Iraq

28 Dec 2021; MEMO: Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq, a pro-Iran Shia militia, announced on Tuesday its boycott of efforts to form coalition government in the country after the High Federal Court ratified results of the October elections, Anadolu reported.

In a statement, Hezbollah said: "The sides which confiscated the rights of the Iraqi people were backed by the evil Zio-American-Saudi coalition in order to advance their agenda."

28 Dec 2021; MEMO: Leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, yesterday called for the formation of a "majority government" in Iraq, a day after a federal court approved the results of the country's parliamentary elections.

"I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this national democratic event, specifically the supreme judiciary, the federal court, the electoral commission, and the United Nations Secretary General's special representative to Iraq, Jeanine Plasschaert," Al-Sadr said on Twitter.

27 Dec 2021; MEMO: Iraq's Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals lodged by Iran-backed Shia factions against the results of a parliamentary election, the chief judge said, derailing their attempt to overturn the vote in which they performed poorly, reports Reuters.

The Iran-backed factions, including powerful armed groups, had alleged irregularities in the October 10 ballot.

28 Dec 2021; MEMO: Leader of Iraq's Al-Fateh Alliance, Hadi Al-Amiri announced on Monday his commitment to the Supreme Court's decision issued earlier in the day to reject the appeal filed against the October parliamentary elections results, Anadolu news agency reported.

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq, Dec 26 (Reuters) - At least 16 bodies of Iraqi Kurdish migrants who drowned in November when their dinghy deflated while they tried to cross the English Channel were returned on Sunday to Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Nov. 24 disaster, in which 27 migrants died, was the worst on record involving migrants trying to cross the Channel to Britain from France. 

The plane carrying the bodies landed on early Sunday in the airport of Erbil, capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region. Ambulances then took the coffins to the home towns of those who died.

BAGHDAD, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iraqi government official and head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mission in Iraq discussed on Sunday NATO's support for Iraqi forces and ways to enhance stability in the region.

Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji and head of NATO's Mission in Iraq Michael Anker Lollesgaard "discussed ways to enhance security and stability in the region, as well as NATO's support to Iraq in the field of advice and training for Iraqi forces," according to a statement from al-Araji's media office.

23 Dec 2021; MEMO: Iraq has paid the final installment of war reparations to Kuwait totalling $52.4 billion. The country's Central Bank announced on Tuesday that the remaining $44 million had been paid in compensation to Kuwait, in accordance with UN Security Council's Resolution 687 in 1991 following the end of the Gulf War after the invasion of Kuwait.

23 Dec 2021; MEMO: The Joint Operations Command announced yesterday that all the combatant forces have left Iraq, the state news agency reported.

According to the news agency, spokesperson of the Joint Operation Command, Major General Tahsin Al-Khafaji, said that only a limited number of consultants had remained.

"All of the combat forces left Iraq, and only advisers and those working in the field of intelligence, reconnaissance, and training remained," Al-Khafaji said.

BAGHDAD, Dec 19 (NNN-NINA) – Two Katyusha rockets were fired early today, on the heavily fortified Green Zone that houses the U.S. embassy in central Baghdad, the Iraqi News Agency reported.

One of the rockets was destroyed in the air by the C-RAM defence system, which protects the U.S. embassy site, and the other landed near the grand celebrations square in the zone, damaging two civilian cars, the agency said.

According to the report, there were no immediate reports about casualties and that the security forces launched an investigation into the incident.

18 Dec 2021; MEMO: The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday announced the evacuation of 3,817 of its illegal immigrants stranded at the Belarus border via ten emergency flights.

"Within one month, we managed to conduct ten exceptional flights to return those wishing to return voluntarily," the ministry's Spokesperson Ahmed Al-Sahaf disclosed in a statement, of which Anadolu Agency received a copy.