamic State militants are children and persisting violence hampers efforts to ease their suffering.
    (Reuters, 1/19/18)

2018        Jan 20, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi met with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region's PM Nechirvan Barzani for the first time since conflict broke out over a Kurdish independence referendum. Abadi renewed his conditions for lifting restrictions imposed on the Kurdistan region after the referendum.
    (Reuters, 1/20/18)

2018        Jan 21, An Iraqi court said it had condemned to death by hanging a German woman of Moroccan origin after finding her guilty of belonging to the Islamic State jihadist group. The woman, who was not identified, had 30 days to appeal.
    (AP, 1/22/18)

2018        Jan 22, Iraq signed a deal with US company Orion Gas Processors to tap natural gas in one of its southern oil fields, a step toward exploiting a natural resource that has been neglected for decades.
    (AP, 1/22/18)

2018        Jan 27, In Iraq a coalition air strike mistakenly hit friendly Iraqi forces and civilians in western Anbar province killing at least seven members of the Iraqi security forces and a local official and wounding 11 others in the town of al-Baghdadi.
    (AP, 1/27/18)(Reuters, 1/27/18)

2018        Jan 29, The Iraqi parliament voted to lift sanctions imposed on banks in the Kurdistan region over an independence referendum.
    (Reuters, 1/29/18)

2018        Feb 4, Iraqi security services published the names of 60 people wanted on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda or the Baath Party of late dictator Saddam Hussein.
    (AFP, 2/4/18)

2018        Feb 5, An Iraqi government spokesman said US forces have begun reducing their numbers in Iraq after Iraqi authorities declared "victory" over Islamic State.
    (Reuters, 2/5/18)

2018        Feb 9, Human Rights Watch said in report that the Kurdish Asayish police force in Iraq last year executed dozens of Islamic State fighters in their custody and disposed of their bodies in a mass grave northwest of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 2/9/18)

2018        Feb 11, The United Nation's children agency said one in four Iraqi children are in poverty and four million are in need of assistance as a result of the country's war with Islamic State militants.
    (Reuters, 2/11/18)

2018        Feb 12, Iraqi officials said their country needs nearly $90 billion to rebuild after three years of war with the Islamic State group. Large parts of the country remained in ruins and tens of thousands left homeless.
    (AFP, 2/12/18)

2018        Feb 14, Iraq received promises worth $30 billion dollars, mostly in credit facilities and investment pledges, from allies but has so far fallen short of the amount the government says is needed to recover from three years of war.
    (Reuters, 2/14/18)(AP, 2/14/18)
2018        Feb 14, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari said 18,000 people had been killed and 36,000 wounded in the war with the Islamic State militant group since 2014.
    (Reuters, 2/14/18)

2018        Feb 18, In Iraq IS members disguised as soldiers attacked a Hashed al-Shaabi unit in the Hawija region about 300 km (185 miles) north of Baghdad, killing 27 members of a paramilitary group.
    (AFP, 2/19/18)

2018        Feb 25, An Iraqi judiciary spokesman said a local court has sentenced 16 Turkish women to death by hanging for joining Islamic State. All the verdicts are subject to appeal.
    (Reuters, 2/25/18)

2018        Mar 8, A spokesman said a Baghdad court has convicted the sister of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the former leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in 2010, and sentenced her to death on terrorism charges.
    (AP, 3/8/18)

2018        Mar 11, Turkish warplanes reportedly destroyed at least 18 targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq over the last 24 hours.
    (Reuters, 3/11/18)

2018        Mar 13, Iraqi authorities said they were lifting a nearly six-month air blockade imposed on Iraqi Kurdistan in response to its holding of an independence referendum.
    (AFP, 3/13/18)
2018        Mar 13, In Iraq Brig. Gen. Shareef Ismaeel al-Murshidi, a brigade commander whose forces are tasked with protecting al-Abadi and Baghdad's Green Zone, was shot dead by militia at a checkpoint outside Samarra. Two of al-Murshidi's guards were also killed The militiamen belonged to the so-called Peace Brigades, led by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
    (AP, 3/14/18)

2018        Mar 15, In Iraq a US HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter carrying seven people crashed near al-Qaim, Anbar province, killing all on board.
    (Reuters, 3/16/18)

2018        Mar 16, The world soccer's governing body lifted a soccer ban, allowing Iraqi cities of Basra, Karbala and Irbil to host full international games and competitions for the first time since the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
    (AP, 3/21/18)

2018        Mar 19, Iraq sent money to pay salaries of state employees in the Kurdish region for the first time since 2014, although a dispute over how much it will send the Kurds in future remains unresolved.
    (Reuters, 3/19/18)

2018        Mar 20, Iraqi and Indian authorities said they have confirmed that a mass grave outside the village of Badush contained the bodies of 38 Indian construction workers abducted when Islamic State militants overran the northern city of Mosul in 2014.
    (AP, 3/20/18)
2018        Mar 20, In Iraq nine troops from the federal police were kidnapped by militants disguised in government-sanctioned paramilitary forces uniforms. On March 24 the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for abducting and killing 10 policemen between the northern Kirkuk and Salaheddin provinces.
    (AP, 3/25/18)
2018        Mar 20, Direct international flights resumed from Sulaimaniyah airport in Iraqi Kurdistan, a week after Baghdad lifted an almost six-month-long blockade on the region's foreign air links.
    (AFP, 3/20/18)

2018        Mar 22, Turkish jets attacked suspected Kurdish rebel camps across the border in northern Iraq, in an operation that reportedly "neutralized" nine militants.
    (AP, 3/22/18)

2018        Mar 23, The Kurdish PKK rebel group said it is withdrawing from the town of Sinjar in northern Iraq, a move that follows threats of attack from Turkey.
    (AP, 3/23/18)

2018        Mar 27, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi said government armed forces will prevent Kurdish militants based in northern Iraq from staging cross-border attacks against Turkey.
    (AP, 3/27/18)

2018        Apr 2, An Iraqi court in Baghdad sentenced six Turkish women to death and a seventh to life in prison for membership of the Islamic State jihadist group. Iraq in February condemned another 15 Turkish women to death on the same charge.
    (AFP, 4/2/18)

2018        Apr 5, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe announced a 35 billion yen ($330 million) loan for irrigation projects in Iraq during talks with PM Haider al-Abadi and pledged Japan's continuing support.
    (AP, 4/5/18)

2018        Apr 7, In western Iraq a suicide attack targeting the Al-Hal political party headquarters in Hit, Anbar province, killed four people and injured seven others, including a candidate in polls set for May.
    (AFP, 4/8/18)

2018        Apr 17, Iraq sentenced Djamila Boutoutaou (29), a French woman of Algerian origin, to life in prison for belonging to the Islamic State group, raising to more than 180 the number of such convictions of foreign women since the country's defeat of IS. Two women from Russia, both holding children in their arms, were also sentenced to life in prison at the same hearing, while five from Azerbaijan were condemned to death along with a woman from Trinidad.
    (AFP, 4/17/18)

2018        Apr 19, Iraq carried out air strikes on Islamic State positions in Syria a week after PM Haider al-Abadi said his country would defend itself from militant threats across the border. 36 Islamic State militants were killed in airstrikes by Iraq's air force in an area along the border. Six IS leaders were among the dead.
    (Reuters, 4/19/18)(AP, 4/22/18)

2018        Apr 20, Iraq resumed paying Kuwait compensation for the destruction of Kuwaiti oil fields and facilities during the 1990-91 Gulf War.
    (Reuters, 4/20/18)

2018        Apr 23, The Czech and Iraqi defense ministers vowed to further boost the military cooperation between their states as Iraqi Defense Minister Erfan al-Hayali began a three-day visit to Prague with further deals to be announced.
    (AP, 4/23/18)

2018        Apr 29, Iraq sentenced 19 Russian women to life in prison for joining the Islamic State group. Six women from Azerbaijan and four from Tajikistan were also condemned to life in prison on the same charge.
    (AFP, 4/29/18)

2018        Apr 30, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said that the last well on fire at Ajil, an oilfield torched by Islamic State north of Baghdad, has been extinguished. IS militants torched the field, located near Tikrit, in 2015.
    (Reuters, 4/30/18)

2018        May 1, In Iraq militants in two speeding cars killed eight unarmed civilians in the assault 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad. The Islamic State soon claimed responsibility.
    (Reuters, 5/2/18)(AP, 5/2/18)

2018        May 6, Iraq carried out an airstrike in neighboring Syria targeting the Islamic State group. The strike targeted a position used by the commanders of the group, south of the town of Deshaisha.
    (Reuters, 5/6/18)

2018        May 7, In northern Iraq gunmen shot dead Sunni parliamentary candidate Faruq Zarzur al-Juburi (45) at his home in Qayyarah.   
    (AFP, 5/7/18)

2018        May 9, Iraqi state TV announced the capture of five Islamic State commanders.
    (Reuters, 5/10/18)

2018        May 12, Iraq voted in its first election since declaring victory over the Islamic State group, but widespread disillusionment appeared to dampen hope for the future. The official turnout for the elections was 44.5 percent. Shiite cleric al-Sadr took an early lead in partial returns. A political bloc led by populist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr won the country's parliamentary election.
    (AFP, 5/12/18)(AFP, 5/13/18)(SFC, 5/14/18, p.A3)(AP, 5/19/18)

2018        May 15, The Iraqi election commission said that initial results from Kirkuk indicated a win for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), a historic Iraqi Kurdish party.
    (Reuters, 5/16/18)

2018        May 16, In Iraq several people were killed or wounded north of Baghdad when a man wearing an explosive belt blew himself up in the middle of a group of people receiving condolences in the region of Tarmiya.
    (Reuters, 5/16/18)
2018        May 16, Gunmen in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk were besieging several polling stations containing election staff, four days after a national vote.
    (AP, 5/16/18)

2018        May 17, Denmark said its special forces taking part in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group in Iraq would be withdrawn following the IS defeat. Denmark had around 180 troops stationed at the Al-Asad air base near Baghdad.
    (AFP, 5/17/18)

2018        May 19, Iraq's electoral commission said a political bloc led by populist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a long-time adversary of the United States who also opposes Iranian influence in Iraq, has won the country's parliamentary election. His Sairoon electoral list captured 54 parliamentary seats.
    (AP, 5/19/18)

2018        May 22, An Iraqi court sentenced Belgian jihadist Tarik Jadaoun (b.1988), who threatened Europe in propaganda videos, to death by hanging for membership in the Islamic State group. Belgium's foreign ministry called for the death penalty to be commuted.
    (AFP, 5/22/18)

2018        May 23, In Iraq at least seven people were killed and 15 wounded in a suicide attack targeting a predominantly Shi'ite district of Baghdad. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
    (Reuters, 5/24/18)(SFC, 5/25/18, p.A2)

2018        May 24, Iraq's PM Haider al-Abadi ordered the creation of a high-powered commission to look into alleged irregularities in the parliamentary elections held May 12, the first sign that authorities are taking seriously complaints about the vote.
    (AP, 5/25/18)

2018        Jun 2, In Iraq Islamic State militants killed 12 members of the same family, including women and children, in an attack on their home in the village of al-Farahatiyah, Salahuddin province.
    (AP, 6/2/18)

2018        Jun 3, An Iraqi court sentenced French woman Melina Boughedir (28) to life in prison for membership in the Islamic State group. The verdict can be appealed.
    (AP, 6/3/18)

2018        Jun 6, The Iraqi parliament voted in favor of a manual ballot recount after allegations of widespread fraud in the country's recently held parliamentary elections.
    (SFC, 6/7/18, p.A3)

2018        Jun 7, Iraq's top judicial authority took over the Independent Elections Commission as stipulated by a law passed in response to complaints of widespread fraud in last month's national elections.
    (AP, 6/7/18)
2018        Jun 7, In Iraq an overnight explosions that tore through a mosque in Baghdad as officials raised the casualty toll to 18 dead and 38 wounded.
    (AP, 6/7/18)
2018        Jun 7, Turkey said it has stopped filling the Ilisu dam on the Tigris River until July to help Iraq overcome water shortages.
    (Reuters, 6/7/18)

2018        Jun 8, In Iraq three bombs exploded late today in the northern city of Kirkuk killing a woman and wounding 18 others.
    (AP, 6/9/18)
2018        Jun 8, Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq detained Ali Bashar (20) on suspicion of raping and murdering Susanna Feldman (14), a Jewish girl who went missing May 22 in Germany.
    (Reuters, 6/8/18)

 2018        Jun 10, A fire ripped through Iraq's biggest ballot warehouse ahead of a vote recount prompted by allegations of fraud during legislative elections that saw a surprise victory for a populist cleric. Officials said most ballot boxes were preserved.
    (AFP, 6/10/18)
2018        Jun 10, Turkey's military said it hit more than a dozen Kurdish militant targets in air strikes in the Qandil mountains of northern Iraq.
    (Reuters, 6/11/18)

2018        Jun 12, Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose coalition won the largest number of seats in last month's parliamentary elections, announced an alliance with an Iran-backed coalition ahead of marathon negotiations to form a new government.
    (AP, 6/13/18)

2018        Jun 15, A Danish court ordered the country's Defense Ministry to compensate 18 Iraqi civilians detained by Iraqi security troops during a 2014 military operation in Iraq in which Danish soldiers assisted. The Defense Ministry planned to appeal.
    (AP, 6/15/18)

2018        Jun 20, Iraqi police surrounded the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia and detained one of its members after an armed clash left three people wounded in Baghdad.
    (AFP, 6/20/18)
2018        Jun 20, In southeastern Turkey Kurdish militants fired on military vehicles, killing two soldiers and wounding another. Turkey's warplanes carried out air strikes in northern Iraq, killing 10 militants in the Avasin-Basyan and Sinat Haftanin areas and destroying weapon stores and shelters.
    (Reuters, 6/20/18)

2018        Jun 21, Turkey's Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish warplanes recently struck Iraq's Qandil mountain while a group of 35 senior militants were holding a meeting.
    (AP, 6/21/18)

2018        Jun 22, Iraq launched an air attack on a gathering of Islamic State leaders in the town of Hajin inside neighboring Syria, killing 45 members of the hardline militant group.
    (Reuters, 6/23/18)

2018        Jun 27, Iraqi security forces found the bodies of eight men, two days after a deadline set by their Islamic State kidnappers expired. The bodies were found mutilated and rigged with explosives.
    (Reuters, 6/27/18)

2018        Jun 28, Iraq's PM Haider al-Abadi ordered "the immediate punishment of terrorists condemned to death" whose appeals have been exhausted.
    (AFP, 6/29/18)

2018        Jun 29, Iraq said that it executed 13 death row jihadists after PM Haider al-Abadi vowed a forceful retaliation to calm public anger over the Islamic State group's murder of abducted civilians.
    (AFP, 6/29/18)

2018        Jun 30, The Turkish military carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq's Avasin Basyan region, killing four Kurdish militants.
    (Reuters, 6/30/18)

2018        Jun, Iraq's agriculture ministry suspended the cultivation of rice, corn and other cereals, which need large quantities of water, due to sever drought. The Ministry of Water Resources said the country has only enough water to irrigate half its farmland this summer.
    (AFP, 7/3/18)(SFC, 7/6/18, p.A4)

2018        Jul 1, In Iraq one person was killed in Kirkuk when a suicide car bomb went off near a storage site housing ballot boxes from a May national election.
    (Reuters, 7/1/18)
2018        Jul 1, Turkey's military said eight Kurdish militants have been killed in air strikes in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey this weekend.
    (Reuters, 7/1/18)

2018        Jul 3, Iraqi authorities began recounting votes from May's disputed parliamentary election, officials said, a step toward forming a new government after weeks of delays.
    (Reuters, 7/3/18)

2018        Jul 7, In Iraq two Filipina women were kidnapped after their car broke down on a road connecting Baghdad to oil city Kirkuk.
    (Reuters, 7/7/18)

2018        Jul 8, Iraqi police opened fire to disperse dozens of protesters near the southern oil hub of Basra as they demonstrated against a shortage of jobs, electricity, water and other basic services.
    (Reuters, 7/8/18)

2018        Jul 9, An Iraqi military spokesman said a US coalition airstrike has killed 20 Islamic State militants outside the northern city of Mosul.
    (AP, 7/9/18)

2018        Jul 11, It was reported that dozens of water buffalo in Iraq's southeastern wetlands have died because of low water levels in the marshes, threatening the livelihoods of a community of marsh dwellers that has made the area its home for millennia.
    (Reuters, 7/11/18)

2018        Jul 12, Iraqi police fired into the air to disperse protesters demanding jobs and better public services at one of three demonstrations outside major oilfields in the southern oil hub of Basra.
    (Reuters, 7/12/18)

2018        Jul 13, In Iraq about 100 protesters demanding jobs and better services from leaders closed access to Umm Qasr commodities port near the southern city of Basra.
    (Reuters, 7/13/18)
2018        Jul 12, In eastern Syria an air strike, probably carried out by US-led international forces or Iraq, struck an Islamic State-held area, killing 54 people including 28 civilians as well as members of the jihadist group. Most of the civilians killed were Iraqis.
    (Reuters, 7/13/18)

2018        Jul 14, Iraq placed its security forces on high alert, in response to ongoing protests in the country's southern provinces over poor government services and corruption.
    (Reuters, 7/14/18)

2018        Jul 15, Iraqis demanding better public services and jobs took to the streets for the sixth day in the southern oil-rich province of Basra, as authorities put security forces on high alert and blocked the internet in the country's Shiite heartland. Dozens of demonstrators were wounded. The internet was off service across the country for a second consecutive day and foreign airlines announced the suspension of flights.
    (AP, 7/15/18)(AFP, 7/15/18)

2018        Jul 16, In Iraq protests continued into their second week following days of clashes. Since the daily protests began on July 8 in Basra eight people have been killed, with demonstrators rallying to put social problems in the spotlight.
    (AFP, 7/16/18)

2018        Jul 17, Iraqi police wielded batons and rubber hoses to disperse about 250 protesters gathered at the main entrance to the Zubair oilfield near Basra as unrest across southern cities over poor basic services gathered pace.
    (Reuters, 7/17/18)

2018        Jul 22, Fresh protests hit southern Iraq as medical sources put at 11 the number of demonstrators killed in two weeks of unrest sparked by ire over corruption and lack of public services.
    (AFP, 7/22/18)
2018        Jul 22, Human Rights Watch called on Iraq's government to declare the number of detention facilities it maintains and not to hold suspects without informing their families.
    (AP, 7/22/18)

2018        Jul 23, In Iraq three teenage gunmen stormed the governor's headquarters in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, opening fire and killing one employee before being shot dead by Kurdish security forces. The assailants' motives were unclear.
    (AFP, 7/23/18)(Reuters, 7/23/18)

2018        Jul 27, Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called for a government to be formed as soon as possible to tackle corruption and poor basic services. Sistani told the incumbent caretaker administration of PM Haider al-Abadi to respond to protesters' fears.
    (Reuters, 7/27/18)

2018        Jul 28, An Iraqi a judicial official said five election officials will be put on trial in connection with fraud and vote buying, during the country's May legislative elections.
    (AFP, 7/28/18)

2018        Jul 29, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi suspended his electricity minister amid continuing protests over poor public services especially power cuts and rampant corruption.
    (Reuters, 7/29/18)

2018        Aug 2, In Iraq jihadists attacked a high voltage power line between Kirkuk and Diyala for the eighth time in two months. The attack plunged Kirkuk, Salaheddin and Nineveh provinces into darkness.
    (AFP, 8/5/18)

2018        Aug 4, Iraq's government said areas under cultivation have halved this summer compared to last year due to a drought that has led to a ban on water intensive crops.
    (AFP, 8/4/18)

2018        Aug 5, It was reported that Iraq's election commission ignored an anti-corruption body's warnings about the credibility of electronic vote-counting machines used in May's parliamentary election. The election was the first in which an electronic vote-counting system has been used in Iraq.
    (Reuters, 8/5/18)

2018        Aug 6, An Iraqi court sentenced Lahcen Ammar Gueboudj, a French man, and Nadia Rainer Hermann (22), a German woman, to life in prison on for belonging to Islamic State, forging ahead with the trial of hundreds of people captured after the militant group's defeat last year. Gueboudj said he had signed papers he had not understood were a confession during the investigation.
    (AP, 8/6/18)

2018        Aug 9, Iraq's anti-graft Commission of Integrity said it had succeeded in "recovering and preventing the waste" of public funds to the value of $322 million in the first six months of the year. PM Haider al-Abadi has sacked a number of electricity ministry officials, his office said, in the latest attempt to quell public anger at chronic power cuts.
    (AFP, 8/9/18)

2018        Aug 10, Iraq's electoral commission said nationalist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's alliance won the May parliamentary election according to a manual recount, paving the way for a government to be formed nearly three months after the vote. Sadr's joint list with communists will retain all 54 seats it won to become the biggest bloc in Iraq's 329-seat parliament.
    (AFP, 8/10/18)

2018        Aug 14, In Iraq at least three people were killed in an explosion at a market in Baghdad, including a woman and child.
    (AFP, 8/14/18)

2018        Aug 16, Iraq's air force carried out two airstrikes targeting Islamic State group inside Syria, killing at least 28 IS militants.
    (AP, 8/17/18)

2018        Aug 19, In Iraq a member of the US-led military coalition fighting Islamic State militants was killed and several injured when their helicopter crashed on a counter-terrorism mission.
    (Reuters, 8/20/18)

2018        Aug 29, In western Iraq a suicide bomber killed at least seven people in an attack on the outskirts of Al-Qaim. IS said in a statement that it carried out the attack, which it claimed had left 50 people dead or wounded.
    (AFP, 8/29/18)(SFC, 8/30/18, p.A4)

2018        Sep 1, Dutch former defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (45) was appointed as the United Nation's envoy to Iraq, to head a mission which plays an essential role in the country's political and economic spheres.
    (AFP, 9/1/18)

2018        Sep 2, Iraqi police used tear gas to disperse around 150 protesters at the main entrance to the giant Nahr Bin Omar oilfield, amid growing unrest in southern cities over poor public services and corruption. Oil exports from Basra account for more than 95 percent of Iraq's state revenues.
    (Reuters, 9/2/18)

2018        Sep 4, In Iraq hundreds of protesters clashed with security forces in the southern oil hub Basra for a second day, after a protester died from injuries sustained during demonstrations.
    (Reuters, 9/4/18)

2018        Sep 6, Iraq's main seaport closed down following violent clashes between protestors and security forces in the southern city of Basra in which one demonstrator died and 25 more were injured the previous night. Hundreds of protesters late today set fire to a government building in Basra as well as the offices of Shiite militias. At least three people were shot dead in confrontations with security forces.
    (Reuters, 9/6/18)(AP, 9/7/18)

2018        Sep 7, Iraq's parliament called an emergency session after a curfew was imposed in the southern city of Basra following a fresh outbreak of deadly protests over poor public services and as shells were fired into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. Iraqi security forces launched a search operation to determine the source of three mortar shells that landed inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
    (AFP, 9/7/18)(AP, 9/7/18)
2018        Sep 7, In Iraq protesters broke into the Iranian consulate in Basra, shouting condemnation of what many perceive as Iran's sway over Iraq's political affairs, and set it alight. Three protesters died and 48 more were wounded.
    (Reuters, 9/8/18)(SFC, 9/8/18, p.A4)

2018        Sep 8, Iraq's Basra airport was targeted by rocket fire after another night of protests against the political elite. Iraqi officials imposed a curfew on Basra starting at 4pm local time (1300 GMT).
    (Reuters, 9/8/18)
2018        Sep 8, Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched deadly missile strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Fifteen people were killed in the rare cross-border attack on the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.
    (AFP, 9/9/18)

2018        Sep 12, In Iraq jihadists attacked a restaurant north of the Iraqi capital with a car bomb, killing five people and wounding more than 30 near Tikrit city.
    (AFP, 9/12/18)

2018        Sep 15, Iraqi lawmakers elected Mohammed al-Halbousi (37), an Iran-backed Sunni Arab, as speaker of parliament, the first step in forming a new government four months after national elections.
    (AP, 9/15/18)

2018        Sep 25, In Iraq gunmen killed activist Soad al-Ali in Basra. He had organized protests demanding better services and jobs and decried the growing influence of Iran-backed Shiite militias in the area.
    (SFC, 10/4/18, p.A3)

2018        Sep 27, In Iraq Tara Fares (22), a former beauty queen, was shot and killed at the wheel of her Porsche on a busy Baghdad street. The fashion model and social media star had expressed outspoken opinions  on personal freedom.
    (https://primalinformation.com/tara-fares-wiki/)(SFC, 10/4/18, p.A3)

2018        Sep 28, The United States announced it will effectively close its consulate in the Iraqi city of Basra and relocate diplomatic personnel assigned there following increasing threats from Iran and Iran-backed militia, including rocket fire.
    (Reuters, 9/29/18)

2018        Sep 30, Kurds voted in a parliamentary election in their semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq. On October 21 authorities said the Iraqi Kurdish party behind last year's ill-fated independence referendum won the most seats in parliamentary elections held in the autonomous Kurdish region. The Kurdistan Democratic Party won 45 seats, 12 short of an outright majority in the 111-seat body.
    (Reuters, 9/30/18)(AP, 10/21/18)

2018        Oct 1, President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey aims to secure control of the region of northern Syria east of the Euphrates river, removing the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia from the area, and to clear Iraq's Sinjar and Qandil regions of Kurdish militants.
    (Reuters, 10/1/18)

2018        Oct 2, Iraq's lawmakers met to elect a new president after a dispute between the two main Kurdish parties delayed the vote, eventually forcing them to choose among 20 nominees. Veteran Kurdish politician Barham Salih (58) was elected president by parliament and sworn in. He then tapped Adel Abdel Mahdi (76) for the difficult task of navigating the country's tangled politics to form a government within 30 days.
    (AP, 10/2/18)(AP, 10/3/18)(AFP, 10/3/18)

2018        Oct 5, The Nobel Peace Prize went to Denis Mukwege, a doctor who treats war rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi rights activist and survivor of sexual slavery by Islamic State. Mukwege dedicated his award to all women affected by rape and sexual violence.
    (Reuters, 10/5/18)

2018        Oct 6, In northern Iraq at least one person was killed and 14 wounded when a bus carrying workers at the small Siniya oil refinery was blown up by an improvised explosive device in Salahuddin province. Three civilians and a policeman were injured when a parked car exploded in a market area in Falluja, Anbar province.
    (Reuters, 10/6/18)

2018        Oct 9, President Tayyip Erdogan agreed to increase releases of water from a dam in southeastern Turkey to neighboring Iraq, which is struggling with a water crisis.
    (Reuters, 10/10/18)

2018        Oct 17, Slovakia's defense ministry said the country will keep its military presence in Iraq after the government approved a plan to deploy up to 42 soldiers there next year to help train Iraqi security forces as part of a NATO mission.
    (AP, 10/17/18)
2018        Oct 17, The US Treasury imposed sanctions on an Iraq-based money services business, Afaq Dubai, believed to be moving funds for the Islamic State militant group.
    (Reuters, 10/17/18)

2018        Oct 21, Multinational giants Siemens and General Electric say they have signed memorandums of understanding with Iraq to rebuild the country's electricity infrastructure.
    (AP, 10/21/18)

2018        Oct 23, In Iraq a bomb blast at a market in a town south of the city of Mosul killed at least six people, including two soldiers.
    (AP, 10/23/18)

2018        Oct 25, The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights said foreign fighters, including many Europeans, took a leading role in carrying out the Islamic State group's atrocities against minority Yazidis.
    (AP, 10/25/18)

2018        Oct 30, In northern Iraq American and Iraqi forces in Salahuddin province killed five IS leaders and more than 30 other militants. The leaders killed in the raid were responsible for coordinating attacks across northern and western Iraq.
    (AP, 11/11/18)

2018        Oct 31, Iraq's Shi'ite paramilitaries, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), said in a statement that they had killed two IS commanders in the border area who were responsible for an attack last week on US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces along the Iraq-Syria border.
    (Reuters, 10/31/18)
2018        Oct 31, An operation in northern Iraq by American and Iraqi forces killed around 20 IS fighters in the Makhmour Mountains.
    (AP, 11/11/18)

2018        Nov 3, Iraqi officials said jihadists have killed three village chiefs in less than a week in Kirkuk province.
    (AFP, 11/3/18)

2018        Nov 6, UN investigators said more than 200 mass graves containing between 6,000 and 12,000 bodies have been found in Iraq from the time of the Islamic State group's three-year reign.
    (AP, 11/6/18)

2018        Nov 9, Airstrikes by Turkish warplanes "neutralized" 15 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
    (Reuters, 11/10/18)

2018        Nov 13, The US Treasury expanded its attack on Hezbollah's financial network, hitting key representatives of the Lebanese militant group in Iraq with sanctions. The Treasury blacklisted Shibl Muhsin 'Ubayd Al-Zaydi, Yusuf Hashim, Adnan Hussein Kawtharani, and Muhammad 'Abd-Al-Hadi Farhat under its Specially Designated Global Terrorists program.
    (AFP, 11/13/18)

2018        Nov 16, Iraq's central government said it has agreed with Kurdish authorities to resume oil exports from Kirkuk, a year after federal forces seized the lucrative fields.
    (AFP, 11/16/18)

2018        Nov 17, Iraq's President Barham Salih began a visit to Iran, where he pledged to improve relations less than two weeks after the United States restored oil sanctions that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.
    (AP, 11/17/18)
2018        Nov 17, In Iraq Wissam al-Ghrawi, a prominent figure in demonstrations demanding clean water and reliable electricity in Basra, was shot and killed in front of his house by unknown assailants.
    (AP, 11/18/18)

2018        Nov 18, In northern Iraq five people were killed in a car bomb blast in the city of Tikrit.
    (AP, 11/18/18)
2018        Nov 18, Saudi Arabia's King Salman received Iraq's Pres. Barham Salih in Riyadh, a day after the Iraqi official visited the kingdom's rival, Iran.
    (AP, 11/18/18)

2018        Nov 20, Iraq launched air strikes on Islamic State targets inside neighboring Syria, destroying two buildings housing 40 fighters and weapons.
    (Reuters, 11/20/18)
2018        Nov 20, The World Health Organizations said that laboratory tests completed after a shocking fish die-off in Iraq's Euphrates River show the water is contaminated with high levels of bacteria, heavy metals, and ammonia.
    (AP, 11/20/18)

2018        Nov 20, The Polish government said that it will not support a global compact to promote safe and orderly migration, citing national sovereignty as it joins countries including Hungary, Austria and the United States in rejecting it.
    (AP, 11/20/18)

2018        Nov 25, Iraq's health ministry said least 21 people have died and tens of thousands displaced by heavy rains that have battered the country over two days.
    (AFP, 11/25/18)

2018        Dec 4, Angry Iraqi lawmakers disrupted a parliamentary session meant to include a vote on the remainder of PM Adel Abdul Mahdi's cabinet, banging tables and shouting "illegitimate" in opposition to his proposed candidates.
    (Reuters, 12/4/18)

2018        Dec 10, Iraq began removing cement walls from areas surrounding the capital's most fortified enclave, opening parts of the so-called Green Zone to traffic in a symbolic move coinciding with nationwide celebrations marking the anniversary of the country's costly victory over the Islamic State group.
    (AP, 12/10/18)

2018        Dec 12, In Baghdad Nobel laureate and former jihadist captive Nadia Murad (25) called on Iraq to create a special team to investigate the fate of other members of her Yazidi minority kidnapped by the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 12/12/18)

2018        Dec 14, The Turkish military said it had killed eight militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in air strikes targeting the Zap, Hakurk and Haftanin regions of northern Iraq.
    (Reuters, 12/14/18)

2018        Dec 16, Iraqis laid the cornerstone in rebuilding Mosul's Al-Nuri mosque and leaning minaret, national emblems destroyed last year in the ferocious battle against the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 12/16/18)

2018        Dec 21, The US State Department said the US has granted Iraq a 90-day Iran sanctions waiver to allow it to continue to import electricity from Tehran.
    (AP, 12/21/18)

2018        Dec 25, In Iraq at least two people were killed and 11 wounded by a car bomb in the northern city of Tal Afar. Islamic State soon claimed responsibility for the attack.
    (Reuters, 12/25/18)

2018        Dec 26, Pres. Donald Trump slipped into Iraq to greet US service members and show that his norm-busting presidency would hew at least to this tradition. He did not meet Iraqi officials while there but spoke on the phone with PM Adel Abdul-Mahdi.
    (AP, 12/27/18)

2018        Dec 27, Iraqi lawmakers demanded US forces leave the country in the wake of a surprise visit by President Donald Trump that politicians denounced as arrogant and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
    (AP, 12/27/18)

2018        Dec 30, Syria's state news agency said President Bashar Assad has authorized Iraqi forces to attack the Islamic State group inside Syria without waiting for permission from authorities in Damascus.
    (AP, 12/30/18)

2018        Dec 31, Iraqi fighter jets struck an Islamic State position inside Syria, a day after the Syrian government authorized its neighbor to target the militants at will.
    (AP, 12/31/18)

2018        Dec, Authorities in Mosul began demolishing the ruins of the National Insurance Company, a onetime icon of modern Iraqi architecture used by the Islamic State group to throw men accused of being gay to their deaths.
    (AFP, 1/14/19)

2019        Jan 3, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara and Baghdad would deepen cooperation against terrorism after tensions last month over Turkish air strikes against Kurdish militants in Iraq.
    (AFP, 1/3/19)

2019        Jan 4, In Iraq a fire at a women's shelter in Baghdad killed several lodgers. A police chief called it a "group suicide" caused by women rioting in the shelter. Two women died from stab wounds and seven perished in the fire.
    (AP, 1/4/19)

2019        Jan 8, In Iraq a car bomb killed two police officers in the city of Tikrit. The wounded included two soldiers, a police officer and three civilians.
    (Reuters, 1/8/19)

2019        Jan 11, In Iraq two people were killed in an explosion in Al-Qaim, a city to which displaced families are being encouraged to return.
    (AP, 1/11/19)

2019        Jan 14, Jordan's King Abdullah and the foreign ministers of France and Iran made separate visits to Iraq, an ally of Tehran, amid US attempts to rally allies against the Islamic Republic as Washington starts withdrawing troops from neighboring Syria.
    (Reuters, 1/14/19)

2019        Jan 18, Iraqi archaeologist Lamia al-Gailani (80) died. She had lent her expertise to rebuild the collection at the National Museum after it was looted in 2003.
    (AP, 1/20/19)

2019        Jan 23, In Iraq a car bomb killed one soldier and injured at least two in a northern town near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
    (Reuters, 1/23/19)

2019        Jan 26, In northwestern Iraq Kurdish protesters stormed a Turkish army position in the Shiladzeh region late today to protest the deaths of four civilians they said were killed last week in Turkish bombardment. One Kurdish protester was killed after Turkish troops opened fire on the demonstrators.
    (AFP, 1/27/19)
2019        Jan 26, Turkey's Defense Ministry said a Turkish military base in northern Iraq has come under attack by Kurdish militants. At least 10 people were wounded when protesters stormed the Turkish military camp near Dohuk in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, burning two tanks and other vehicles.
    (AP, 1/26/19)(Reuters, 1/26/19)

2019        Feb 2, Iraq and Jordan inaugurated a joint industrial area on the border between the neighboring countries. The border crossing was formally reopened.
    (AP, 2/2/19)
2019        Feb 2, In Iraq a motorcycle gunman shot dead novelist Alaa Mashzoub (50) late today close to his house in the Shi'ite Muslim city of Kerbala.
    (Reuters, 2/3/19)

2019        Feb 4, Iraqi President Barham Salih said that President Donald Trump did not ask Iraq's permission for US troops stationed there to "watch Iran".
    (Reuters, 2/4/19)

2019        Feb 10, A Russian official said that Moscow had repatriated a fresh batch of 27 children whose mothers are being held in Iraq for belonging to the Islamic State group. Thirty other children were sent back to Moscow in late December.
    (AFP, 2/10/19)

2019        Feb 12, Iraqi PM Adel Abdul-Mahdi said his country will repatriate Iraqi members of the Islamic State group held by US-backed fighters in Syria as well as thousands of their family members.
    (AP, 2/13/19)

2019        Feb 14, In Iraq eight members of a militia linked to powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were killed in a bomb blast near Samarra.
    (AFP, 2/14/19)

2019        Feb 20, US-backed Syrian forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria handed over more than 150 Iraqi members of the group to Iraq, the first batch of several to come.
    (AP, 2/21/19)

2019        Feb 23, In Iraq five fishermen were killed in an attack by Islamic State group militants on a camp site near the Therthar lake, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Baghdad. IS militants were believed to be behind a string of ambushes, kidnappings and killings in the countryside.
    (AP, 2/23/19)

2019        Feb 25, An Iraqi government source said 14 French nationals accused of fighting for the Islamic State group have been transferred to Iraq by US-backed forces squeezing the jihadists' final Syrian bastion. Since Feb. 21, 280 Iraqi nationals accused of fighting alongside IS have been transferred to Iraqi authorities.
    (AFP, 2/25/19)

2019        Feb 26, Three Iraqi workers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the western city of Fallujah.
    (AP, 2/26/19)

2019        Mar 1, Three Yazidi women and 18 children returned to Iraq from Syria after more than four years in Islamic State captivity. Islamic State militants launched an assault on Sinjar, the Yazidi heartland, on Aug. 3, 2014. According to community leaders, more than 3,000 Yazidis remained unaccounted for.
    (Reuters, 3/1/19)

2019        Mar 3, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Iraq for talks with officials in Baghdad on the latest developments in the region.
    (AP, 3/3/19)

2019        Mar 7, In northern Iraq Islamic State militants ambushed a bus carrying Shiite Muslim paramilitary fighters, killing six militiamen and wounding 31 others in one of the deadliest attacks in recent months.
    (AP, 3/7/19)

2019        Mar 11, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani began a 3-day visit in Baghdad to deepen bilateral relations. This was his first official visit to the nation that Tehran once fought a bloody war against and later backed in the battle with the Islamic State group.
    (AP, 3/11/19)

2019        Mar 13, Iraq banned US plane maker Boeing Co's 737 MAX aircraft from entering or transiting its airspace.
    (AP, 3/13/19)

2019        Mar 15, The Iraqi government started exhuming a mass grave left behind by the Islamic State group in the northwestern Sinjar region in the presence of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, whose slain relatives are believed to have been buried in the area. Over 70 mass graves have been discovered in Sinjar since it was liberated from IS in November 2015.
    (AP, 3/16/19)

2019        Mar 16, Two Turkish soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded in a clash during operations into northern Iraq. Six militants, including a woman, were "neutralized" during the operations.
    (Reuters, 3/16/19)

2019        Mar 18, An Iraqi court sentenced Bilal al-Marchohi (23), a Belgian man, to death by hanging for being part of the Islamic State militant group. He was one of dozens of foreign nationals facing the death penalty in Iraq.
    (Reuters, 3/18/19)

2019        Mar 19, In Iraq three soldiers were killed and five wounded in an ambush on an army patrol in Tarmiyah, 50 km north of Baghdad.
    (AP, 3/19/19)

2019        Mar 21, In Iraq a ferry overloaded with people celebrating the Kurdish new year sank in the Tigris River near Mosul, killing at least 100 people, mostly women and children.
    (AFP, 3/22/19)

2019        Mar 23, Iraqi PM Adel Abdul Mahdi sought Egypt's support for efforts to tackle Islamist militants in the region during a visit to Cairo his first trip abroad since taking office in October.
    (Reuters, 3/23/19)

2019        Mar 24, Iraq's parliament sacked Nineveh provincial governor Nawfel Akoub, after 100 people died in the March 21 ferry disaster that sparked a wave of grief and anger. Sixteen people have been arrested as part of an investigation into the ferry capsize. 63 people were still listed as missing.
    (AFP, 3/24/19)

2019        Mar 27, Iraqi court officials said a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the former governor of Nineveh on corruption charges after at least 90 people were killed in a ferry accident in the provincial capital Mosul. The warrant also included the arrest of some local officials after a court investigation concluded they colluded with the former governor in misusing their powers and committed financial violations. Nawfal Hammadi al-Sultan has fled to the Kurdish regional capital Erbil.
    (Reuters, 3/27/19)

2019        Apr 2, An Iraqi official said several million Muslims have travelled to the shrine of Imam Musa al-Kadhim in Baghdad in recent days to commemorate the revered Shiite figure's death in 799.
    (AFP, 4/2/19)

2019        Apr 4, Saudi Arabia reopened a consulate in Baghdad for the first time in nearly 30 years, a sign of improving ties between the two neighbors whose relations have been uneasy for years.
    (AP, 4/4/19)

2019        Apr 10, It was reported that Iraq has offered the US-led coalition to put hundreds of accused foreign jihadists on trial in Baghdad in exchange for millions of dollars. One source said Iraq had proposed a rate of $2 million per suspect per year, calculated based on the estimated operational costs of a detainee in US-run Guantanamo.
    (AP, 4/10/19)

2019        Apr 11, Syrian Kurds announced a deal with Baghdad for 31,000 displaced Iraqis, mostly women and children, to return from camps in northeastern Syria to Iraq.
    (AFP, 4/11/19)

2019        Apr 13, Syrian Kurds repatriated 25 women and children from Iraq's Yazidi minority after freeing them during the final push against the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 4/13/19)

2019        Apr 14, Iraq began trial proceedings for nearly 900 Iraqi suspected members of the Islamic State group caught fleeing jihadist territory in neighboring Syria.
    (AFP, 4/14/19)

2019        Apr 17, Iraqi PM Adel Abdul Mahdi made his first visit to Saudi Arabia since taking office six months ago, meeting King Salman during the stop on a regional tour that has also seen visits to Cairo and Tehran in recent weeks.
    (AP, 4/17/19)
2019        Apr 17, Iraq's parliament voted unanimously to ban the popular but brutal online game Player Unknown's Battlegrounds for "inciting violence" in the war-torn country.
    (AFP, 4/17/19)

2019        Apr 20, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi led a one-day summit between Iraq and its six neighbors: Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, and Kuwait, in an effort to bridge relations and invest in Iraq.
    (AP, 4/20/19)
2019        Apr 20, In Iraq an American service member died in a "non-combat incident" in Ninawa Province.
    (Reuters, 4/20/19)

2019        Apr 21, An Iraqi court sentenced four people to death by hanging for belonging to the Islamic State militant group and committing terrorist crimes in Iraq and Syria.
    (AP, 4/21/19)

2019        Apr 22, Iraqi officials said more $64 million dollars in public funds were embezzled by Mosul officials close to the province's sacked governor in the wake of last month's ferry sinking. Governor Nawfel Akoub has since gone on the run. Just six million dollars were recovered by the government.
    (AFP, 4/22/19)

2019        Apr 30, German industrial conglomerate Siemens secured contracts worth 700 million euros ($785 million) to build one power plant, upgrade 40 gas turbines and install substations and transformers "across Iraq".
    (AFP, 4/30/19)

2019        May 8, The Iraqi judiciary announced that it has tried and sentenced more than 500 foreigners since the start of 2018 for joining the Islamic State group.
    (AFP, 5/08/19)
2019        May 8, In Iraq gunmen shot dead five members of a family in an attack on their house late today near the northern city of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 5/09/19)
2019        May 8, It was reported that China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corporation has been awarded a contract to recover natural gas from Iraq's Halfaya oil field to fuel power stations in the country's underserved Maysan province.
    (AP, 5/08/19)

2019        May 9, In Iraq gunmen attacked a grain silo in the northern town of Shirqat, killing a guard and setting fire to a vehicle. A suicide bombing killed 8 people at the Jamila marketplace in Baghdad's sprawling Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. The Islamic State soon claimed responsibility.
    (Reuters, 5/09/19)(AP, 5/10/19)

2019        May 15, The US ordered all non-emergency staff to leave its embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Arbil, as tensions mounted between the United States and Iraq's neighbor Iran, prompting Kremlin concern.
    (AFP, 5/15/19)

2019        May 16, In Iraq four people were killed in overnight unrest that erupted as a mall burned down during a demonstration in Najaf.
    (AP, 5/16/19)

2019        May 18, Bahrain warned its citizens against travel to Iraq and Iran and asked those already there to return "immediately" for their safety.
    (Reuters, 5/18/19)
2019        May 18, Syria's transport ministry says Iraqi Airways flights to Damascus expected for the first time since the war erupted in 2011 have been postponed indefinitely. The delay was relayed by the Iraqi embassy.
    (AP, 5/18/19)

2019        May 19, An Iraqi Shiite paramilitary group said a roadside bomb has hit a bus carrying its fighters in the eastern town of Balad Ruz, killing 7 people and wounding 26.
    (AP, 5/19/19)

2019        May 21, Iraqi PM Adel Abdul Mahdi said delegations will be sent to Washington and Tehran to help "halt tension" amid fears of a confrontation between the United States and Iran in the Middle East.
    (Reuters, 5/21/19)

2019        May 23, In Iraq a car bomb exploded in the western village of Karabila killing two people. Until two years ago the area was controlled by the Islamic State.
    (SFC, 5/24/19, p.A2)

2019        May 26, In Iraq a Baghdad court sentenced to death three French citizens, members of the Islamic State group.
    (AP, 5/26/19)

2019        May 27, A Baghdad court sentenced another former French fighter with the Islamic State group to death, the fourth Frenchman to get the capital punishment so far in Iraq, and postponed the verdict for a fifth man after he testified to being tortured in detention. Seven French citizens accused of supporting the Islamic State were given the death sentence this week in seven trials over four days.
    (AP, 5/27/19)(SFC, 5/30/19, p.A4)
2019        May 27, Turkey's military launched an operation with commandos, backed by artillery and air strikes, against Kurdish militants in a mountainous area of northern Iraq.
    (Reuters, 5/28/19)

2019        May 28, An Iraqi court sentenced two high-profile French members of the Islamic State group to death, bringing the total number of French former jihadis condemned to death this week to six.
    (AP, 5/28/19)
2019        May 28, Iraq's self-governing Kurdish region elected a new president in a parliamentary vote boycotted by a key opposition party. Former prime minister Nechirvan Barzani will follow his uncle Masoud Barzani in office.
    (AP, 5/28/19)

2019        May 29, Iraqi authorities handed over 188 Turkish children of suspected Islamic State members to Turkey at Baghdad airport, where they boarded a plane and prepared to fly home.
    (Reuters, 5/29/19)
2019        May 29, A Baghdad court sentenced a Frenchman to death for joining the Islamic State group, bringing to seven the number of French jihadists on death row in Iraq.
    (AFP, 5/29/19)
2019        May 29, Turkish warplanes and attack helicopters struck targets in the mountains of northern Iraq. Two Turkish soldiers died from wounds sustained in a bomb blast. The military "neutralized" four militants in the latest action, bringing the total to 19 on the 3rd day of “Operation Claw”.
    (Reuters, 5/30/19)

2019        May 31, Iranians in the capital Tehran set fire to effigies of US President Donald Trump, while in Baghdad, Iran-backed militiamen marched over a large Israeli flag as part of rallies marking Quds, or Jerusalem Day. The annual protests come as the Trump administration tries to market its long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
    (AP, 5/31/19)

2019        Jun 3, A Iraqi court sentenced to death two more French nationals for joining the Islamic State group, leaving all 11 Frenchmen transferred from Syria facing the gallows and potentially opening the door for other cases.
    (AP, 6/3/19)

2019        Jun 4, In Iraq a roadside bomb has exploded near an army patrol north of Baghdad, killing four security personnel and wounding four others in Tarmiya.
    (AP, 6/4/19)

2019        Jun 7, It was reported that fires in northern Iraq have destroyed 5,183 hectares (more than 12,800 acres) of farmland. The IS claimed responsibility for at least some of the fires.
    (AFP, 6/7/19)

2019        Jun 8, Turkey's Defence Ministry said a total of 43 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had been "neutralized" as part of an operation Ankara launched in northern Iraq 13 days ago. Separately, the Interior Ministry said two PKK members, one of whom was on Turkey's wanted list, were "neutralized" in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir province, as well as five others in the eastern Tunceli province.
    (Reuters, 6/8/19)

2019        Jun 10, The prime minister of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Nechirvan Barzani, was sworn in as its president, filling the most powerful regional office, vacant since 2017 when his uncle quit after a failed independence bid.
    (Reuters, 6/10/19)

2019        Jun 11, In northern Iraq the Kurdish parliament named Masoud's eldest son Masrour Barzani (50) as the region's new premier after seven years as its top security official. He succeeds his cousin Nechirvan (52), sworn in as president the previous day.
    (AFP, 6/11/19)

2019        Jun 15, A Iraqi government source said the United States has granted Iraq another 90-day waiver to continue with vital energy imports from neighboring Iran despite re-imposed sanctions.
    (AFP, 6/15/19)

2019        Jun 17, Iraqi authorities said they have removed nearly 30 km of concrete blast walls across Baghdad in the last six months, mostly around the capital's high-security Green Zone.
    (AFP, 6/17/19)

2019        Jun 19, In Iraq a Katyusha rocket fell on an Iraqi drilling company in the Burjesiya area near Basra, wounding three people. Officials said US assets in Iraq have been hit by shelling six times in as many days.
    (AFP, 6/19/19)
2019        Jun 19, Kuwait's ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, arrived on a state visit to Iraq and was expected to discuss escalating regional tensions after attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz.
    (Reuters, 6/19/19)

2019        Jun 21, In Iraq a bomb blast killed seven people at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in eastern Baghdad and wounded more than 20.
    (Reuters, 6/21/19)

2019        Jun 24, Iraqi special forces said they have conducted a 2-day operation near the northern city of Kirkuk in which they killed 14 members of the Islamic State group.
    (AP, 6/24/19)

2019        Jul 1, It was reported that Iraq is establishing a financial "loophole" to continue buying vital gas and electricity from Iran despite US sanctions, mirroring a European mechanism that came into effect on June 28.
    (AFP, 7/1/19)
2019        Jul 1, The Iraqi government moved to place Iranian-backed militias under the command of the armed forces in a political gamble by a prime minister increasingly caught in the middle of a dangerous rivalry between Iran and the US.
    (AP, 7/4/19)

2019        Jul 4, Human Rights Watch criticized the Iraqi government for holding thousands of prisoners, including children, in degrading and "inhuman" conditions in Nineveh province.
    (AP, 7/4/19)

2019        Jul 5, Iraq celebrated the UNESCO World Heritage Committee's decision to name the historic city of Babylon a World Heritage Site in a vote held in Azerbaijan's capital, years after Baghdad began campaigning for the site to be added to the list.
    (AP, 7/5/19)

2019        Jul 7, Iraq's security and paramilitary forces began a military operation along the border with Syria aimed at clearing the area of Islamic State group militants.
    (AP, 7/7/19)

2019        Jul 10, Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched deadly strikes against "terrorists" across the border in Iraqi Kurdistan. The two-day operation killed at least one civilian.
    (AFP, 7/12/19)(AP, 7/12/19)

2019        Jul 13, The European Union's foreign policy chief said the EU is fully supportive of an Iraqi proposal to hold a regional conference amid rising tensions between the US and Iran.
    (AP, 7/13/19)

2019        Jul 16, In Iraq Masrour Barzani, the newly confirmed prime minister of Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region, met with top officials on his first visit to Baghdad since he was named to the post last month.
    (AP, 7/16/19)

2019        Jul 17, In Iraq a gunman opened fire inside a Turkish restaurant in the northern city of Irbil, killing at least one Turkish diplomat stationed in Ankara's consulate. Kurdish security forces later said a Turkish diplomat and a civilian were killed and another civilian wounded in the attack.
    (AP, 7/17/19)

2019        Jul 18, Turkey launched airstrikes against Kurdish rebel targets in the Qandil mountains region in northern Iraq, after the killing of Turkish diplomat Osman Kose there a day earlier. Airstrikes killed alleged planners of the attack against Kose and continued the next day against alleged PKK targets in Iraq's Karajak region. A 2nd attack on July 24 hit another vehicle carrying senior members of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
    (AP, 7/19/19)(AP, 7/25/19)
2019        Jul 18, The United States imposed sanctions on two Iraqi militia leaders and two former Iraqi provincial governors it accused of human rights abuses and corruption.
    (Reuters, 7/18/19)

2019        Jul 19, In northern Iraq an unmanned aircraft dropped explosives on a base belonging to Iran-linked Shi'ite paramilitary groups, killing at least one person. Two Iranian military commanders were killed. US officials later confirmed that Israel was responsible for the bombing in Amirli, Salaheddin province. A Turkish soldier was killed and six wounded in an operation in northern Iraq during clashes with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
    (Reuters, 7/19/19)(AP, 8/23/19)(SFC, 8/24/19, p.A4)

2019        Jul 20, Iraq's military said its troops in partnership with security agencies and paramilitary forces launched the second phase of an operation aimed at clearing remnants of the Islamic State group from north of Baghdad and surrounding areas.
    (AP, 7/20/19)
2019        Jul 20, Iraqi Kurdistan's security services said they had arrested a man for assassinating a Turkish diplomat in the regional capital Erbil on July 17, and believed the suspect was the brother of a lawmaker in the Turkish parliament.
    (Reuters, 7/20/19)

2019        Jul 22, Human Rights Watch released a report entitled: "Basra is Thirsty: Iraq's Failure to Manage the Water Crisis," a full year after Basra's violent protests.
    (AP, 7/22/19)

2019        Jul 23, Iraqi security forces swept villages and farmland north of Baghdad as part of an operation aimed at clearing remnants of the Islamic State group from around the capital. The dragnet was part of the operation dubbed "Will to Victory," which started two weeks ago along the border with Syria and was extended last week to areas north of Baghdad and in the Diyala, Salahuddin and Anbar provinces.
    (AP, 7/23/19)

2019        Jul 27, Turkey's Defense Ministry said it had "neutralized" 34 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq in air strikes on July 17-19. The Defense Ministry said it had "neutralized" a total of 255 PKK militants in operations in northern Iraq since May 27.
    (Reuters, 7/27/19)

2019        Jul 31, It was reported that Iraq's top judicial authority has requested the parliament lift immunity for 21 lawmakers, including 10 wanted on charges of corruption.
    (AP, 7/31/19)

2019        Aug 10, In Iraq a US service member died in northern Nineveh province during a combat mission with Iraqi security forces.
    (AP, 8/11/19)

2019        Aug 12, In Iraq there was an explosion at the al-Saqr military base. A government report later said this caused by a drone strike. The blast at al-Saqr, or "Falcon," base killed one civilian, wounded 28 and damaged nearby homes.
    (AP, 8/21/19)

2019        Aug 14, Former Blackwater security contractor Nicholas Slatten (35) was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the September 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq that left 14 people dead.
    (AP, 8/15/19)(SFC, 8/15/19, p.A6)

2019        Aug 15, Iraqi PM Abdul-Mahdi issued a ban on all unauthorized flights throughout the country, including reconnaissance, fighter jets, helicopters and drones of all kinds.
    (AP, 8/16/19)

2019        Aug 16, The US-led coalition against the Islamic State group in Iraq says it will comply with new orders issued by the country's prime minister regarding unauthorized flights in Iraqi airspace.
    (AP, 8/16/19)

2019        Aug 23, In Iraq a motorcycle rigged with explosives went off near a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad this evening, killing three people and wounding 34. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
    (AP, 8/24/19)
2019        Aug 23, A Turkish offensive entered its third phase in which troops aimed to destroy PKK caves and shelters in the Sinat-Haftanin region of Iraq.
    (AP, 8/25/19)

2019        Aug 25, In Iraq two unidentified drones killed two Iraqi members of an Iran-backed paramilitary force near the border with Syria. The attack targeted vehicles belonging to the Hezbollah Brigades faction, also known as Brigade 45.
    (AP, 8/25/19)
2019        Aug 25, Turkey's official news agency reported that three Turkish soldiers were killed in northern Iraq in clashes with Kurdish militants.
    (AP, 8/25/19)

2019        Aug 26, The Fatah Coalition, a powerful bloc in Iraq's parliament, called for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, following a series of airstrikes targeting Iran-backed Shiite militias in the country that have been blamed on Israel.
    (AP, 8/26/19)

2019        Aug 27, In Washington, DC, a military contractor, whose top executive was killed in Iraq under mysterious circumstances 15 years ago, won a judgment of roughly $140 million against Iraq to reimburse the contractor for funds it never received.
    (AP, 8/27/19)

2019        Sep 2, Iraq suspended the license of Al Hurra television, a regional network funded by the US Agency for Global Media, after it ran an investigation alleging corruption within the country's religious institutions. In addition to the three-month suspension, Al Hurra was ordered to stop all activities until "they correct their position" and to issue a formal apology.
    (Reuters, 9/2/19)

2019        Sep 7, At least three Iraqi security force members and one civilian were killed in three separate attacks by militants. An army officer and soldier were killed when an explosive went off inside a house they were de-mining in the Sinjar district west of Mosul.
    (Reuters, 9/7/19)

2019        Sep 10, In Iraq a walkway collapsed and set off a stampede in the city of Karbala as thousands of Shiite Muslims marked Ashoura, one of the most solemn holy days of the year. At least 31 people were killed and about 100 were injured.
    (AP, 9/10/19)

2019        Sep 12, OPEC agreed to trim oil output by asking over-producing members Iraq and Nigeria to bring production in line with their targets as the group strives to prevent a glut amid soaring US production and a slowing global economy. Oil prices have dropped below $60 per barrel in recent weeks from their 2019 peaks of $75.
    (Reuters, 9/12/19)

2019        Sep 18, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet approved extending Germany's military participation in an international coalition against the Islamic State group. The Cabinet extended the Bundeswehr's training of local Iraqi forces until Oct. 31, 2020.
    (AP, 9/18/19)

2019        Sep 20, In Iraq a deadly bombing hit a minibus packed with passengers outside the city of Karbala. The blast killed 12 people and wounded five others. Security forces soon detained a man suspected of detonating the bomb. The Islamic State group soon claimed responsibility.
    (AP, 9/21/19)

2019        Sep 27, Iraqi PM Adel Abdul-Mahdi removed Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi from his post as the commander of the country's elite counterterrorism forces and transferred him to the Defense Ministry, without providing an explanation.
    (AP, 9/29/19)

2019        Oct 1, Iraqi police used tear gas, water cannon and live fire to disperse demonstrators in Baghdad, as well as Basra and Nasiriyah. Two people were killed and more than 200 injured as thousands of Iraqis rallied in protest against unemployment, government corruption and poor services. Some 3000 protesters had tried to cross a bridge leading into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
    (Reuters, 10/1/19)(SFC, 10/2/19, p.A2)

2019        Oct 2, In Iraq at least seven people were killed and at least 115 wounded in renewed nationwide clashes between demonstrators and security forces, the largest display of public anger against PM Adel Abdul Mahdi's year-old government.
    (Reuters, 10/2/19)(The Telegraph, 10/2/19)

2019        Oct 3, Iraqi security forces imposed a round-the-clock curfew in Baghdad and fired live rounds and tear gas to disperse anti-government protests that have gripped the country since earlier this week, killing 21 people so far. Internet coverage across the country was temporarily switched off by the government.   
    (AP, 10/3/19)(ABC News, 10/3/19)

2019        Oct 4, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called on both sides to cease violence. Security forces again opened fire on protesters gathered in central Baghdad. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said he’s suspending participation in parliament activities until the government introduces a program that serves Iraqi aspirations. Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain advised their citizens to avoid traveling to Iraq and those who are there to leave the country immediately. A 4th day of bloody violence hit Baghdad with 22 people killed.
    (AP, 10/4/19)(AP, 10/5/19)

2019        Oct 5, Iraqi authorities lifted a round-the-clock curfew in Baghdad meant to quell the unrest, sparked by popular anger over lack of jobs and endemic corruption in the oil-rich country. Security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at demonstrators on the fifth day of anti-government protests, killing at least eight people and wounding 17. The violence brought to 72 the total number of people killed over five days of protests. The semi-official Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, affiliated with the parliament, put the death toll at 94.
    (AP, 10/5/19)
2019        Oct 5, In Iraq masked gunmen arrived in black cars wearing black clothes stormed the offices of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel in Abu Nawas street late today, beat up some of the employees and smashed equipment before they fled.
    (AP, 10/5/19)

2019        Oct 6, The Iraqi government announced a series of reforms early today after an "extraordinary" session overnight in response to sweeping anti-government rallies that have left nearly 100 dead in less than a week. At least 18 people were killed in clashes between anti-government protesters and police in Baghdad overnight. Army soldiers fired in the direction of about 300 anti-government protesters who gathered in Sadr City suburb of Baghdad on the sixth day of unrest.
    (AFP, 10/6/19)(Reuters, 10/6/19)(AP, 10/6/19)

2019        Oct 7, The Iraqi military acknowledged for the first time that some of its troops used “excessive force” against unarmed protesters as the death toll from six days of anti-government protests topped 100. This came after at least 15 people were killed overnight in Sadr City.
    (The Telegraph, 10/7/19)

2019        Oct 10, Iraqi intelligence officials said the US will hand over nearly 50 Islamic State members, who were transferred from Syria in recent days.
    (SFC, 10/11/19, p.A2)

2019        Oct 17, Iraq's foreign minister said his country will only take back its own citizens and their families who fought with the Islamic State group in Syria, not those from other countries.
    (AP, 10/17/19)

2019        Oct 19, In Iraq millions of pilgrims made their way on foot to the city of Karbala for the Shiite pilgrimage of Arbaeen, regarded as the largest annual public gathering in the world.
    (AP, 10/19/19)

2019        Oct 20, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that under current plans all US troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the American military will continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group to prevent its resurgence.
    (AP, 10/20/19)

2019        Oct 22, Iraq's military said US troops leaving Syria and heading to neighboring Iraq do not have permission to stay in the country, as American forces continued to pull out of northern Syria after Turkey's invasion of the border region.
    (AP, 10/22/19)
2019        Oct 22, Six Iraqi police officers including two senior commanders were killed in Salahuddin province when Islamic State militants opened fire on them during a reconnaissance mission.
    (Reuters, 10/22/19)

2019        Oct 23, Iraq's defense minister said US troops withdrawing from northeastern Syria to Iraq are "transiting" and will leave the country within four weeks.
    (AP, 10/23/19)

2019        Oct 25, Iraqi police fired live shots into the air as well as rubber bullets and dozens of tear gas canisters to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters, sending young demonstrators running for cover and enveloping a main bridge in Baghdad with thick white smoke. The anti-government violence claimed the lives of 42 people.
    (AP, 10/25/19)(AP, 10/26/19)
2019        Oct 25, In Iraq at least three people died when a Shi'ite militia group opened fire on a group of protesters attempting to break into the group's local offices in the southern city of Nasiriya.
    (AP, 10/25/19)

2019        Oct 26, In Iraq at least seven more protesters were killed in clashes with security forces in Baghdad and the southern town of Nasiriyah. Four people were killed when they were struck by tear gas canisters in Baghdad, Three protesters were shot dead In Nasiriyah when they attacked the office of a provincial official. Iraq's semi-official human rights commission said at least 63 protesters have been killed in two days of anti-government rallies.
    (AP, 10/27/19)

2019        Oct 27, Iraq said that its National Intelligence Service found Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's location and provided it to the United States.
    (Reuters, 10/27/19)
2019        Oct 27, Iraqi anti-government protesters remained in Baghdad's central Tahrir Square after a night of clashes with security forces who failed to evict them. Elite counterterrorism forces and state-backed militias meanwhile deployed across the capital to protect political party offices and militia headquarters. Security forces dressed in black arrested 13 activists in Nasiriyah.
    (AP, 10/27/19)

2019        Oct 28, Iraqi authorities imposed a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. in Baghdad, as renewed anti-government protests rage for a fourth day. Three anti-government protesters were killed and 105 were wounded in clashes with security forces in Baghdad as thousands of students took to the streets in defiance of a government order and tear gas from security forces. Parliament voted cancel all privileges and bonuses for senior officials, but the legislature did not actually amend the law governing such matters.
    (AP, 10/28/19)(SFC, 10/29/19, p.A3)

2019        Oct 29, In Iraq masked gunmen opened fire at protesters in the Shiite city of Karbala, killing 18 people and wounding hundreds, in one of the deadliest single attacks since anti-government demonstrations erupted earlier this month. Protesters said Iraqi soldiers had been stationed around the protest site but withdrew after the attackers began firing tear gas and live ammunition. A total of 240 people have been killed since the unrest began.
    (AP, 10/29/19)
2019        Oct 29, Tens of thousands of Iraqis packed Baghdad's Tahrir Square for a fifth day of protests, spurred on by reports of security forces shooting dead protesters in Karbala overnight and the prime minister's refusal to call early elections.
    (Reuters, 10/29/19)

2019        Oct 30, Two rockets were fired into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, killing one Iraqi soldier and adding to the violence gripping the country amid unprecedented anti-government protests and a violent security crackdown.
    (AP, 10/30/19)

2019        Oct 31, Iraq's President Barham Salih called for the drafting of a new election law and said he would approve early elections once it is enacted, bowing to anti-government protesters while insisting that the sweeping changes they are demanding be carried out in a constitutional way.
    (AP, 10/31/19)

2019        Nov 1, Tens of thousands of Iraqis massed in Baghdad's Tahrir Square in the biggest demonstrations since anti-government protests erupted a month ago, defying security forces that have killed scores of people and harshly criticizing Iran's involvement in the country's affairs. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said combat forces shouldn’t be deployed to confront demonstrations as their presence would only fuel violence.
    (AP, 11/1/19)(AFP, 11/1/19)

2019        Nov 2, In Iraq thousands of protesters blocked all roads leading to Iraq's main Gulf port Umm Qasr, after security forces used live rounds and tear gas on them overnight. Security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters, killing at least one and wounding more than 200 in Baghdad and in the country's south.
    (Reuters, 11/2/19)(AP, 11/2/19)

2019        Nov 3, Iraq's PM Adel Abdul-Mahdi called on anti-government protesters to reopen roads. Protesters blocked roads in Baghdad to raise pressure on the government to resign after more than a week of renewed mass demonstrations. Dozens of protesters attacked the Iranian consulate in the Shiite city of Karbala, scaling the concrete barriers ringing the building, bringing down an Iranian flag and replacing it with the Iraqi flag.
    (AP, 11/3/19)(SFC, 11/4/19, p.A3)

2019        Nov 4, In Iraq anti-government protesters crossed a major bridge in central Baghdad, approaching the headquarters of state-run TV and coming to within 500 meters of the office of PM Adel Abdul-Mahdi. Security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas, killing at least five protesters and wounding dozens. A member of the security forces was also killed.
    (AP, 11/4/19)(AP, 11/5/19)

2019        Nov 5, In southern Iraq at least three anti-government protesters were killed in clashes with security forces, as authorities tried to reopen the country's main port, which had been blocked by demonstrators for three days. Security forces shot dead at least 13 protesters in the past 24 hours in efforts to stamp out demonstrations against political parties that control the government.
    (AP, 11/5/19)(Reuters, 11/5/19)

2019        Nov 6, Iraqi protesters stormed a fourth bridge in central Baghdad, where security forces pushed them back with batons and tear gas, wounding dozens, after two anti-government demonstrators were killed in overnight clashes in the city of Karbala.
    (AP, 11/6/19)

2019        Nov 7, Six Iraqis were shot and killed as they tried to remove barriers blocking their march in central Baghdad. Masked men attacked anti-government protesters in the southern city of Basra late today, killing five people. Protesters forced the closing of the country's main port hours after services had resumed following days of closure. At least 24 protesters were wounded as security forces fired live rounds and tear gas to disperse the march in downtown's Rashid Street, where the central bank is located.
    (AP, 11/7/19)(AP, 11/8/19)

2019        Nov 8, Iraq Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called for a road map out of the impasse, saying the country's political class has a "unique opportunity" to meet the demands of protesters who have taken to the streets for weeks, demanding change — only to have their rallies met with a deadly crackdown.
    (AP, 11/8/19)

2019        Nov 9, Iraqi security forces fired live ammunition at anti-government protesters in central Baghdad, killing six people and wounding more than 100 others, pushing them back from three flashpoint bridges. Three more protesters were killed overnight in Basra. Demonstrators complained of widespread corruption, lack of job opportunities and poor basic services, including regular power cuts, despite Iraq's vast oil reserves.
    (AP, 11/9/19)(AP, 11/10/19)

2019        Nov 10, Iraqi protesters struggled to keep up their anti-government sit-ins following a deadly crackdown by security forces that Amnesty International warned could turn into a "bloodbath".
    (AFP, 11/10/19)
2019        Nov 10, In Iraq says five Italian soldiers were wounded by the explosion of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). An Italian special forces team was carrying out "mentoring and training" of Iraqi armed forces involved in the fight against Islamic State group.
    (AP, 11/10/19)

2019        Nov 12, Iraqi protesters shut down state institutions as the UN stepped up pressure on the government to enact a raft of reforms in response to anti-government rallies.
    (AFP, 11/12/19)

2019        Nov 13, In Iraq anti-government rallies swelled in Baghdad and in the south as the government faced new pressure from the street, Washington and the United Nations to respond seriously to weeks of demonstrations.
    (AFP, 11/13/19)
2019        Nov 13, The president of Iraqi Kurdistan travelled to Baghdad for talks with senior officials just hours ahead of a special parliament session to discuss weeks of deadly anti-government demonstrations. Nechirvan Barzani met with PM Adel Abdel Mahdi in Baghdad.
    (AFP, 11/13/19)

2019        Nov 14, In Iraq four protesters were killed by tear gas canisters in Baghdad, the latest deaths from what rights groups have slammed as a "gruesome" misuse of the weapon. The UN had already documented 16 deaths from the military-grade canisters, which are up to 10 times heavier than regular tear gas grenades and can pierce skulls or lungs.
    (AFP, 11/14/19)

2019        Nov 15, In Iraq a roadside bomb killed three people and wounded 18 late today near Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protest movement. Another roadside blast in the southern city of Nassiriya wounded 18 the same evening.
    (AP, 11/16/19)

2019        Nov 16, Iraq closed its southern Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran to travelers from both countries because of ongoing public protests in both Iran and Iraq.
    (Reuters, 11/16/19)

2019        Nov 17, In Iraq anti-government protesters seized control of a third strategic Baghdad bridge, while others blocked roads with burning tires in parts of central and southern Iraq, halting traffic and paralyzing work following a call for a national strike. One protester was killed by a direct hit to the head from a tear gas cannister amid fresh clashes on the bridge. 32 others were wounded hours after protesters retook control of half of Ahrar Bridge.
    (AP, 11/17/19)

2019        Nov 18, In southern Iraq anti-government demonstrators blocked roads leading to the Umm Qasr port, while the country’s central bank reduced working hours because of ongoing demonstrations.
    (AP, 11/18/19)

2019        Nov 20, Iraqi security officials say at least 27 protesters have been wounded in renewed clashes overnight in central Baghdad.
    (AP, 11/20/19)

2019        Nov 21, In Iraq at least 10 protesters were killed in clashes on Rasheed street very close to Ahrar Bridge.
    (AP, 11/22/19)

2019        Nov 22, In Iraq four protesters were killed and 25 wounded amid ongoing clashes with security forces near a strategic bridge in Baghdad.
    (Reuters, 11/22/19)

2019        Nov 23, Iraqi security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters, killing two people in a third day of fierce clashes in central Baghdad. Security forces opened fire on protesters in the southern city of Nassiriya late today, killing at least three people.
    (AP, 11/23/19)(Reuters, 11/24/19)
2019        Nov 23, Iraq's southern border with Iran reopened to travelers after a week-long closure during mass protests in both countries.
    (Reuters, 11/23/19)
2019        Nov 23, Vice President Mike Pence visited Iraq to reassure Iraqi Kurds of US support after President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria drew criticism that Washington had betrayed its Kurdish allies there.
    (Reuters, 11/23/19)

2019        Nov 24, Iraqi security forces opened fire on protesters in Baghdad and several cities in the south, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens of others. Clashes in Baghdad’s historic Rasheed Street continued for a fourth day. Anti-government protests swept the oil-rich south as demonstrators burned tires and blocked main arteries, outraged by rampant government corruption, poor services and scarcity of jobs. So far, 16 people have died and over 100 have been wounded in the latest round of street battles. At least 342 people have died since demonstrations began Oct. 1.
    (Reuters, 11/24/19)(AP, 11/24/19)(AP, 11/24/19)

2019        Nov 26, In southern Iraq three protesters were killed and 35 wounded by security forces after sit-ins and road closures, raising the death toll to six people.
    (AP, 11/27/19)

2019        Nov 27, Iraqi protesters torched the Iranian consulate in the holy city of Najaf. Six protesters were killed by security forces in the dramatic escalation of anti-government demonstrations that have left more than 350 people dead.
    (AFP, 11/28/19)(SFC, 11/28/19, p.A2)

2019        Nov 28, Iraqi officials said at least 27 protesters have been shot dead in the last 24 hours, amid spiraling violence in Baghdad and southern Iraq. Nearly 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded across the south after a deadly crackdown by authorities in one of the bloodiest days in two months of anti-government demonstrations. The violence brought the total death toll since the start of October to nearly 400.
    (AP, 11/28/19)(AFP, 11/29/19)

2019        Nov 29, Iraqi PM Adel Abdul Mahdi announced his resignation following the Nov. 27 firebombing of the Iranian consulate in Najaf and weeks of antigovernment protests that have left hundreds dead. Four protesters were killed amid ongoing violence in Baghdad and southern Iraq, hours after Adel Abdul-Mahdi announced his intention to resign.
    (AP, 11/29/19)

2019        Nov 30, In Iraq three anti-government protesters were shot dead and at least 58 wounded in Baghdad and southern Iraq, as PM Adel Abdul-Mahdi formally submitted his resignation to parliament.
    (AP, 11/30/19)

2019        Dec 1, Iraq’s parliament approved the resignation of PM Adel Abdul Mahdi after some of the worst violence during two months of anti-government protests. One protester was killed in Baghdad. At least 400 people have been killed since Oct. 1.
    (Bloomberg, 12/1/19)(SFC, 12/2/19, p.A4)
2019        Dec 1, An Iraqi court sentenced a police officer to death after convicting him of killing demonstrators, the first such sentence in the two months of deadly unrest.
    (AP, 12/5/19)

2019        Dec 2, In Iraq the bruised body of Zahra Ali (19), a girl taking part in protest rallies, was left outside her family home late today. A court later established she had suffered electrical shocks.
    (AP, 12/5/19)

2019        Dec 5, In Iraq crowds backing a paramilitary force close to Iran flooded Baghdad's main protest camp, rattling anti-government demonstrators who have denounced Tehran's role in their country. At least 15 people suffered stab wounds in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square.
    (AP, 12/5/19)

2019        Dec 6, In Iraq the casualty toll rose to 25 dead and 130 wounded as attacks by unknown gunmen targeted anti-government demonstrators in Baghdad continued into the night.
    (AP, 12/7/19)
2019        Dec 6, The United States imposed sanctions on three Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary leaders over a deadly crackdown on protests in the country, as it warned Tehran to stay out of its neighbor's affairs.
    (AFP, 12/6/19)

2019        Dec 9, In Iraq four Katyusha rockets hit a military base near Baghdad International Airport early today, wounding at least six soldiers.
    (AP, 12/9/19)

2019        Dec 12, In Iraq an angry mob killed a 16-year-old and strung up the corpse by its feet from a traffic pole after the teen shot and killed six people, including four anti-government protesters.
    (The Telegraph, 12/12/19)

2019        Dec 14, In Iraq hundreds of demonstrators supporting a powerful Iran-backed militia group poured into a central Baghdad plaza, some burning American flags to protest recent US sanctions against key leaders.
    (AP, 12/14/19)

2019        Dec 15, In Iraq a suspicious explosion hit the car of prominent activist Thaer al-Tayeb badly wounding him and fellow activist Ali al-Madani, in Diwaniyah. Al-Tayeb died of his wounds on Dec. 24.
    (AFP, 12/25/19)

2019        Dec 20, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, called for the speedy formation of a government and early elections as ongoing political wrangling caused Parliament to miss a deadline to name the next premier. That has sparked concerns of protracted political crisis and uncertainty.
    (AP, 12/20/19)

2019        Dec 22, Thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Baghdad and Iraq's southern provinces, rejecting a nominee for the post of prime minister who some say is too close to Iran.
    (AP, 12/22/19)

2019        Dec 24, Iraqi protesters late today torch the regional headquarters of two pro-Iran militias in the city of Diwaniyah following the death of prominent activist Thaer al-Tayeb. TV satirist Aws Fadhil was targeted by unknown assailants, with three bullets hitting his car.
    (AP, 12/25/19)(AFP, 12/25/19)

2019        Dec 25, Iraqi anti-government protesters again hit the streets, angered by an activist's death and an attempt on the life of a popular TV satirist.
    (AFP, 12/25/19)

2019        Dec 26, Iraqi President Barham Saleh refused to designate the Iran-backed parliamentary bloc's nominee for prime minister after he was rejected by anti-government protesters, saying he was prepared to submit his resignation to Parliament.
    (AP, 12/26/19)

2019        Dec 27, A rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk killed an American contractor and wounded several US and Iraqi military personnel.
    (Bloomberg, 12/28/19)

2019        Dec 28, Iraq’s semi-official human rights commission said at least 490 protesters have been killed in Baghdad and southern cities in nearly three months of anti-government rallies.
    (AP, 12/28/19)

2019        Dec 29, US air strikes against Kataeb Hezbollah, a pro-Iran group in Iraq, killed at least 25 fighters late today at bases near Al-Qaim, triggering anger in a country caught up in mounting tensions between Tehran and Washington. The attacks hit three locations in Iraq and two in neighboring Syria. The following day an Iranian-backed militia vowed to exact revenge.
    (AP, 12/30/19)(SFC, 12/30/19, p.A2)

2019        Dec 31, Iraqi supporters of pro-Iran factions attacked the US embassy in Baghdad, breaching its outer wall and chanting "Death to America!" in anger over weekend air strikes that killed two dozen fighters. President Donald Trump said he expects Iraq to "use its forces" to protect the US embassy in Baghdad as he blamed Iran for orchestrating the "attack" that breached the wall of the compound.
    (AFP, 12/31/19)
2019        Dec 31, President Donald Trump ordered about 750 soldiers deployed to the Middle East as about 3,000 more prepared for possible deployment in the next several days in response to recent events in Iraq.
    (AP, 12/31/19)

2020        Jan 1, In Iraq US troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who descended on the US Embassy in Baghdad for a second time. Pro-Iran demonstrators left the besieged US embassy in Baghdad after the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force ordered them to withdraw a day after their dramatic incursion.
    (The Week, 1/1/20)(AFP, 1/1/20)

2020        Jan 2, Elite Iraqi troops deployed to secure the US embassy, a day after a pro-Iran mob laid siege to it in dramatic scenes that overshadowed months of anti-government grassroots protests.
    (AFP, 1/2/20)

2020        Jan 3, A United States airstrike early today killed Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani (62) in Baghdad as well as Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Five Guards were killed in total as well as five members of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force. The UN and a host of world leaders, including several in Europe, Russia, and Turkey condemned the US drone strike that killed Soleimani. Iranian leaders promised a "forceful revenge" against the US and Iraqi leaders said the strike violated its sovereignty and international laws. US media reported the strike the evening of Jan. 2.
    (ABC News, 1/3/20)(AFP, 1/3/20)(Business Insider, 1/3/20)
2020        Jan 3, American oil workers began fleeing Iraq, as fears grew of war between the United States and Iran.
    (NY Times, 1/4/20)

2020        Jan 4, Iraq's PM Adel Abdel Mahdi attended a mourning procession in Baghdad for Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. They were killed along with eight others in a precision US drone strike a day earlier as they drove away from Baghdad international airport in two vehicles.
    (AFP, 1/4/20)
2020        Jan 4, It was reported that NATO has suspended ongoing efforts to fight Isis in Iraq amid demands by Iran and its allies for revenge against the US following the assassination of an Iranian leader by American forces.
    (The Independent, 1/4/20)
2020        Jan 4, A volley of missiles appeared to target the US’s embassy and one of its bases in Iraq late today, sparking fears an Iran-backed militia had begun taking revenge for the killing of its commander and Iran’s top general.
    (The Telegraph, 1/5/20)

2020        Jan 5, Iraq's Parliament called for the expulsion of US forces from the country in reaction to the American drone attack that killed a top Iranian general, raising the prospect of a troop withdrawal that could cripple the battle against the Islamic State group and allow a resurgence of the extremists.
    (AP, 1/5/20)

2020        Jan 7, Iraqi armed factions called for an urgent meeting to face "the war against the resistance," after a US strike on Baghdad last week killed top Iranian and Iraqi commanders.
    (AFP, 1/7/20)

2020        Jan 8, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles early today at US military and coalition forces in Iraq. There were no casualties in the rocket barrage. Tehran said the strikes are revenge for the attack which killed its most important military leader, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. 17 missiles were aimed at the Al-Assad airbase in Anbar province. Another five missiles were aimed at an airbase in Irbil. No one was harmed in the strikes. President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the White House, de-escalating the crisis with Iran.
    (Reuters, 1/8/20)

2020        Jan 10, In Iraq thousands took to the streets in the Iraq's Shia-majority south, including the main protest hotspots of Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, Basra and the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, reviving a months-long protest movement against the government.
    (The Telegraph, 1/10/20)
2020        Jan 10, The United States rejected a request by Iraq's caretaker PM Adel Abdel Mahdi to send a delegation to start preparations to pull out its 5,200 troops in the country.
    (AFP, 1/10/20)

2020        Jan 12, In Iraq eight rockets were launched at the Balad joint airbase, which sits around 50 miles north of Baghdad. At least four Iraqi soldiers were reportedly wounded. It was not clear who was behind the attack.
    (Business Insider, 1/13/20)

2020        Jan 15, Turkish airstrikes inside Iraq targeting members of an outlawed Kurdish rebel group killed at least four minority Yazidi fighters allied with the rebels.
    (AP, 1/16/20)

2020        Jan 17, Two protesters were killed and over a dozen wounded in central Baghdad in renewed violence between anti-government demonstrators and Iraqi security forces.
    (AP, 1/17/20)
2020        Jan 17, The US military said 11 troops were treated for concussion after Iran launched a rocket attack at the Al-Asad air base in western Iraq on Jan. 8, despite initially saying no service members had been hurt.
    (The Independent, 1/17/20)

2020        Jan 19, In Iraq protests escalated across the south and Baghdad as demonstrators sealed off streets with burning tires in outrage at the government's slow pace of reform. At least 27 people were left wounded.
    (AFP, 1/19/20)(SFC, 1/20/20, p.A2)

2020        Jan 20, Two Iraqi police officers were killed and dozens of protesters were wounded in Baghdad and other cities in clashes with security forces as anti-government unrest resumed after a lull of several weeks. A gunshot wound killed one protester, while a second died after being struck in the head by a tear gas canister. A third later succumbed to his injuries.
    (AP, 1/20/20)
    (The Telegraph, 1/20/20)(AP, 1/20/20)

2020        Jan 21, Iraqi riot police opened fire amid clashes with anti-government protesters on a central Baghdad highway, killing one person and wounding over a dozen others.
    (AP, 1/21/20)
2020        Jan 21, In Iraq three French citizens and an Iraqi, aid workers for a French Christian charity, failed to show up for a scheduled meeting and have not been heard from since.
    (AP, 1/24/20)

2020        Jan 23, Hundreds of students gathered in Basra to protest against recent killings. An Iraqi demonstrator was shot dead in the southern city of Basra overnight. This week's violence brings to 470 the overall death toll since protests erupted in October.
    (AFP, 1/23/20)

2020        Jan 24, Thousands of Iraqis rallied at two central Baghdad intersections after a prominent cleric called for a "million strong" protest against the American military presence, following the recent US killing of an Iranian general and an Iraqi militia chief.
    (Reuters, 1/24/20)

2020        Jan 25, Iraqi security forces set fire to anti-government protest tents in the country's south early today, hours after cleric Muqtada al-Sadr withdrew his support, and re-opened key public squares in Baghdad that had been occupied by demonstrators for months. Iraq cracked down on anti-government protesters who have been occupying key public squares for months, leaving four demonstrators dead.
    (AP, 1/25/20)(SSFC, 1/26/20, p.A5)
2020        Jan 25, Pope Francis met Iraqi Pres. Barham Salih and the two agreed that the country's sovereignty must be respected, following attacks on Iraqi territory this month by the United States and Iran.
    (Reuters, 1/25/20)

2020        Jan 26, In Iraq hundreds of anti-government protesters flooded the streets Baghdad and southern provinces, defying cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who recently withdrew his support from the popular movement. Security forces in Baghdad killed one protester.
    (AP, 1/26/20)(SFC, 1/27/20, p.A4)
2020        Jan 26, The German military resumed training Iraqi troops in the country's Kurdish north, about three weeks after it was suspended following the US killing of a top Iranian general in Baghdad. The Bundeswehr has about 90 soldiers in Irbil. Germany's training mission in central Iraq is still suspended.
    (AP, 1/26/20)

2020        Jan 31, In Iraq at least 11 demonstrators were wounded by security forces firing tear gas canisters to disperse crowds. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani reiterated his condemnation of the use of force against anti-government protesters. Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for his followers to return to the street, one week after he withdrew support for anti-government demonstrators camped out in Baghdad's Tahrir Square.
    (AP, 1/31/20)

2020        Feb 1, Former Iraqi communications minister Mohammed Allawi (66) was named prime minister-designate by rival factions after weeks of political deadlock.
    (AP, 2/1/20)

2020        Feb 2, In Iraq hundreds of anti-government demonstrators rejected Mohammed Allawi as the new prime minister-designate. Demonstrators have long swore they would not accept a candidate chosen by Iraq's establishment. Populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urged his followers to help security forces clear roads blocked during months of sit-in protests.
    (AP, 2/2/20)(Reuters, 2/2/20)

2020        Feb 5, Senior Iraqi military officials said its government has told the military not to seek assistance from the US-led coalition in operations against the Islamic State group.
    (AP, 2/5/20)
2020        Feb 5, In southern Iraq at least eight anti-government protesters were shot dead and 52 were wounded in clashes in Najaf with followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
    (AP, 2/6/20)(AP, 2/10/20)

2020        Feb 7, Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called for security forces to protect anti-government protesters in a sermon, after weeks of violence in Baghdad and southern Iraq, and amid seething tensions between demonstrators and followers of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
    (AP, 2/7/20)

2020        Feb 10, Iraqi security forces shot and killed at least one protester in the country's south, as the five-month anti-government protest movement entered a critical stage.
    (AP, 2/10/20)

2020        Feb 11, Iraq's capital of Baghdad awoke to see their city covered in snow. The last time the capital saw snow was in 2008.
    (AP, 2/11/20)

2020        Feb 13, NATO said the Iraqi government has given it the green light to stay in the country, weeks after Iraq demanded foreign forces leave the country over the US killing of Iran’s top general near the Baghdad airport.
    (AP, 2/13/20)

2020        Feb 14, It was reported that Washington has begun following through on threats to squeeze Baghdad's fragile economy with delays to crucial cash deliveries and shortened sanctions waivers. Every month or so, Iraq's Central Bank flies in $1 billion to $2 billion in cash from the Federal Reserve in New York, where all its oil revenues are kept, to pay for official and commercial transactions.
    (AFP, 2/14/20)

2020        Feb 20, Iraqi Airways suspended flight service to neighboring Iran as a protective measure against the coronavirus outbreak.
    (Reuters, 2/20/20)

2020        Feb 23, In Iraq one protester was shot dead and at least six wounded in renewed violence between anti-government demonstrators and security forces in central Baghdad.
    (AP, 2/23/20)

2020        Feb 24, Iraq's health ministry said local health officials in the Shi'ite city of Najaf have detected the first case of coronavirus in the country, an Iranian theology student.
    (Reuters, 2/24/20)

2020        Feb 25, In Iraq religious officials closed down the Imam Ali mausoleum in Najaf, allowing visitors access only to its surroundings due to the coronavirus outbreak. The health ministry advised against non-essential travel to Najaf and urged citizens to refrain from holding large gatherings.
    (AP, 2/25/20)

2020        Feb 26, Iraq announced sweeping measures late today to try to contain the spread of the virus, ordering the closure of schools and universities, cafes, cinemas and other public spaces until March 7. Iraq also banned travel to or from some of the worst affected countries.
    (AFP, 2/27/20)
2020        Feb 26, The United States declared Iraqi Shiite paramilitary leader Ahmad al-Hamidawi, secretary general of armed faction Kataib Hezbollah, to be a terrorist after a series of rocket attacks, vowing to step up pressure on his ally Iran.
    (AFP, 2/26/20)

2020        Feb 27, Iraq announced the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Baghdad, taking nationwide infections to six and raising concerns about the capacity of the dilapidated health system to respond.
    (AFP, 2/27/20)

2020        Mar 2, Iraq faced more political gridlock after prime minister-designate Mohammed Allawi withdrew overnight, accusing lawmakers of obstructing his attempt to form a government.
    (AFP, 3/2/20)

2020        Mar 4, Iraq said a Muslim cleric (70) died today from the novel coronavirus, the first death from the outbreak in a country where 31 people have been infected. Health authorities announced the country's first two deaths from the new coronavirus, one in the capital Baghdad and the other in the autonomous Kurdish region.
    (AFP, 3/4/20)(AFP, 3/4/20)

2020        Mar 6, Iraq said it will halt border trade with Iran and Kuwait between March 8 and 15 to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
    (AP, 3/7/20)

2020        Mar 7, Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed Khaled Rahmoun said at least 26 Iraqis were among those killed in a Syrian highway accident, in which a fuel truck collided with passenger buses and other cars. local officials said at least 32 were killed and 77 injured.
    (AP, 3/8/20)

2020        Mar 8, In Iraq two US service members were killed by “enemy forces” while advising and accompanying Iraqi security forces.
    (AP, 3/9/20)

2020        Mar 11, In Iraq an attack killed three servicemen, including two Americans, at the Camp Taji base housing coalition forces. Usbat al-Theyireen soon claimed responsibility.
    (AP, 3/12/20)(Econ, 4/11/20, p.38)

2020        Mar 13, Iraq's military said five security force members and a civilian were killed early today in a barrage of US airstrikes launched hours after a rocket attack killed and wounded American and British servicemen at a base north of Baghdad. Iraq's military said the strikes killed three Iraqi army commandos and two federal police officers.
    (AP, 3/13/20)

2020        Mar 14, In Iraq dozens of rockets slammed into an Iraqi base north of Baghdad wounding 3 American and 2 Iraqi troops. Iraq's military said that 33 Katyusha rockets had been launched on Taji base north of Baghdad which houses US-led coalition troops.
    (AP, 3/14/20)(Reuters, 3/14/20)
2020        Mar 14, Authorities in Iraq's northern Kurdish region imposed a 48-hour curfew in the cities of Irbil and Sulaimaniyah that began overnight. The region has reported 27 cases, including one fatality from the COVID-19 illness caused by the virus.
    (AP, 3/14/20)

2020        Mar 16, In Iraq two rockets struck a training base south of Baghdad where US-led coalition troops and NATO trainers were present.
    (AP, 3/17/20)

2020        Mar 17, Iraq's President Barham Saleh named Adnan al-Zurfi, a former governor of the city of Najaf, as prime minister-designate, following weeks of political infighting.
    (AP, 3/17/20)

2020        Mar 20, In Iraq virus cases continued to rise, with 13 dead among 192 confirmed infected. The economic fallout from the coronavirus coupled with a sudden drop in oil prices threatened to catapult the country into an unprecedented crisis.
    (AP, 3/20/20)

2020        Mar 22, Iraq has reported 20 coronavirus fatalities among 233 confirmed cases. Iraq's government has extended a curfew on travel in and out of Baghdad until March 28 as part of strict measures to prevent the virus from spreading.
    (AP, 3/22/20)(Reuters, 3/22/20)

2020        Mar 23, Iraq’s Health Ministry has reported 23 fatalities among 266 confirmed coronavirus cases.
    (AP, 3/23/20)

2020        Mar 25, France said it is pulling out its military forces from Iraq as its forces are increasingly called upon to help fight the coronavirus at home.
    (AP, 3/25/20)

2020        Mar 26, Iraq extended government-imposed restrictions on movement for two more weeks to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. The Health Ministry reported a jump of coronavirus-related deaths by seven in 24 hours. Authorities have confirmed that at least 29 Iraqis have died from COVID-19 and nearly 350 others have contracted the disease.
    (AP, 3/26/20)(AFP, 3/26/20)
2020        Mar 26, In northern Iraq the US-led coalition started pulling out from the Qayara airfield, in line with a planned drawdown of troops, hours after two rockets hit inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
    (AP, 3/26/20)

2020        Mar 28, Iraqi doctors said the country may be singularly unprepared for the coronavirus, with the number of cases at 450 and deaths at 40.
    (Reuters, 3/28/20)

2020        Mar 29, The US-led coalition in Iraq withdrew from the K1 Air Base in the country's north. An attack on the base in December nearly launched Washington into an open war with neighboring Iran.
    (AP, 3/29/20)

2020        Apr 2, Iraq's health ministry said in its latest daily statement that the total recorded confirmed cases for coronavirus were 772, with 54 deaths. Three doctors closely involved in the testing process said confirmed cases were much higher with numbers of 3,000 to 9,000.
    (Reuters, 4/2/20)

2020        Apr 9, Iraq's intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi (53) was appointed the country’s third prime minister-designate in just over a month, after the resignation of the most recent candidate amid political infighting, but the path to forming a government remained uncertain.
    (AP, 4/9/20)

2020        Apr 13, Iraq recorded 1,378 cases of COVID-19, including 78 deaths.
    (Reuters, 4/14/20)

2020        Apr 14, It was reported that Iraq has suspended the license of the Reuters news agency after it published a story on April 2 saying the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country was higher than officially reported.
    (Reuters, 4/14/20)

2020        Apr 26, The US granted Iraq a month-long sanctions waiver enabling the government to continue importing gas and electricity from Iran. A previous waiver expired on April 26.
    (https://tinyurl.com/ydgckckx)(SFC, 4/28/20, p.A2)

2020        Apr 28, In Iraq a militant wearing a suicide vest struck an intelligence bureau in northern Iraq, wounding at least three members of the security personnel in Kirkuk.
    (AP, 4/28/20)

2020        May 2, In Iraq Islamic State militants killed at least 10 militiamen of Popular Mobilization Forces in a coordinated assault overnight near the central city of Samarra.
    (AP, 5/2/20)

2020        May 7, Iraq's Parliament picked Mustafa al-Kadhimi (53), a former intelligence chief, to serve as the country's new prime minister. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed Iraq's formation of a government after months of instability, and extended a waiver on Iran sanctions to ease pressure on the new leader.
    (AFP, 5/7/20)

2020        May 10, Iraq's judiciary ordered courts to release anti-government protesters, carrying out one of the first decisions of recently inaugurated PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi just as dozens of demonstrators burned tires in renewed protests against the new leadership.
    (AP, 5/10/20)

2020        May 11, In Iraq a protester (20) was shot dead as thousands of young Iraqis took to the streets and resumed anti-government demonstrations. Protesters were demanding a radical transformation of the Iraqi political system to eliminate corruption, reduce unemployment and improve public services.
    (AP, 5/11/20)

2020        May 18, Iraq said it will impose a complete lockdown on some areas of the capital, amid an uptick in coronavirus cases in recent weeks since curfew hours were relaxed. At least 123 people have died among 3,404 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country.
    (AP, 5/18/20)

2020        Jun 5, Iraq's Health ministry reported at least 1,006 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours bringing the nationwide total to 9,846. The death toll stood at 285.
    (SFC, 6/6/20, p.A6)

2020        Jun 6, Iraqi lawmakers signed off on the rest of PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi's government, following weeks of horse-trading between political factions over individual ministers.
    (AP, 6/6/20)

2020        Jun 11, The United States and Iraq launched much-anticipated strategic talks that are to span the gamut of their bilateral relations, with Washington prioritizing the issue of the future of its forces in the country while Baghdad is expected to focus on the nation's dire economic crisis.
    (AP, 6/11/20)

2020        Jun 12, The US said it will withdraw troops from Iraq in the coming months, six months after the assassination of an Iranian general in Baghdad threatened to see them expelled from the country.
    (The Telegraph, 6/12/20)

2020        Jun 15, Turkey’s jets carried out new cross-border airstrikes targeting Turkish Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. The latest operation, codenamed ”’Operation Claw-Eagle,” hit suspected PKK targets in several regions in Iraq's north. Turkey bombed Sinjar, claiming the Yazidis had teamed up with the PKK.
    (AP, 6/15/20)(Econ., 12/12/20, p.51)

2020        Jun 17, Turkey said it has airlifted troops into northern Iraq for a cross-border ground operation, dubbed Operation Claw-Tiger, against Turkey's Kurdish rebels.
    (AP, 6/17/20)

2020        Jun 20, In Iraq coronavirus infections spiked seven-fold to over 29,000, up from less than 4,000 at the end of May. Deaths also spiked, with over 1,013 killed among the confirmed cases, according to Health Ministry figures.
    (AP, 6/21/20)

2020        Jun 21, Iraqi officials sounded the alarm over a surge in virus cases in Baghdad.
    (AP, 6/21/20)

2020        Jun 22, In northern Iraq dozens of civilians fled villages as Turkey stepped up a military campaign targeting Kurdish rebels that has drawn condemnation from Iraqi officials.
    (AP, 6/22/20)

2020        Jun 25, Iraq registered 2,437 new coronavirus cases and 107 deaths, setting new records in a country whose health sector had been bracing itself for such a spike. This brought the total in the country to over 39,000 the total death toll to 1,437.
    (AFP, 6/25/20)

2020        Jun 26, Iraqi security forces interrogated pro-Iran fighters detained for planning a rocket attack in the first such raid in a country caught in the tug-of-war between Tehran and Washington. Fourteen Kataeb fighters were arrested the previous evening.
    (AFP, 6/26/20)(SFC, 6/27/20, p.A2)

2020        Jun 29, In Iraq 14 pro-Iran Kataeb Hezbollah fighters, arrested in an unprecedented raid last week by elite Iraqi forces, were released and the case against them dropped. The judge ordered their release due to a lack of evidence.
    (AP, 6/29/20)
2020        Jun 29, In Iraq a new mass grave was discovered in the village of Humeydat near the Badoush area west of the city of Mosul, six years after the IS group declared a caliphate that stretched across eastern Syria and much of northern and western Iraq. Many believe they were Shiite convicts taken from the local Badoush prison by IS and killed by the militants, shortly after they seized Mosul in June 2014.
    (AP, 7/3/20)

2020        Jul 6, Husham Al-Hashimi (47), a leading expert on the Islamic State group, was gunned down outside his home in Baghdad late today. He had recently turned his attention to Iran-backed militias in Iraq. His drive-by shooting involved two attackers on a motorcycle. A year later police arrested the shooter. He was identified as Ahmed Hamdawi al-Kinani, a police officer with the rank of first lieutenant in the Interior Ministry. In his confession, al-Kinani said he had worked with four other accomplices.
    (AP, 7/7/20)(AP, 7/16/21)

2020        Jul 7, Iraq partially reopened its southern Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran after more than three months of closure to combat the spread of the new coronavirus.
    (Reuters, 7/7/20)

2020        Jul 11, Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhemi launched a new campaign against corruption at the country's borders, saying millions of dollars were being lost by not properly taxing imported goods.
    (AFP, 7/11/20)

2020        Jul 20, In Iraq Hella Mewis, a German woman well known in Iraq’s art scene and an ardent supporter of mass anti-government protests, was kidnapped outside the Baghdad arts center where she worked.
    (AP, 7/22/20)

2020        Jul 21, Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhemi met Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran during his first trip abroad since taking office. They had discussed expanding trade ties, fighting the novel coronavirus and efforts to ensure regional stability.
    (AFP, 7/21/20)

2020        Jul 23, Baghdad International Airport reopened for scheduled commercial flights after months of closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit Iraq especially hard in recent weeks. The country has recorded 102,226 coronavirus infections and 4,122 deaths. Today's tally was 2,361 new cases.
    (Reuters, 7/23/20)

2020        Jul 24, In Iraq Hella Mewis, a German arts curator kidnapped in Baghdad on July 21, was freed by Iraqi security forces.
    (AP, 7/24/20)

2020        Jul 27, It was reported that 2 anti-government protesters were killed and 21 were injured in Baghdad in new clashes between demonstrators and Iraqi security forces. Iraq's Health Ministry has reported 110,032 cases, including 4,362 deaths.
    (AP, 7/27/20)

2020        Aug 11, Iraq's military said a Turkish drone strike killed two senior Iraqi security officials north of Irbil, marking the first time that Turkey's operation to root out Kurdish rebels in Iraq's north produced fatalities among high-ranking Iraqi personnel.
    (AP, 8/11/20)

2020        Aug 19, In Iraq activist Reham Yacoub was gunned down in the southern province of Basra by unidentified gunmen, marking the second such killing in the span of a week.
    (AP, 8/20/20)

2020        Aug 20, Human rights monitors sounded the alarm over a recent spike in assassinations targeting civil rights activists in Iraq's south.
    (AP, 8/20/20)

2020        Aug 21, In Iraq protesters torched parliament offices in the oil-rich south following days of inaction by the government after two activists were assassinated.
    (AP, 8/21/20)

2020        Aug 24, The UN counter-terrorism chief said more than 10,000 Islamic State fighters are estimated to remain active in Iraq and Syria two years after the militant group’s defeat, and their attacks have significantly increased this year.
    (AP, 8/24/20)

2020        Sep 2, French President Emmanuel Macron met Iraqi leaders on his first visit to Baghdad where he stressed the war-scarred country must assert its "sovereignty" despite being caught up in US-Iran tensions.
    (AFP, 9/2/20)

2020        Sep 9, The top American commander for the Middle East said the US is reducing its troop presence in Iraq this month from 5,200 to 3,000.
    (AP, 9/9/20)

2020        Sep 24, A US State Department official said the United States has renewed a waiver for Iraq to import Iranian electricity imports, this time for 60 days.
    (AP, 9/24/20)

2020        Sep 28, In Iraq a Katyusha rocket attack struck a residential home killing six civilians, all women and children. Security officials believed the rocket was intended for nearby Baghdad airport. Shiite militias aligned with Iran were believed responsible.
    (AP, 9/29/20)

2020        Oct 6, In southern Iraq dozens of people were wounded in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters during the annual Shiite Muslim pilgrimage of Arbaeen.
    (AP, 10/6/20)

2020        Oct 9, In Iraq Park Chul-Ho, director for the South Korean Daewoo E&C Iraq office implementing the construction of the lucrative Fao port, was found dead this morning. His hanging corpse was discovered by a worker in the company compound in the oil-rich province of Basra several km away from the port site. Iraqi lawmakers soon cast doubt over initial reports deeming the incident a suicide.
    (AP, 10/10/20)

2020        Oct 11, Iraqi militias backed by Iran agreed to temporarily halt attacks targeting the American presence in Iraq on the condition that US-led coalition troops withdraw from the country in line with a parliamentary resolution.
    (AP, 10/11/20)

2020        Oct 25, In Iraq thousands of protesters took to the streets to mark one year since mass anti-government demonstrations swept Baghdad and Iraq's south, sparking calls to end to rampant corruption.
    (AP, 10/25/20)

2020        Oct 31, Iraqi security forces cleared out sit-in tents from Baghdad's central square that has been the epicenter of the anti-government protest movement, a year after the eruption of demonstrations against corruption led to months of clashes with authorities across the country.
    (AP, 10/31/20)

2020        Nov 5, Iraq's President Barham Saleh ratified a new election law aimed at giving political independents a better chance of winning seats in parliament, paving the way for early elections next year.
    (AP, 11/5/20)

2020        Nov 6, Iraqi security forces opened fire during clashes with hundreds of protesters in the southern city of Basra, killing demonstrator Omar al-Thiabi (29) and wounding several others as tensions flared once again.
    (AP, 11/6/20)

2020        Nov 16, Iraq hanged 21 prisoners in Nasiriyah Central Prison. Among them were men with suspected IS-links convicted under a 2005 counter-terrorism law. They had been charged with detonating explosives in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar during battles to dislodge the militant group. Amnesty International soon called the executions “an outrage".
    (AP, 11/17/20)
2020        Nov 16, It was reported that President Trump plans to make significant troop reductions in Afghanistan and smaller cuts in Iraq before he leaves office in January.
    (The Week, 11/17/20)

2020        Nov 17, In Iraq seven rockets struck Baghdad, four of them exploding inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq's government and home to the US Embassy. The rockets killed a child and wounded five other civilians. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
    (AP, 11/18/20)

2020        Nov 18, Iraqi officials said the Arar crossing to Saudi Arabia, the main border crossing for trade between the two nations, has been reopened after three decades of closure.
    (AP, 11/18/20)

2020        Nov 27, Thousands of Iraqis, most of them not wearing protective masks, took to the streets in Baghdad in a show of support for radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ahead of elections next year, stirring fears of a spike in coronavirus cases.
    (AP, 11/27/20)

2020        Nov 28, In southern Iraq supporters of a firebrand Iraqi cleric shot dead five people in overnight clashes with anti-government protesters in Nasiriya.
    (AP, 11/28/20)

2020        Nov 29, An air strike reportedly killed an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander and three others. Their vehicle was struck shortly after crossing into Syria with a load of weapons from Iraq. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman on Dec. 1 denied knowledge of the strike.
    (The Telegraph, 12/1/20)

2020        Dec 3, US officials said the US is withdrawing some staff from its embassy in Baghdad and temporarily reducing personnel amid regional security concerns.
    (AP, 12/3/20)

2020        Dec 7, In northern Iraq protester Adham Suliman was shot and killed during a rally late today in Chamchamal, a town in northern Sulimaniyah province. For days, hundreds have been protesting in the streets of Sulimaniyah against two main Kurdish political blocs over public salary payment delays and perceived corruption. A total of eight protesters were killed in the areas of Chamchamal, Kefri Darbendikan, Khormal and Saidsadiq.
    (AP, 12/8/20)(AP, 12/9/20)

2020        Dec 9, The prime minister of Iraq's northern Kurdish-run region blamed the federal government in Baghdad for delaying crucial budget transfers as violent protests over salary payments left eight dead in the past week.
    (AP, 12/9/20)
2020        Dec 9, The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said she is closing a preliminary probe into allegations of killings and torture of Iraqi prisoners by British troops from 2003-2008 and will not open a full-scale investigation because UK authorities have investigated the allegations.
    (AP, 12/9/20)

2020        Dec 17, A leaked draft of Iraq's state budget sent Iraqis into a panic as it confirmed the government's intentions to devalue the national currency, the Iraqi dinar, and cut salaries to cope with the impacts of a severe economic crisis.
    (AP, 12/17/20)

2020        Dec 19, Iraq's Central Bank announced it will devalue the Iraqi dinar by over 20 percent in response to a severe liquidity crisis brought on by low oil prices, a measure that has sparked public outrage as the government struggles to cover its expenses.
    (AP, 12/19/20)

2020        Dec 20, In Iraq an "outlaw group" fired at least eight Katyusha rockets into Baghdad's Green Zone, causing minor damage to the US Embassy.
    (AP, 12/20/20)

2020        Dec 22, Iraq said it is banning air travel to or from eight countries to guard against the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus, and is ordering public venues like shopping malls and restaurants to close.
    (Reuters, 12/22/20)

2020        Dec 27, Iran informed Iraq’s electricity ministry that it plans to cut gas shipments further to three million cubic meters. Iran reduced gas exports to Iraq to five million cubic meters from 50 million cubic meters two weeks ago citing unpaid bills.
    (AP, 12/27/20)

2020        Dec 29, Iran said it will resume normal gas flows to Iraq on Dec. 30 after reaching an agreement with Iraq over unpaid bills.
    (Reuters, 12/29/20)

2021        Jan 1, Iraqi explosives experts worked to defuse a large mine discovered on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf and evacuate its crew. A limpet mine was found a day earlier on the MT Pola, a Liberian-flagged tanker in the waters off the Iraqi port of Basra.
    (AP, 1/1/21)

2021        Jan 2, Iraq's military said explosives experts with its naval forces successfully dismantled a mine that was discovered stuck to an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.
    (AP, 1/2/21)

2021        Jan 3, Tens of thousands of Iraqis chanting anti-American slogans streamed to Baghdad's central square to mark the anniversary of the US killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
    (AP, 1/3/21)

2021        Jan 7, In Iraq a judge in Baghdad's investigative court issued an arrest warrant for outgoing President Donald Trump in connection with the killing of an Iranian general and a powerful Iraqi militia leader last year.
    (AP, 1/7/21)

2021        Jan 8, Washington imposed sanctions on Faleh al-Fayyad, head of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The US Treasury accused him of leading militia that killed hundreds of protesters with live ammunition during a 2019 crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.
    (Reuters, 1/9/21)

2021        Jan 9, Iraq denounced as "unacceptable" a US decision to blacklist the leader of a state umbrella group for mainly Iran-backed Shi'ite militia.
    (Reuters, 1/9/21)

2021        Jan 12, Iraq found an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu in the city of Samaraa in the center of the country. The virus killed 63,700 birds in the 68,800-strong flock. The remaining birds were culled.
    (Reuters, 1/20/21)

2021        Jan 13, The United States imposed sanctions on an influential Iraqi militia leader and Abdulaziz al-Mohammadawi, known as Abu Fadak, deputy of a powerful Iran-backed umbrella of mostly Shiite paramilitary groups, designating him a global terrorist figure.
    (AP, 1/13/20)

2021        Jan 21, In Iraq twin suicide bombings ripped through a busy market in Baghdad, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens. The Islamic State group soon claimed responsibility.
    (AP, 1/21/21)(SFC, 1/23/21, p.A3)

2021        Jan 27, In northern Iraq airstrikes in a joint US mission with Iraqi forces killed Jabar Salman Ali Farhan al-Issawi (43), aka Abu Yasser, near Kirkuk. Nine other Islamic State fighters were killed in the operation.
    (SFC, 1/30/21, p.A3)

2021        Feb 10, Two Turkish soldiers were killed in a new Turkish military offensive against a Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. A 3rd soldier died of his wounds the next day.
    (AP, 2/11/21)
2021        Feb 10, The UN counter-terrorism chief urged the repatriation of tens of thousands of women and children suspected of links to the Islamic State extremist group, warning that many are being radicalized in deteriorating detention camps in Syria and Iraq.
    (AP, 2/11/21)

2021        Feb 14, Turkey said its troops have found the bodies of 13 Turkish citizens abducted by Kurdish insurgents in a cave complex in the Gara region of northern Iraq. They were found during the Claw-Eagle 2 operation launched on Feb. 10.
    (AP, 2/14/21)

2021        Feb 15, In northern Iraq a rocket attack on a US base killed a contractor and wounded eight people including a US serviceman.
    (The Telegraph, 2/16/21)

2021        Feb 16, Iraq recorded a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections with 3,332 confirmed in the past 24 hours, after the country confirmed infections of one of the newer variants of the novel coronavirus.
    (Reuters, 2/16/21)
2021        Feb 16, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to expand cross-border operations against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, following the killing of 13 Turkish soldiers, police and civilians who had been abducted by Kurdish insurgents.
    (AP, 2/16/21)

2021        Feb 18, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO is planning to scale up its mission training Iraq's security forces with thousands of new personnel as the military alliance seeks to help keep the Islamic State group at bay.
    (AP, 2/18/21)

2021        Feb 20, In Iraq at least four rockets struck the Balad airbase late today. One person was wounded at the base where an American defense company services combat aircraft.
    (AP, 2/20/21)

2021        Feb 26, Iraqi security forces fired live ammunition into a crowd of anti-government protesters in southern Iraq, killing three people. Protesters also injured security forces in reaction to the use of live fire.
    (AP, 2/26/21)

2021        Mar 2, Iraq launched its coronavirus inoculation program just hours after 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, gifted by China, arrived.
    (AP, 3/2/21)

2021        Mar 3, In Iraq a US contractor died of a "cardiac episode" after least 10 rockets hit the Al Asad Airbase in western Iraq hosting US-led coalition troops.
    (AP, 3/3/21)

2021        Mar 4, Iraq said it has signed an agreement with Russia to import 1 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.
    (Reuters, 3/4/21)
2021        Mar 4, Nine Yazidi women from Iraq were reunited with their children in Syria. The women had survived sexual enslavement by their Islamic State captors and had to cut ties with their families in order to rejoin their children.
    (NY Times, 3/12/21)(SFC, 3/13/21, p.A3)

2021        Mar 5, Pope Francis arrived in Baghdad for a three-day visit to Iraq, undeterred by suggestions that his trip might fuel a surge in coronavirus cases, and committed to offering support to a Christian community decimated by years of war.
    (NY Times, 3/5/21)

2021        Mar 6, Pope Francis met with Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. After the meeting al-Sistani issued a statement affirming that Christians should "live like all Iraqis, in security and peace and with full constitutional rights," adding that religious authorities should play a role in protecting them. Chaldean Catholics are believed to represent around 80 percent of the estimated 300,000 Christians left in Iraq.
    (The Week, 3/6/21)(AP, 3/6/21)

2021        Mar 7, Pope Francis ended his 3-day tour of Iraq with an open-air Mass before 5,000 faithful in Erbil.
    (NY Times, 3/7/21)

2021        Mar 10, In Iraq Jasb Hattab Aboud, father of a missing Iraqi anti-government activist who waged a public campaign trying to bring to account a militia suspected of abducting him, was shot and killed in Amara. His son Ali Jasb, a lawyer, was one of a number of activists who vanished at the height of Iraq's mass anti-government demonstrations in October 2019.
    (AP, 3/10/21)

2021        Mar 31, The United States renewed a waiver allowing Iraq to pay for electricity imported from Iran, this time giving Baghdad 120 days to reduce its energy dependence on neighboring Tehran.
    (Reuters, 4/1/21)

2021        Apr 7, Iraq’s PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi asked Iran's leaders to rein in Iran-backed militias in Iraq and in a strongly worded message to Tehran, suggested he would confront the factions.
    (AP, 4/7/21)
2021        Apr 7, Iraq recorded 8,331 new virus cases within a 24-hour period, the highest figure since the ministry began keeping records at the onset of the pandemic last year.
    (AP, 4/9/21)

2021        Apr 15, In Iraq an explosion rocked a market in east Baghdad's Sadr City, killing one person and injuring 12 others. Separately, a rocket attack targeting a Turkish military base in northern Iraq's Bashiqa region killed one Turkish soldier and wounded a child in a nearby village.
    (AP, 4/15/21)

2021        Apr 16, In Iraq Khodeir Majid (64), a video producer and cameraman for The Associated Press for over 17 years, died of complications due to the coronavirus.
    (AP, 4/16/21)

2021        Apr 20, It was reported that regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran held a first round of direct talks earlier this month in Iraq, signaling a possible de-escalation following years of animosity.
    (AP, 4/20/21)

2021        Apr 24, In Iraq a fire broke out in a Baghdad hospital that cares for coronavirus patients after oxygen cylinders reportedly exploded late today. At least 82 people were killed. The death toll was expected to rise as more patients who suffered severe burns succumbed to their injuries.
    (AP, 4/24/21)(NY Times, 4/25/21)

2021        Apr 28, Turkish warplanes continued to strike suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq, while commando troops conducted a search and sweep operation, as the military pressed ahead with its latest incursion into the neighboring region.
    (AP, 4/28/21)

2021        May 9, Ehab Wazni, an activist who took part in anti-government protests that swept Iraq in October 2019, was shot overnight outside his home by unknown assailants. Protesters set fire to trailers belonging to Iran’s consulate in Karbala amid widespread anger over the killing.
    (AP, 5/10/21)

2021        May 10, The head of a UN team investigating atrocities in Iraq announced it has found “clear and compelling evidence” that Islamic State extremists committed genocide against the Yazidi minority in 2014 and said the militant group successfully developed chemical weapons and used mustard gas.
    (AP, 5/10/21)

2021        May 25, Hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets in Baghdad to protest what they say is the impunity of those behind a rising number of targeted killings of prominent activists and journalists.
    (AP, 5/25/21)

2021        May 26, In Iraq tensions mounted in Baghdad after the arrest on terrorism charges of militia commander Qassim Mahmoud Musleh, prompting a dangerous showdown by the detainee's paramilitary supporters and the Iraqi government. Musleh was released on June 9 due to insufficient evidence.
    (AP, 5/26/21)(AP, 6/9/21)

2021        Jun 3, In Iraq a gas cylinder explosion at a crowded restaurant in a northwestern Baghdad neighborhood killed three people and injured 16.
    (AP, 6/3/21)

2021        Jun 26, Thousands of members of Iraq’s umbrella of mostly Shiite militias known as Popular Mobilization Forces marched in a parade, the largest show of strength since the founding of the controversial paramilitary group. PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi, officially the country's commander-in-chief, presided over the parade. The PMF was established after a 2014 call to arms by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to defeat militants from the Islamic State group.
    (AP, 6/26/21)

2021        Jun 27, Egypt's Pres. Abdel Fattah el-Sissi arrived in Baghdad on a first official visit by an Egyptian head of state to the country in over 30 years, for tripartite talks with Jordan and Iraq to deepen economic and security cooperation.
    (AP, 6/27/21)

2021        Jun 28, Iraq's Electricity Minister Majed Mahdi Hantoosh submitted his resignation amid popular and political pressure over repeated power outages across the country. Provinces across the country’s south shortened working hours citing extreme heat.
    (AP, 6/29/21)
2021        Jun 28, The United States carried out airstrikes early today in Iraq and Syria against two Iranian-backed militias that the Pentagon said had conducted drone strikes against American personnel in Iraq in recent weeks. Pro-Iran Iraqi paramilitary groups said four members of the Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada militia were killed in the attack.
    (NY Times, 6/28/21)(The Telegraph, 6/28/21)

2021        Jun 29, Iran halted its crucial supply of power to Iraq, fueling fears of protests amid instability following the resignation of Iraq's electricity minister.
    (AP, 6/29/21)

2021        Jun 30, In Iraq a bomb exploded in a busy Baghdad market, wounding at least 15 people in the Maridi market area of Sadr City.
    (AP, 6/30/21)
2021        Jun 30, Russia’s UN ambassador called a proposal to reopen a border crossing from Iraq to Syria’s northeast for delivering humanitarian aid “a non-starter.” He also refused to say what will happen to the only crossing now in operation, from Turkey to the country’s rebel-held northwest.
    (AP, 6/30/21)

2021        Jul 2, A widespread power outage hit Iraq as temperatures reached scorching levels, affecting millions of Iraqis, including those in affluent areas in the capital of Baghdad and stirring concerns of widespread unrest.
    (AP, 7/2/21)

2021        Jul 7, In Iraq rockets hit a base housing US troops, inflicting two minor injuries.
    (AP, 7/7/21)

2021        Jul 12, In Iraq a fire swept through a coronavirus ward in Nasiryah. The death toll soon rose to 64. Days later the Health Ministry put the death toll at 60, local health officials said 88 and state news reported 92 dead.
    (SFC, 7/13/21, p.A5)(SFC, 7/14/21, p.A4)(SFC, 7/16/21, p.A4)

2021        Jul 14, Iraq reported more than 9,600 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, its highest one day total since the pandemic began.
    (SFC, 7/16/21, p.A4)

2021        Jul 15, Iraq's foreign minister pledged that his country will investigate human trafficking networks responsible for smuggling hundreds of Iraqis into Europe, specifically to Lithuania from Belarus.
    (AP, 7/15/21)

2021        Jul 19, In Iraq a deadly bombing claimed at least 30 lives late today in a busy market in Sadr City. It was the third time that militants targeted Sadr City this year. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
    (AP, 7/20/21)

2021        Jul 24, Lebanon signed a deal to broker Iraqi fuel sales in hopes of alleviating a crippling financial and energy crisis in the small Mediterranean country.
    (AP, 7/24/21)

2021        Jul 27, A UN panel paid out $600 million to Kuwait's national oil company as compensation for Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait three decades ago. The corporation is the sole remaining claimant and can expect to receive a further $1.1 billion. Under a 1991 UN Security Council resolution, Iraq set aside a percentage of proceeds from its oil exports for the compensation fund.
    (AP, 7/27/21)

2021        Jul 30, In northern Iraq an attack on a funeral procession claimed a number of victims in Salahuddin province. An Iraqi security official said eight people had been killed, among them police and civilians.
    (AP, 7/31/21)

2021        Aug 3, Over 17,000 looted ancient artefacts recovered from the United States and other countries were handed over to Iraq's Culture Ministry, a restitution described by the government as the largest in the country's history.
    (AP, 8/3/21)

2021        Aug 23, International aid groups warned that millions of people in Syria and Iraq are at risk of losing access to water, electricity and food amid rising temperatures, record low water levels due to lack of rainfall and drought.
    (AP, 8/23/21)

2021        Aug 28, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Baghdad, the first meeting since the two countries agreed in January to end a long-running dispute. Several Middle Eastern leaders and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Baghdad at a summit hosted by Iraq.
    (Reuters, 8/28/21)

2021        Sep 3, In Iraq Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad al-Hakeem (b.1934), one of Iraq's most senior Shi'ite clerics, died from a heart attack in Najaf.
    (Reuters, 9/3/21)
2021        Sep 3, Norwegian police said they had seized a large number of archaeological artefacts reported missing by Iraqi authorities, including what is presumed to be cuneiform tablets from ancient Mesopotamia. The items had been part of a private collection in Norway, and while several witnesses were questioned there were no criminal charges.
    (Reuters, 9/3/21)

2021        Sep 4, In Iraq Islamic State militants killed 13 policemen and wounded four during an attack late today on a guard post near the city of Kirkuk. At least three Iraqi soldiers were killed and one was wounded today when gunmen attacked an army checkpoint southeast of Mosul.
    (AP, 9/5/21)(Reuters, 9/5/21)

2021        Sep 5, Iraq's oil minister said France's Total will build four giant energy projects in southern Iraq under a $27 billion deal signed in Baghdad. Total signed mega contracts with Iraq to develop oil fields, natural gas and a crucial water project.
    (Reuters, 9/5/21)(AP, 9/6/21)

2021        Sep 20, The UN cultural body UNESCO announced that the US will formally return an illegally imported 3,500-year-old tablet recounting the epic of Gilgamesh to Iraq on Sept. 23.
    (AFP, 9/20/21)   

2021        Oct 1, Hundreds of Iraqis marched in the center of Baghdad to mark two years since mass anti-government protests erupted in the Iraqi capital and southern provinces calling for reforms.
    (AP, 10/1/21)

2021        Oct 4, Turkey said its troops have captured a major base belonging to Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. The Defense Ministry said 12 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were “neutralized” in the operation.
    (AP, 10/4/21)

2021        Oct 6, Iraq signed a contract with Masdar, a UAE-based renewable energy developer to build five solar power plants in the oil-rich country with a chronic energy problem.
    (AP, 10/7/21)

2021        Oct 8, In Iraq soldiers, prisoners and displaced people voted in special early polls as the country prepared for a general election on Oct 10 where turnout will show how much faith voters have left in a still young democratic system.
    (Reuters, 10/8/21)

2021        Oct 10, Iraqis voted in a parliamentary election. Turnout at 41% was a record low, after many lost faith in the democratic system brought in by the US-led invasion of 2003.
    (Reuters, 10/10/21)(Reuters, 10/11/21)

2021        Oct 11, Iraqi PM Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said security forces have captured Sami Jasim, a senior member of the Islamic State group. Jasim was a deputy to slain leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and oversaw Islamic State finances.
    (Reuters, 10/11/21)

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