Iraq

BAGHDAD, Aug 21 (NNN-NINA) – Six paramilitary Hashd Shaabi members were killed and four others wounded yesterday, in an attack by militants of extremist Daesh group, in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, a source with the Iraqi Interior Ministry said.

The incident took place in the evening, when the militants detonated a roadside bomb, near a Hashd Shaabi vehicle, in Tarmiyah area, some 30 km north of Baghdad, sparking a clash between the Hashd Shaabi members and the militants, the source said.

BAGHDAD, Aug 18 (NNN-NINA) – At least 18 militants from the outlawed Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were killed yesterday, in an airstrike by a drone, near the town of Sinjar in northern Iraq, a Kurdish security source said.

The airstrike took place in the afternoon, when a Turkish drone bombed a school building used by PKK members as a clinic, in a village near the town of Sinjar, some 100 km west of Nineveh’s provincial capital, Mosul, Luqman Gally, commander of the Kurdish Peshmerga security forces in the area, said.

13 Aug 2021; MEMO: A roadside bomb yesterday struck a convoy of trucks carrying logistics equipment belonging to the US-led coalition forces in southern Iraq, Anadolu reported.

The agency quoted a police officer as saying that the attack took place on the highway linking the provinces of Babil and Diwaniyah and caused material damage to one of the vehicles. No casualties were reported.

10 Aug 2021; MEMO: Iraqi leaders are working to hold a bilateral meeting between Iran and Saudi on the sidelines of a summit scheduled to take place in Baghdad later this month, Iranian media outlets reported.

Iranian Al-Mayadeen TV said Baghdad is keen to end the estrangement between Tehran and Riyadh.

"Baghdad seeks to end the severance of ties between Tehran and Riyadh following closed-door bilateral meetings," it added.

10 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) in north-east Syria are to open an office in Geneva, the Kurdish militia has announced. According to Turkey's Daily Sabah, the YPG is set to open its office in the Swiss city in an effort to establish an official presence in Europe and "develop relations with European countries."

The YPG is also reported to be opening smaller representative offices within European countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.

09 Aug 2021; MEMO: Iraq accused Iran yesterday of cutting off the tributaries to the Sirwan and Karun rivers, Anadolu has reported. According to the Minister of Water Resources in Baghdad, this has caused a water shortage in Diyala governorate in the east of the country and affected the quality of water resources in Shatt Al-Arab, in the far south.

05 Aug 2021; MEMO: Sunni and Shia clerics from Iraq have met in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, to promote unity and coexistence between Islam's two main sects. The Iraqi Scholars Forum got together yesterday in the Holy City.

The meeting was organised by the Makkah-based Muslim World League (MWL). Around eighty prominent religious leaders and scholars took part in an effort to bridge the sectarian divide.

06 Aug 2021; MEMO: Unknown militants yesterday detonated an explosive device near a convoy of the international US-led coalition in the central Iraqi province of Babylon.

Ali Al-Samer, a senior officer at Babylon police, told Anadolu Agency that the explosive device was planted "on the sidewalk of the road." He added that the attack "partially damaged one of the surrounding trucks."

Local authorities have opened an investigation into the incident, he added .

05 Aug 2021; MEMO: The administration of US President Joe Biden has extended the exemption period granted to Iraq from sanctions related to dealing with Iran for a period of four months, an Iraqi official said yesterday.

AFP quoted an unnamed Iraqi official as saying that under the new exception, Iraq will be able to continue importing electricity and gas from Iran for an additional four months, ending in early December.

(AP) --- The Biden administration encouraged lawmakers on Tuesday to finally repeal an authorization for military action in Iraq crafted when Saddam Hussein was still alive, rejecting Republican arguments it would further signal to Iran that the U.S. is retreating from the Middle East.

Debate in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on ending Congress’s 2002 resolution for military force against Iraq comes as part of a larger discussion by some lawmakers on axing or replacing decades-old congressional authorizations for military force.