Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi militia factions expected the usual cash handout when the new head of Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force made his first visit to Baghdad earlier this year, succeeding the slain Gen. Qassim Soleimani. Instead, to their disappointment, Esmail Ghaani brought them silver rings.

For his second visit, Ghaani had to apply for a visa, something unheard of in Soleimani’s time — a bold step by Baghdad’s new government effectively curtailing Iran’s freedom of movement inside Iraq.

6 June 2020; AFP: Seventeen years after US troops invaded their country and eight months since protests engulfed their cities, Iraqis are sending solidarity, warnings and advice to demonstrators across America.

Whether in Baghdad's Tahrir Square or on Twitter, Iraqis are closely watching the unprecedented street protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis as a police officer knelt on his neck.

04 June 2020; MEMO: Protestors in Iraq’s Dhi Qar province yesterday stormed the office of the head of the local Health Ministry forcing him to resign over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak amid the biggest rise in the number of cases over a 24-hour period.

BAGHDAD, June 2 (NNN-NINA) – The Iraqi health ministry reported 429 new COVID-19 cases, the biggest single-day increase so far, taking the number of infections in the country to 6,868.

The new cases included 172 in the capital Baghdad, 102 in Sulaimaniyah, 41 in Wasit, 38 in Maysan, 22 in Basra, 13 in Muthanna, 11 in Karbala, eight in Diwaniyah, six in Najaf and Nineveh each, four in Babil and Diyala each and two in Duhok, the ministry said.

26 May 2020; MEMO: Signs of a new political crisis have emerged in Iraq as the Saairun bloc, the largest in parliament with 54 seats and supported by Shia leader Muqtada Al-Sadr, has merged with other political parties to demand the dismissal of Parliament Speaker Muhammad Al-Halbousi.

The Speaker has been accused of “bias towards specific parties and disrupting parliament sessions.”

BAGHDAD, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Health Ministry on Sunday said that further health preventive measures will be taken next week after the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, including maintaining the partial curfew to curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

"The health measures after Eid al-Fitr holiday ... will include continuing the partial curfew, and the ministry will assess the epidemiological situation after the holiday to take measures appropriate to the health situation," the health minister Hassan al-Tamimi said in a statement.

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Shell has evacuated its foreign staff, numbering around 60, from Iraq’s Basra Gas Company and flew them out of Iraq on Wednesday, two Basra Gas Company executives told Reuters.

The staff were evacuated for security reasons after workers who had been laid off from work staged a protest in the Basra Gas Company headquarters and close to another company compound, two officials said.

Basrah Gas Company is a joint venture between state-owned South Gas Company, Shell and Mitsubishi.

BAGHDAD, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Saturday said that the Iraqi forces will launch a major offensive to eradicate Islamic State (IS) militants, and that the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi fighters will be at the forefront of the security forces in the upcoming offensive.

A statement by his office said that al-Kadhimi made his comment during a visit to the headquarters of the Hashd Shaabi Command, in which he said "we are about to conduct a final offensive to root out IS organization, which is trying to reorganize its remnants."

BAGHDAD, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Minister of Health Hassan al-Tamimi on Saturday praised China's instrumental role in supporting Iraq in fighting against the spread of coronavirus, as the health authorities are preparing for a major campaign across the country.

13 May 2020; MEMO: The Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi affirmed his government’s commitment to holding accountable “those involved in assaulting and killing the protesters”.