Timeline of Iraq (D) 2016
to Present
Iraq A thru 1999
Iraq B 2000-2005
Iraq C 2006-2007
Iraq D 2006-2015
Return to home
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 2, The United States
and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 1/3/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 6, The United States
and its allies staged 36 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria.
   (Reuters, 1/7/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 7, The US-led
coalition launched 23 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and
three in Syria.
   (Reuters, 1/8/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 9, The US-led
coalition conducted 11 air strikes against Islamic State forces in
Syria and 15 in Iraq.
   (Reuters, 1/10/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 11, The United States
and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 1/12/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 13, The US-led
coalition conducted 20 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria.
   (Reuters, 1/14/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 14, In northern Iraq
French warplanes bombed overnight an Islamic State communications
hub near Mosul.
   (AFP, 1/14/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, The US-led
coalition staged 16 strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting the against
Islamic State militant group.
   (Reuters, 1/21/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 7, The United States
and its allies conducted ten strikes against Islamic State militants
in Iraq and Syria.
   (Reuters, 2/8/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 17, The United States
and its allies conducted 19 air strikes against Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria.
   (Reuters, 2/18/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)  Â
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 28, The United States
and its allies conducted 24 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 2/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, In Iraq separate
attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 13 people and wounded
31 others.
   (AP, 3/1/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, The United States
and its allies staged 21 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria.
   (Reuters, 3/2/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 2, The US and its
allies in Iraq and Syria staged 29 strikes against Islamic State.
   (Reuters, 3/3/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 3, The United States
and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 3/4/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 5, The United States
and its allies conducted 19 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 3/6/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 6, The United States
and its allies conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 3/7/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 15, The United States
and its allies carried out 11 air strikes against Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria.
   (Reuters, 3/16/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 17, The United States
and its allies conducted 20 strikes against Islamic State militants
in Iraq and Syria.
   (Reuters, 3/18/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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.Â
   (SSFC, 3/20/16, p.A6)(AP,
3/22/16)Â Â Â
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 20, The United States
and its allies carried out 11 strikes against Islamic State
militants in Iraq and Syria.
   (Reuters, 3/21/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, The United States
and its allies conducted 15 strikes against Islamic State militants
in Iraq and Syria.
   (Reuters, 3/22/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, The United States
and its allies conducted two dozen strikes against Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria.
   (Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, The United States
and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Syria
and Iraq.
   (Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6, The United States
and its allies conducted 27 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 4/7/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 7, The United States
and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 4/8/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 11, The United States
and its allies stages 13 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria.
   (Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 20, Turkish warplanes
struck militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern
Iraq.
   (Reuters, 4/20/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, The United States
and its allies conducted 28 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 4/24/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 24, The United States
and its allies conducted 14 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 26, The United States
and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq.
   (Reuters, 4/27/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 27, The US-led
military coalition targeted Islamic State in Iraq and Syria with 22
strikes.
   (Reuters, 4/28/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, The United States
and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 2, Turkish warplanes
pounded Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, killing 18
militants.
   (AP, 5/3/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 4, The United States
and its allies conducted 18 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, The United States
and its allies conducted 24 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 8, In Iraq separate
attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 12 people and wounded
dozens.
   (AP, 5/8/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 9, In Iraq an evening
suicide bombing in a commercial Shiite neighborhood of Baqouba
killed at least 13 people.
   (AP, 5/10/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 13, In northern Iraq
shooting and bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State killed at least
16 people in Balad.
   (Reuters, 5/13/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 16, The United States
and its allies conducted 12 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 5/17/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 18, The United States
and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria.
   (Reuters, 5/19/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, The United States
and its allies conducted 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 5/20/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 24, The United States
and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria.
   (Reuters, 5/25/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 7, In Iraq a car
bombing in Karbala killed 7 civilians and wound almost two dozen.
   (SFC, 6/8/16, p.A2)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 9, In Iraq two suicide
bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed 31 people with 78
wounded.
   (AP, 6/9/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, Iraq executed 5
convicted terrorists in Baghdad. A string of bombings in Baghdad
killed 16 people.
   (SFC, 7/5/16, p.A3)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 8, Iraqi PM Haider
al-Abadi fired Baghdad's security chief following a recent series of
attacks.
   (AP, 7/8/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 8, Turkish fighter
jets struck Kurdish militant targets in southeastern Hakkari
province and northern Iraq, killing 12 militants.
   (Reuters, 7/8/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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 Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, Iraqi Kurdish
forces retook five villages east of Islamic State-held Mosul in an
operation launched early today.
   (AP, 8/14/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 9, In Iraq three bomb
attacks killed 10 people and wounded at least 37 across Baghdad.
   (AP, 10/9/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 20, In Iraq Islamic
State set a sulfur plant ablaze during fighting around al-Mishraq,
south of Mosul.
   (Reuters, 10/22/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 6, In Iraq ten Iranian
pilgrims were killed in a suicide attack in Samarra.
   (Reuters, 11/6/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 14, In Iraq suicide
bombers targeted Fallujah and Karbala killing at least 6 people in
each city.
   (SFC, 11/15/16, p.A3)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 15, Canada’s Chief of
Defense Gen. Jonathan Vance said Canadian troops are allowed to fire
first in Iraq.
  Â
(http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/liberals-canadians-shoot-first-raq/)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 25, In Iraq IS
militants reportedly shot to death 27 civilians in Muhandiseen Park
in northern Mosul.
   (AP, 11/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, Almost 2,000 Iraqi
troops were killed this month across the country.
   (Econ, 2/25/17, p.41)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, In Iraq separate
bombings in Baghdad killed 10 people and wounded another 22.
   (AP, 12/9/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 25, In Iraq separate
bombings in and around Baghdad killed at least 11 civilians and
wounded 34 others.
   (AP, 12/25/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Iraq’s oil production
reached record lows this year. The IMF extended a $5.3 billion loan.
   (Econ, 1/7/17, p.40)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Transparency International
listed Iraq as the 8th most corrupt government in the world.
   (Econ, 4/16/16, p.38)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Violence in Iraq claimed
the lives of at least 6,878 civilian this year.
   (AP, 1/3/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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.  Â
   (Reuters, 1/8/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 17, In Iraq a car bomb
blast in southern Baghdad killed at least seven people and wounded
20.
   (Reuters, 1/17/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 26, Germany's
Parliament extended the country's training mission in northern Iraq
for another year.
   (AP, 1/26/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar, In Iraq American
officers estimated that as few as 500 Islamic State fighters
remained in Mosul.
   (Econ, 3/11/17, p.45)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 29, In Iraq a US
service member was killed by an explosive device outside Mosul.
   (SSFC, 4/30/17, p.A3)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â May 4, Iraqi forces
rescued 1,000 families as they pushed into Mosul from the north.
   (Reuters, 5/5/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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.  Â
   (Reuters, 5/7/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â May 8, In Iraq armed men
kidnapped seven young anti-corruption activists in central Baghdad.
   (AFP, 5/9/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 19, The European Union
discouraged Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region from holding an
independence referendum in September.
   (AP, 6/19/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 21, Iran began
exporting gas to neighboring Iraq through a pipeline straight to
Baghdad.
   (AP, 6/22/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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.  Â
   (AP, 7/9/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 27, Human Rights Watch
said an Iraqi army division trained by American forces summarily
executed prisoners in west Mosul.
   (AFP, 7/27/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, The Saudi cabinet
decided to establish a joint trade commission with Iraq.
   (Reuters, 8/15/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Iraqi forces
pounded the Islamic State group in Tal Afar, one of its last
bastions in the country.
   (AFP, 8/20/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 22, Iraqi forces
breached the city limits of Tal Afar, an Islamic State stronghold
west of Mosul.
   (Reuters, 8/22/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 27, The Iraqi military
says it has "fully liberated" Tal Afar's town center from the
Islamic State group.
   (AP, 8/27/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 2, Iraqi forces
captured the Akkas gas field from Islamic State.
   (Reuters, 11/2/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 23, Iraqi forces
launched a sweep through the western desert to flush out remaining
Islamic State group fighters.
   (AFP, 11/23/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 29, The Iraqi
parliament voted to lift sanctions imposed on banks in the Kurdistan
region over an independence referendum.
   (Reuters, 1/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â May 7, In northern Iraq
gunmen shot dead Sunni parliamentary candidate Faruq Zarzur
al-Juburi (45) at his home in Qayyarah.  Â
   (AFP, 5/7/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â May 9, Iraqi state TV
announced the capture of five Islamic State commanders.
   (Reuters, 5/10/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, The Turkish
military carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq's Avasin Basyan
region, killing four Kurdish militants.
   (Reuters, 6/30/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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.
  Â
(https://primalinformation.com/tara-fares-wiki/)(SFC, 10/4/18, p.A3)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 3, Iraqi officials
said jihadists have killed three village chiefs in less than a week
in Kirkuk province.
   (AFP, 11/3/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 9, Airstrikes by
Turkish warplanes "neutralized" 15 militants of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
   (Reuters, 11/10/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 18, In northern Iraq
five people were killed in a car bomb blast in the city of Tikrit.
   (AP, 11/18/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 26, Three Iraqi
workers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the western city
of Fallujah.
   (AP, 2/26/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 13, Iraq banned US
plane maker Boeing Co's 737 MAX aircraft from entering or transiting
its airspace.
   (AP, 3/13/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 20, In Iraq an
American service member died in a "non-combat incident" in Ninawa
Province.
   (Reuters, 4/20/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, In Iraq a Baghdad
court sentenced to death three French citizens, members of the
Islamic State group.
   (AP, 5/26/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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.  Â
   (AP, 10/3/19)(ABC News, 10/3/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 20, Iraqi security
officials say at least 27 protesters have been wounded in renewed
clashes overnight in central Baghdad.
   (AP, 11/20/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 21, In Iraq at least
10 protesters were killed in clashes on Rasheed street very close to
Ahrar Bridge.
   (AP, 11/22/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 3, American oil
workers began fleeing Iraq, as fears grew of war between the United
States and Iran.
   (NY Times, 1/4/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 20, Iraqi Airways
suspended flight service to neighboring Iran as a protective measure
against the coronavirus outbreak.
   (Reuters, 2/20/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 8, In Iraq two US
service members were killed by “enemy forces” while advising and
accompanying Iraqi security forces.
   (AP, 3/9/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 23, Iraq’s Health
Ministry has reported 23 fatalities among 266 confirmed coronavirus
cases.
   (AP, 3/23/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, Iraq recorded
1,378 cases of COVID-19, including 78 deaths.
   (Reuters, 4/14/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 21, Iraqi officials
sounded the alarm over a surge in virus cases in Baghdad.
   (AP, 6/21/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, In Iraq rockets hit
a base housing US troops, inflicting two minor injuries.
   (AP, 7/7/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)  Â
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â 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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