- The Americans and the British
Secretary of State of Condoleezza Rice arrived in Iraq for a one-day visit. She met with political leaders to discuss the new government's upcoming tasks, including writing a constitution. Rice was the first senior American official to visit the country since the new government was sworn in. Her trip was weeks in the planning, but kept secret even from top State Department officials until the last minute.

The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has warned Iraqi political leaders to settle their differences and agree on a new constitution quickly, and to exert more influence with Syria and Iran to force them to end support for the insurgency. Speaking Wednesday July 27, 2005, Rumsfeld laid out a blunt prescription for what Iraqi leaders must do in the coming weeks and months to ensure that a stable, secure and popularly elected government takes root - and to allow US troops to begin to withdraw. His remarks amounted to perhaps the broadest attempt yet by a senior Bush administration official to prod Iraq's fractious mix of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders to move forward on political, economic and security fronts.

US and British ambassadors met senior Iraqi ministers on Tuesday August 2, 2005, to discuss the transfer of security from foreign to Iraqi forces, a process that lays the groundwork for the withdrawal of foreign troops. It was the first meeting of a body called the "commission for conditions-based transition", which will decide over the coming months which parts of Iraq are safe enough for Iraqi forces to take over and let foreign troops pull back. The body, made up of Iraq's interior and defence ministers, its national security adviser, the US and British ambassadors, and the top foreign military commanders, said it would make its first recommendations to Iraq's prime minister next month. In a statement, the commission said it had agreed the main consideration for any transfer of responsibility was the capacity of Iraqi forces to handle security alone.

The United States' envoy in Iraq delivered a warning on Saturday August 6, 2005, to Shiite Islamist leaders not to use a new constitution to impose discriminatory laws by majority rule. A day after talks between Iraq's Shiite prime minister and its top Shiite ayatollah had revived fears among Sunnis and Kurds of an Iranian-style Islamic state, ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Washington insisted a draft constitution due out this month must respect equal rights for women and minorities. Some Iraqis complain Islamists are already trying to curb personal behaviour such as women's employment and alcohol sales.

The decision on Wednesday November 2, 2005, by the Iraqi government to issue a call for the reinstatement of army officers with the rank of major and below amounted to a significant climb down by dominant Shia parties. This reversed the dismantlement in May 2003 of Iraq's armed forces by US occupation administrator L Paul Bremer III. The demobilisation of Iraq's 4,000,000-strong army and the dissolution of the Baath party, which had three million members, are now seen as the most disastrous decisions taken by Washington after its forces occupied Iraq in March-April in that year. This decision deprived Iraq of experienced military personnel at a critical juncture and prompted thousands of alienated jobless Iraqi army officers and soldiers to join the insurgency, which has made it impossible for the US and its local allies to rule Iraq. While a large number of former officers and troops have joined the new Iraqi army, interior ministry formations and police in spite of Bremer's ban, the grand total is only 2,06,837. Of these, only 98,911 are in the forces under the Ministry of Defence; 89,000 in the army, air force and the navy; and 10,000 in combat support. This figure amounts to only a quarter of the pre-war number and shows why it remains difficult to stabilise Iraq. It is not clear if there will be a significant response to the appeal for the return of the officers during this month, the window offered for their reinstatement.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw have arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit on April 2, 2006. They travelled from the UK, where Mr Straw hosted Ms Rice's two-day trip. They are meeting Iraqi PM Ibrahim Jaafari and President Jalal Talabani.

On April 3, 2006, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw have said it is down to Iraq's people, nobody else, to choose a leader. However, they said the process to do so must be speeded up. Iraq's political parties have been wrangling over forming a new government since December's election. Mr Straw said the aim of the US-led coalition, which invaded Iraq in March 2003, had always been the formation of a sovereign government.

On May 1, 2006, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee's members, Democrat Party Senator Joseph Biden, said Iraq should be separated into three autonomous regions. In his article co-written with Committee Chair Leslie Gelb and published in the New York Times, the Senator told that President George W. Bush has no strategy for victory in Iraq; instead, he plans to handover the problem to his successor. Sunnis, the power behind the resistance, will be pleased to conduct a plan for division rather than living under the control of Shiites.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made an unannounced visit to Iraq on July 12, 2006, for meetings with US commanders and Iraqi officials. He said security, the reconciliation process and training for Iraqi forces would be on the agenda but not the question of US troop withdrawals.

A senior British commander said on August 23, 2006, that the British forces could hand over responsibility for security in Basra province to the Baghdad government within as little as nine months.

Ryan Crocker was sworn in Thursday March 29, 2007, as the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq replacing Zalmay Khalilzad, who is the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In a break with tradition, Crocker's swearing in ceremony took place in Baghdad after he arrived in Iraq because he flew directly there from his former post in Pakistan rather than going to Washington first and being sworn in there. Crocker, an Arabic speaker was the former ambassador to Pakistan.

ravelling in the Middle East, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates thanked Egypt on April 18, 2007, for agreeing to host a major meeting of Iraq's neighbours; in Jordan, he said the US congressional debate on troops in Iraq has had a positive effect by showing the Baghdad government that the US military commitment is not open-ended.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates, on an unannounced trip to Iraq on April 19, 2007, delivered a sharp message to the country's political leaders: The US military's commitment to the war is not open-ended. "The clock is ticking," Gates told reporters, saying he will warn Iraqi officials that they must move faster on political reconciliation. "I know it's difficult, and clearly the attack on the council of representatives has made people nervous, but I think that it's very important that they bend every effort to getting this legislation done as quickly as possible."

- The Iraqis
On May 10, 2005, Iraq's new Shiite-dominated government is expected to let its Sunni Arab members use their political and tribal clout to reach out to insurgents. The move to pursue channels with the homegrown part of the Sunni-led insurgency comes after more than three months of tough negotiations by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to have his Cabinet include several Sunni Arabs with popular or tribal bases. Lawmakers today appointed a committee charged with drafting a constitution before the August 15 deadline.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has been holding talks in Turkey on May 20, 2005, on his first official foreign trip since the new government was formed. Mr Jaafari and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan reached agreement on security co-operation and increased power supplies, Turkish officials said. Electricity exports will be more than tripled to provide a fifth of Iraq's supply and help ease ongoing shortages. Turkey also offered help with military training and security. Agreement was reached to open a second border crossing. The physical security of Turkish lorry drivers in Iraq - around 100 of whom have been killed - was also discussed.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has called on his country's neighbours on May 20, 2005, to help prevent foreign insurgents from entering Iraq. Jaafari said Iraq is keen to preserve good relations with neighbouring countries, and hopes they can help control cross-border attacks. His appeal came one day after a top US military official said that the leaders of Iraq's most notorious terrorist group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi recently held a secret meeting in neighbouring Syria, where they plotted the recent wave of insurgent violence that has killed hundreds of people.

On May 21, 2005, we were told that there are 50,000 to 100,000 contractors working in Iraq though reliable estimates are hard to come by. Private security personnel are thought to account for as many as 20,000 of those, or more than all US coalition partners together. The number of contractors killed is just as difficult to pin down, partly because the employers often keep the deaths quiet. The US military death toll, now over 1,620, would be higher but for the number of military tasks contracted out to the private sector, say analysts. The US Labour Department reports at least 305 cases where death benefits have been claimed for private contractors working in Iraq many by families of Iraqis who worked for US companies. The total number of contractors killed is larger, but the true figure is difficult to estimate because many firms don't publicize workers' deaths and the US government statistics aren't comprehensive. Contractors have been killed in convoy ambushes, mortar attacks on US bases, gruesome beheadings by kidnappers, car accidents, and even by US troops shooting by mistake. They're often on the front lines with jobs that include private security guards; technicians struggling to rebuild Iraq's battered infrastructure and oil sector; and labourers, consultants and translators catering to the needs of the US military and Iraqi government. Few aspects of the multibillion-dollar contracting effort in Iraq are made public.

Iran and Iraq issued a joint declaration on May 21, 2005, and said Saddam Hussein was responsible for the Iraq-Iran War that lasted for eight years and with the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1990.

The Sunni Ulema (Islamic scholars) Delegation representing Sunnis in Iraq has decided to close Sunni mosques for three days in order to protest the recent attacks targeting Sunni clerics. The decision was announced by Sunni Foundation Vice President Sheikh Ahmed Abid Al Gaffur Al Samarrai during the Friday May 20, 2005, prayer in Umm Al-Qura Mosque, the centre of the Ulema Delegation in Iraq. Samarrai called on the government to prevent these kinds of attacks against religious clerics.

On May 25, 2005 we were told that leaders in the country's southern regions are pushing aggressively to unite their three provinces into an oil-rich, semi-autonomous state, a plan that some worry could solidify Iraq's sectarian tensions, create fights over oil revenues and eventually split the nation. In the southern Shiite Muslim city of Basra, where the provincial government launched the campaign, signs on the streets encourage residents to support the plan. The proposal would unite the Shiite-dominated provinces of Maysan, Basra and Dhiqar into a single state. Basra, the country's second-largest city and the principal port city, would be the new regional government's capital. The discussion has created tension in Basra between Shiites and the Sunni Arab minority there. Some Sunnis already have left because they think the proposed new region excludes them.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on June 1, 2005, that he was worried the US may pull its troops out before local forces are able to maintain security. He told the UN Security Council that the US-led Multi-National Force should stay in the country until Iraqi forces were able to do the job themselves. The Council agreed to continue the mandate of the forces. Mr Zebari also urged Iraq's neighbours, particularly Syria, to do more to stop foreign extremists crossing into Iraq.

The reputed leader of al-Qaida in Iraq said on July 5, 2005, that the Iraqi army is as great an enemy as the Americans and announced the formation of a new terror command to fight Iraq's biggest Shiite militia, in an audiotape.

Moqtada Sadr, the radical Iraqi Shia cleric whose militia led uprisings against US troops in Najaf has told the BBC on July 18, 2005, that armed "resistance is legitimate". Mr Sadr said that even US President George W Bush would agree that fighting an occupation force was a correct course of action. However, he did call upon Iraqis to exercise restraint with US troops. And he said he would not interfere with the democratic process, saying, "Whoever wants to take part, let him do so". "Resistance is legitimate at all levels be it religious, intellectual and so on," Mr Sadr said, in his first interview with Western media. "The first person who would acknowledge this is the so-called American President Bush who said 'if my country is occupied, I will fight'."

Old foes Iran and Iraq on Tuesday July 19, 2005, signed an oil deal they hope will pave the way to further diplomatic rapprochement between them. The signing was the keystone of a visit to Iran by an Iraqi ministerial delegation led by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the first Iraqi leader to visit Tehran in decades. Iran and Iraq bludgeoned each other to a standstill in a war between 1980 and 1988 characterized by trench warfare and gas attacks. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Starting to rebuild bridges, Iraq signed a preliminary agreement to export 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from the southern city of Basra to Abadan refinery in southwest Iran. In return, fuel-starved Iraq will import gasoline, gas oil and kerosene across its eastern border. Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum has said the project could be running within a year, as pipeline construction should take only three to six months. The United States has reservations about growing ties between the two neighbours, but the language from Iranian and Iraqi officials alike has been warm throughout the visit.

Iraq said Sunday July 24, 2005, it needed $20 billion to restore its full electric power capacity and to provide the service to the whole country. Iraqi Electricity Minister Mohsen Shalash told a news conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, his country will manage to restore power to the whole country within the next two to three years. He added the country's needs will reach 18,000 megawatts by 2010, requiring storage of 23,000 megawatts as reserve.

On July 27, 2005, Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has called for US troops to leave the country soon, but added no timetable had been set for withdrawal. Mr Jaafari was speaking in a joint press conference with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is in Baghdad on a surprise visit. Mr Jaafari asked the US to train Iraqi troops faster and to begin handing security control over to local forces. The top US commander in Iraq has said a withdrawal could begin in the spring if elections went ahead as planned at the end of the year and security improved. Mr Jaafari said any US withdrawal had to be co-ordinated with the Iraqi authorities. Mr Rumsfeld urged Iraqis to complete their new constitution on time as he arrived in Baghdad on his unannounced visit. He also had strong words for Iraq's neighbours Iran and Syria, who he said turned a blind eye to insurgents crossing their borders into Iraq.

Iraqi Minister of Electricity Abd al-Muhsin Shalash said Friday July 29, 2005, that Iran has supplied Iraq with its electricity needs based on a mutual agreement and within the frameworks of the country's donation to the Iraqi nation. Shalash said that Iraq has settled its electricity problem through Iranian donation. Iran has allocated one billion dollars to the reconstruction of Iraqi infrastructure projects, he said, adding the major portion of the fund will be spent on electricity industry.

A political crisis gripped the southern Iraqi town of Samawah on August 9, 2005, as Mohammed al-Hassaani, head of al-Muthanna province, refused to resign; the provincial council chief quit and another official said gunmen had threatened him. Police fired into the crowd of hundreds, killing one person and wounding 40. Regional council members voted to oust the governor after the protesters had demanded his resignation in the town. Local government officials said that Hassaani, backed by a leading Shiite Islamist party in the national government, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), was still showing up for work, insisting there were not enough members of the local legislature present to vote him out.

On August 12, 2005, Iraqi investigators have uncovered more than $1 billion of fraud and waste in weapons deals arranged by middlemen, Knight Ridder. The report, quoting a confidential report and interviews with US and Iraqi officials, said middlemen who arranged the deals reneged or took huge kickbacks on the contracts to arm Iraq's fledgling military. The report said an Iraqi audit suggested that senior US-appointed Iraqi Defence Ministry officials used three intermediary companies to hide the kickbacks. It said the contracts involved unnecessary, overpriced or outdated equipment. The audit board said the waste squandered more than half the Defence Ministry's annual budget for setting up a self-sufficient force.

Iraq's economy stumbled this year as oil production stagnated because of the violent insurgency. Its economic growth this year is likely to be 4 percent, down from the 17 percent the IMF forecast a year ago. Record global oil prices haven't been enough to overcome a drop in production to 2 million barrels a day from a projected 2.4 million barrels.

Iraq's national security adviser said on Friday August 19, 2005, that Iraq would descend into civil war if federalism was not entrenched in the constitution. But underscoring deep divisions in Iraqi politics, several thousand supporters of a Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched through a district of the capital Baghdad denouncing federalism, saying it would rip Iraq apart. Politicians are struggling to meet an extended August 22 deadline for presenting a draft constitution to parliament. Kurds want to expand autonomy in their de facto state in the north, some Shiites are pushing for their own region in the south, and Sunni Arabs are fiercely opposed to federalism.

On August 24, 2005, we were told the marshlands of Iraq, which were drained during the early 1990s, are returning to their original state. Under Saddam Hussein, the area of marsh was reduced to a tenth of its former size, as the government punished people living there for acts of rebellion. The latest United Nations data shows that nearly 40% of the area has been restored to its original condition. Drinking water and sanitation projects are under way, but the UN says that a full recovery will take many years.

The Iraqi government is sending troops to take control of Baghdad airport after the British company contracted to provide security stopped working on Friday September 9, 2005, in a pay dispute. Global Strategies Group -the London-based firm, which took over security operations at Baghdad International Airport in July 2004-, complained that as well as not being paid by the government since February, the flight volume has increased significantly. All flights in and out were suspended after the company announced that it would continue to guarantee the security of the airport, but all other operations were suspended as of Friday morning.

The Iraqi prime minister sealed the northern border crossing into Syria on Saturday September 10, 2005, after complaints the neighbouring country was not doing enough to stop crossings by foreign fighters, and he imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the area near the Rabiaa frontier post. The order went out as Iraqi forces, backed by American soldiers, swept into Tal Afar, an insurgent stronghold about 60 miles to the east, conducting house-to-house searches and battering down walls with armoured vehicles in a second bid to clean the city of militant fighters.

Baghdad International Airport has been re-opened on Saturday September 10, 2005 -after a dispute with foreign contractors over payment for security services closed it on Friday. An agreement was reached and the airport is again now open for domestic and international flights. The Iraqi government had "agreed to pay 50% of the total money owed for the past seven months."

The Jordanian Prime Minister, Adnan Badran, met Iraqi Vice-President Adel Abdul Mehdi and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari in Baghdad on Saturday September 10, 2005, to bolster relations. It comes weeks after Iraq accused its Arab neighbour of hosting people involved in "terrorist acts". Mr Badran's visit was the first by an Arab leader since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

Iraqi units could replace some foreign troops by the end of this month, but no timetable exists for a pullout of US-led forces, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Thursday September 15, 2005. Last week he said the United States could withdraw as many as 50,000 troops by the end of the year, and then aligned himself with President George W. Bush's view that a withdrawal deadline would only fan the insurgency. Close to 141,000 American troops are there and the US military plans to increase this by up to 2,000 troops before an October 15 referendum on the country's new constitution.

Iraq's parliament finally approved a draft constitution on Sunday September 18, 2005, just four weeks before the text is put to a referendum.

The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political organization - Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Shiite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq- joined the country's most revered and powerful Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Saturday September 24, 2005 in a strong public push for voter support of a new constitution, three weeks ahead of the referendum. Clerics and tribal leaders from Iraq's Sunni Arab minority have expressed optimism that they can mobilise their communities to reject the draft constitution in next month's referendum. They urged a no vote if the constitution's main points on Iraq's unity and Arab identity are not changed.

Sunni Arabs have reacted angrily on September 3, 2005, to a decision by Iraq's Shia-dominated parliament making it harder to reject the new constitution in 12 days' time. The two-thirds majority needed in three provinces to defeat the constitution will now be counted from all registered - as opposed to actual - voters.

The threat of a unified Sunni Arab boycott of next week's constitutional vote in Iraq receded on Saturday October 8, 2005, as Sunni leaders failed to agree on how to oppose the US-backed document. After a meeting in a Baghdad mosque, Sunni leaders said they hoped those voters who do decide to participate will vote "No". The lack of consensus revealed divisions in the Sunni community, with some groups insisting on a boycott to rob the referendum of legitimacy, and others saying a massive Sunni "No" vote was the only way to properly defeat it.

The Arab League warned Saturday October 8, 2005, that civil war ``could erupt at any moment'' in Iraq. But the league may not be entirely welcome in a new Iraq where a Shiite-Kurdish majority is recalling the predominantly Sunni pan-Arab group's silence over Saddam Hussein's crimes against the two communities. Saddam, himself a Sunni Arab, enjoyed the support of the league in the 1990s over the question of UN sanctions and threats of military action in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war. The Shiites and Kurds - who together account for about 80 percent of Iraq's estimated 26 million people - fear that the league is not prepared to accept their domination of postwar Iraq.

Diplomats from the Arab League are flying to Iraq on October 9, 2005, to prepare the ground for a conference on bridging the country's deep divisions. The envoys from the 22-member organisation are under instructions to listen to all sides and to avoid any appearance of being partisan. The Arab League will work to bring Iraq's different religious and ethnic groups together.

With US mediation, Shiite Muslim and Kurdish officials negotiated with Sunni Arab leaders Sunday October 9, 2005, over possible last-minute additions to Iraq's proposed constitution. But the sides remained far apart over basic issues -including the federalism that Shiites and Kurds insist on, but that Sunnis fear will lead to the country's eventual break-up.

On October 10, 2005, Iraq announced stringent security measures ahead of next Saturday's referendum on the new constitution. A four-day national holiday has been declared, borders will be closed and a nighttime curfew will be imposed.

Gunmen opened fire Monday October 10, 2005, on a convoy of cars carrying members of an Arab League delegation visiting Iraq, but no one was hurt. The gunmen pulled alongside the convoy of the 10-member Arab League delegation on a highway in Baghdad and started shooting. It was the first time the pan-Arab organization has tried to take a direct role in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion. The Arab League received a cold reception from some Shiite leaders in Iraq's.

Thousands of detainees in Iraqi jails should be able to vote in the constitutional referendum - including former president Saddam Hussein. Commission officials said ballot boxes would be sent to the US-run Abu Ghraib prison and other camps where about 10,000 mainly Sunni prisoners are held, often without charge, on suspicion of joining a revolt.

On October 11, 2005, Iraq issued arrest warrants for 27 senior officials from the US-backed interim government over suspected embezzlement of more than $1bn. The money was allegedly taken from the defence minister to fund corrupt military procurement deals. Suspects from the former administration include Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan, who has denied the allegations. Warrants have also been issued against the former labour, transportation, electricity and housing ministers.

Iraqi government negotiators agreed on Tuesday October 11, 2005, to a key demand from minority Sunnis that parliament should review possible amendments to the constitution four months after December's election. President Jalal Talabani said talks were continuing to define which articles of the constitution would be reviewed. A formal announcement was expected on Wednesday.

Jordanian authorities said Tuesday October 11, 2005, Iraq will close its border with Jordan for four days near Saturday's referendum on Iraq's new constitution. It said only trucks transporting goods to Iraq will be allowed to cross.

Iraq's parliament has approved on October 12, 2005, last-minute changes to the draft constitution aimed at overcoming Sunni Arab objections. The changes -agreed by representatives of the communities- were endorsed without voting. One Sunni party has said it will back the draft if MPs elected in the December elections can review it. Other Sunnis maintain their boycott.

On October 13, 2005, Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has called on the country's majority Shia community to vote "yes" in Saturday's constitution referendum. It is his most direct show of support for the charter, and it is expected to carry great weight with Iraqi Shia. A four-day public holiday has been called, and the streets of major cities are unusually quiet with schools and offices closed.

Polls are closing in Iraq late on October 15, 2005, after people voted in their millions to decide a constitution. Vehicles were banned from roads to prevent car bombings during the vote and troops were on alert. Despite this, three Iraqi soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad and several civilians were wounded in other violent incidents. Up to 15.5 million voters had been expected to register their view on the charter. Turnout among Sunni Arabs is reported to be higher than during the general election earlier this year. Leading Sunni figure Saleh al-Mutlaq said that Sunnis wanted to reject the draft constitution that they felt would break up the country.

On Sunday November 13, 2005, Sunni politicians increased the pressure on the Americans and the Iraqi militaries to end all military operations in Iraq. They believe that these battles will reduce Sunni participation in next month parliamentary elections. On the other hand the Americans said that the offensives aimed to encourage Sunni Arabs to vote without intimidation. Who is right?

On February 16, 2006, Iraq's Human Rights Minister, Zuhair al-Chalabi, has called on US-led forces to hand over the running of all prisons to the Iraqi Government. He compared the abuses committed by the Americans to those under dictatorships.

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, delivered a blunt warning to Iraqi leaders Monday February 20, 2006, that they risk losing American support unless they establish a national unity government with the police and the army out of the hands of religious parties. Such a government is also essential to the US strategy for handing over security to Iraqi soldiers and police so the 138,000 US troops can go home. But talks among Iraqi parties that won parliament seats in the December 15 election have stalled over deep divisions among Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

The US military denied British newspaper reports on Sunday March 5, 2006, that it planned to pull its forces from Iraq early next year, saying the stories were "completely false".

On March 9, 2006, the Iraqi authorities have hanged 13 people accused of taking part in the insurgency, the first execution of militants since the US-led invasion.

In March 2006 Electricity output has dipped to its lowest point in three years in Iraq, where the desert sun is rising toward another broiling summer and US engineers are winding down their rebuilding of the crippled power grid. The Iraqis, in fact, may have to turn to neighbouring Iran to help bail them out of their energy crisis -if not this summer, then in years to come. The overstressed network is producing less than half the electricity needed to meet Iraq's exploding demand. American experts are working hard to shore up the system's weaknesses as 100-degree-plus temperatures approach beginning as early as May, driving up usage of air conditioning, electric fans and refrigeration.

Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said on Thursday March 16, 2006, that he is willing to withdraw his nomination to head the new government if he was asked to do so by the Iraqi people. Dr Jaafari made this declaration of intent shortly after the new 275-member parliament meet in its opening session three months after the election and three days after the deadline set in the constitution. Legislators were simply sworn in and adjourned without formally closing the session so that they would not have to meet two and four week deadlines to name speaker and prime minister.

Iraq is in the middle of civil war, the country's former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on March 19, 2006. He said Iraq had not got to the point of no return, but if it fell apart sectarianism would spread abroad. The UK and US have repeatedly denied Iraq is facing a civil war.

Weeks ago, when President Bush said that Iraq had reached a "moment of choosing" after the bombing of a Samara mosque, he could just as easily have been talking about the countries of his own coalition. Today March 19, 2006, three years after the war began, the United States and Britain have their own decisions to make about how to help Iraq as it stumbles toward democracy, civil war, or both. Yet those decisions seem as uncertain as the course of the war itself. In conversations with some of the most influential past policymakers in both America and Britain, there are notes of concord: Iraq is not yet lost, they agree, but Iraq's leaders must soon take more responsibility. Moreover, the inevitable withdrawal of troops must be orderly and purposeful, not a hasty flight. When it comes to how and when to do this, however, many are as split as the nation they hope to unify. For instance, former US Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger says, "We are the only possible means of getting things put together." Yet in the words of former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski: "The only way this can come together is if we decide to leave."

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has welcomed on March 21, 2006, the prospect of talks between the US and Iran over Iraq. He rejected comments that civil war is already raging in Iraq, but said it had come close after the destruction of a Shia shrine in Samara last month. He is optimistic a new government can be formed within two weeks - or four at the most as all parties had reached agreement on many points which would also diminish the threat of civil war. Mr Talabani's comments contrast sharply with those of the former interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi.

Facing growing pressure from the Bush administration for him to step down, Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari Wednesday March29, 2006, vigorously asserted his right to stay in office and warned the Americans against undue interference in Iraq's political process. Jaafari also defended his recent political alliance with radical anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, now the prime minister's most powerful backer, saying in an interview that Sadr and his thousands-strong militia were a fact of life in Iraq and need to be accepted into mainstream politics.

Iraq's interior minister has admitted on April 12, 2006, death squads and other unauthorised armed groups have been carrying out sectarian killings in the country. But Bayan Jabr denied allegations that these groups were linked to his ministry. Sunni Muslims say government-backed Shia militias are behind many attacks.

At least 65,000 Iraqis have fled their homes as a result of sectarian violence and intimidation we were told on April 13, 2006. The rate at which Iraqis are being displaced is increasing.

On May 10, 2006, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has called on Iraqis to help stop sectarian violence after figures showed it killed 1,091 people in Baghdad last month. Mr Talabani said he was "shocked and angry" at daily reports of murders.

In a bid to stop sectarian violence, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on Thursday May 11, 2006, ordered all Shiite mosques to close for three days in Zubayr, southern Iraq where a local Sunni Arab leader, imam Sheik Khaled Ali Obeid al-Saadoun and two of his associates on Wednesday, was assassinated. Al-Saadoun also had served as the local leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab group.

A gun battle on May 12, 2006, between Kurdish and Shia soldiers near Duluiyah has left one soldier and a civilian dead, underlining how ethnic and sectarian divisions are crippling the US-trained force. It is a bad omen for US plans to hand over security to the Iraqi army by the end of the year. The fighting started after a powerful roadside bomb exploded as an Iraqi army convoy carrying Kurdish troops was passing Duluiyah, a small agricultural town that has long been a centre of armed resistance to the occupation. Four soldiers were killed and three wounded in the explosion.

THE charity that sent Norman Kember, the British peace campaigner, to Iraq has suspended its operations in the country on May 13, 2006. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) said Kember's hostage ordeal had made the charity too high profile to operate safely in Iraq. It has evacuated its volunteers and warned they might not return.

The governor of the oil-rich southern Iraqi province of Basra suspended its chief of police on Saturday May 13, 2006, accusing the force of failing to take action against violence sweeping Iraq's second city. Security has deteriorated sharply over the past year as rival Shiite Muslim groups tussle for power.

On May 24, 2006, Iraq's PM said he believes government forces will be able to take over all security responsibilities from US-led coalition troops within 18 months. Nouri Maliki said Iraqis would resume security duties province by province. However he conceded that his forces would need more training, equipment, and manpower to do so.

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has criticised the US military on June 2, 2006, for what he described as habitual attacks against civilians.

Tough new security measures have been put in place in Baghdad on June 14, 2006, in an effort to win back control of the city's streets. Some 40,000 Iraqi and US troops were put on the streets just after dawn, a day after President Bush flew into Baghdad and met PM Nouri Maliki.

On Sunday June 25, 2006, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has presented a national reconciliation plan to parliament aimed at stemming sectarian tensions and violence. The 24-point plan offers an amnesty to some insurgents, but not those from groups who have targeted civilians. It outlines plans to disarm militias and beef up Iraqi security forces ahead of a takeover from coalition forces.

Eleven Sunni insurgent groups have offered an immediate halt to all attacks -including those on American troops- if the United States agrees to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq in two years, insurgent and government officials said on Wednesday June 28, 2006. The groups who've made contact have largely shunned attacks on Iraqi civilians, focusing instead on the US-led coalition forces. Their offer coincides with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to reach out to the Sunni insurgency with a reconciliation plan that includes an amnesty for fighters. The Islamic Army in Iraq, Muhammad Army and the Mujahedeen Shura Council -the umbrella group that covers eight militant groups including al-Qaida in Iraq- were not party to any offers to the government. Naseer al-Ani, a Sunni Arab politician and official with the largest Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said that al-Maliki should encourage the process by guaranteeing security for those making the offer and not immediately reject their demands.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on June 29, 2006, a number of insurgent groups have responded positively to his national reconciliation plan. The plan aims to stem sectarian violence by offering an amnesty to some insurgents. Mr Maliki welcomed the response and said he would talk to anyone not involved in bloodshed or crimes however hardcore Islamist militants have already denounced the plan.

Iraq's President Jalal Talabani urged Arab countries on Wednesday July 5, 2006, to forgive Iraq's debts incurred under toppled leader Saddam Hussein. Most of these debts were incurred during the Iran-Iraq war, when Sunni Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait funded Saddam's fight against the non-Arab, Shiite Islamic republic of Iran. Gulf Arab states are owed about $40 billion by Iraq -with the bulk of the debt owed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iraq's main Western creditors grouped in the Paris Club of wealthy nations agreed in November 2004 to cancel 80 percent of Baghdad's debt to them in three steps over four years.

Iraq will ask the United Nations to end immunity from local law for US troops, the human rights minister said on Monday July 10, 2006, as the military named five soldiers charged in a rape-murder case that has outraged Iraqis.

Iraq's most prominent Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has called for an end to sectarian "hatred and violence" on July 21, 2006. He added that the violence would only prolong the presence of US forces in the country.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on July 24, 2006, that Iraqi troops would soon take control over more areas of the country.

On August 8, 2006, the US has handed over security of the northern cities of Tikrit and Mosul to Iraqi forces, in a ceremony attended by the top US commander General George W Casey Jr. The transfer of power from the 101st Airborne Division to the Iraqi army will affect policing across a wide area of northern Iraq.

Al Qaida wants to build a political operation in Iraq to broaden its campaign against the US-backed government, we were told on Wednesday August 16, 2006. The militant group appears to be refining its approach beyond bombings and beheadings. It looks like Al Qaeda in Iraq wants to present itself as a legitimate organisation and is striving to increase its operational power by building a political base with a military wing.

On Tuesday September 5, 2006, the Iraqi parliament voted to extend the state of emergency in the country by one month, giving security forces extended powers of curfew and detention. The powers have been in place for almost two years. A delayed ceremony to mark the US military's formal handing over of command of the Iraqi armed forces to the Iraqi government will now take place on Thursday. The accord will be signed in the presence of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and US General George Casey.

Iraqi authorities hanged 27 convicted "terrorists" on September 6, 2006. They were convicted for attacks on Iraqi civilians and sentenced to death, in an execution order signed by an Iraqi vice president. In September 2005 Iraq hanged three convicted murderers in the first executions since the toppling of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

The United States handed over formal command of the Iraqi army to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government on September 7, 2006, a significant step towards the withdrawal of about 150,000 US-led foreign troops.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will make his first official visit to Iran on Monday September 11, 2006, to discuss political and security issues.

UK and Italian forces in southern Iraq have handed over control of the province of Dhi Qar to Iraqi forces on September 21, 2006. At a ceremony in the provincial capital, Nasiriya, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki described the handover as a "great day". It is the second of 18 provinces to be handed over, following neighbouring Muthanna in July.

On September 27, 2006, British and Iraqi forces launched a drive in Basra city aimed at purging the police of the militias that have infiltrated their ranks. About 1,000 British troops and 2,300 Iraqis have begun to deploy as part of what the Army labels Operation Sinbad. The operation, to last until February 2007, intends to prepare for the expected handover of power to Iraqi officials next year. Shia militias have effectively seized control of the police in some areas. Operation Sinbad will see small "transition teams" of Royal Military Police being inserted into police stations throughout the southern Iraqi city for 30 days at a time.

Sunni and Shiite leaders in Iraq clashed publicly overnight Sunday October 1, 2006, over a US allegation that a bodyguard for a top Sunni politician may have plotted an al-Qaida suicide attack on the vast Green Zone government compound.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on October 3, 2006, announced a new four-point plan aimed at reducing sectarian violence. The plan to set up local security committees in areas around the country was agreed after intensive talks with top Sunni and Shia politicians.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has held talks with leaders in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq -including regional leader Massoud Barzani- on Thursday October 5, 2006. They discussed the oil sector, which Kurds see as crucial to their future. They believe their region has huge untapped reserves, and they want to expand to include the oil-rich Kirkuk province -which is also claimed by Iraq's Arabs and Turcomans. Ms Rice urged the Kurdish leader to work with Sunni and Shia groups, particularly on the issue of sharing Iraq's oil wealth across the country.

AN independent commission set up by Congress with the approval of President George W Bush may recommend carving up Iraq into three highly autonomous regions we were told on Saturday October 7, 2006. The Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by James Baker, the former US secretary of state, is preparing to report after next month's congressional elections amid signs that sectarian violence and attacks on coalition forces are spiralling out of control. The conflict is claiming the lives of 100 civilians a day and bombings have reached record levels.

Iraqi lawmakers on Wednesday October 11, 2006, approved by a slim majority - approximately 140 legislators present all voted for the law, allowing it to pass with a slim majority in the 275-member parliament- a law that lays out a mechanism for forming autonomous federal regions. The decision was taken in a session of parliament boycotted by its main critics - the Sunni-dominated Iraq Consensus Front, the radical Shia Sadrist movement and Fadhila party - and is likely to cause further acrimony over an issue that has polarised Sunnis and Shia for much of the last year. The formation of a southern federal region has been championed by the mainstream Shia Islamist parties, in particular the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Sunnis say it will split the nation to the cost of their oil-poor heartland in the middle of the country and allow Iran to increase its influence in the south. The Shia Sadrists oppose the law because they are ideologically committed to a strong central government. The law would allow Iraq's 18 governorates to hold referendums on whether to amalgamate into federal regions similar to the Kurdistan self-rule zone in the north, which has its own regional government and security forces.

A video posted on the internet on Sunday October 15, 2006, in the name of one of Iraq's largest insurgent groups called for the creation of a separate Sunni Islamic state in the country. It should encompass the governates of Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Salahedddin, Nineveh and parts of Babel and Wasit - a swathe of central and western Iraq where most Sunni Arabs live. The Mutayibeen coalition was purportedly set up last week by the Mujahideen Shura Council, an al-Qaida-dominated umbrella organisation, along with smaller groups and tribal leaders.

Violence in Iraq could end "within months" if Iran and Syria joined efforts to stabilise the country, says Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on October 18, 2006. The idea for the US to open talks with Iran and Syria over Iraq is said to be under consideration by a panel of experts examining US policy on Iraq. The panel, led by a former US secretary of state, is also said to think that "staying the course" is untenable. However, Mr Talabani said was not worried by reports that James Baker's panel may recommend an early -or phased- withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq.

On October 25, 2006, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has pledged to tackle illegal militias, which are widely blamed for the growing sectarian violence in the country. He said his forces would strike hard at anyone who defied the law. But he insisted he was working to his own timetable, not a US-imposed deadline for improving security.

A senior Iraqi official said on November 6, 2006, plans have been drawn up to allow former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to return to government jobs. Supreme National Council for De-Baathification head Ali al-Lamy said the plans could mean the reinstatement of more than a million ex-activists. The activists were sacked immediately after the US-led invasion in 2003. Most of them were from Iraq's Sunni minority and the Americans hope the move will contribute to reconciliation. The most senior former Baath officials, who were close to Saddam Hussein, will remain excluded.

On November 12, 2006, under pressure to avert civil war, the Iraqi prime minister told a parliament crackling with sectarian tension that he would fire a host of under-performing ministers. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's reshuffle announcement to a closed session of parliament came hours after a man wearing an explosive vest walked into a crowd lining up outside a police commando recruiting centre in Baghdad and blew himself up.

Followers of radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr warned on Friday November 24, 2006, they will suspend their membership in parliament and the cabinet if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with US president George Bush in Jordan next week. Bush and al-Maliki were scheduled to meet on Wednesday and Thursday in Amman. However US President George W Bush is committed to working with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, and a meeting between the two leaders in Jordan next week will go ahead.

A key meeting between US President George W Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki aimed at tackling Iraq's growing violence has been delayed on Wednesday November 29, 2006. The two men are in Jordan and were to have evening talks with King Abdullah, but Mr Bush and Mr Maliki will now meet on Thursday, officials said. The move came after an Iraqi political grouping suspended its participation in government in protest at the meeting. It also follows the leak of a US memo raising doubts over Mr Maliki. US officials said the change to the schedule was because Mr Maliki had met King Abdullah earlier in the day, denying the move was a snub by Mr Maliki or related to the leaked memo.

On November 30, 2006, US President George W Bush has pledged to keep American troops in Iraq until "the job is complete". Speaking after a summit in Jordan with Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki, he said troops would remain as long as Mr Maliki's government wanted them there. But he said it was important to speed up training for the Iraqi security forces. Mr Bush praised Mr Maliki as the "right guy for Iraq". The summit had been delayed by a day amid denials of a snub to Mr Bush.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on December 1, 2006, Iraqi forces would be ready to assume security control of the country in June 2007. He was speaking hours after holding talks with US President George W Bush in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

US President George W Bush is to meet the most powerful Iraqi Shia politician in Washington on Monday December 4, 2006. Mr Bush is expected to discuss national reconciliation with the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri), Abdel Aziz al-Hakim. The group holds a majority of seats in the Iraqi parliament, and its former military wing has been accused of involvement in sectarian violence. Mr Bush is to meet Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi in January.

An influential Shiite leader will try to persuade US President George W. Bush to engage Iran to help end the conflict in Iraq. Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), is slated to hold talks with Bush in Washington on December 4, 2006. Hakim told Bush he is opposed to any foreign move to solve Iraq's problems that bypasses the Baghdad government. Mr Bush told Mr Hakim that he is "not satisfied" with conditions in Iraq and that the US fully supported the Iraqi government. Mr Hakim told the US president that the Iraqis should resolve problems by themselves but said he believed American troops should remain in the country.

Major partners in Iraq's governing coalition are in behind-the-scenes talks on December 11, 2006, to oust Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki amid discontent over his failure to quell raging violence. The talks are aimed at forming a new parliamentary bloc that would seek to replace the current government and that would likely exclude supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who is a vehement opponent of the US military presence. Senior Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who met with President Bush last week, would lead the new alliance. Al-Hakim, however, was not expected to be the next prime minister because he prefers the role of powerbroker, staying above the grinding day-to-day running of the country.

Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, left for Washington on Sunday December 10, 2006, for a meeting with Bush at least three weeks ahead of schedule.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on Tuesday December 19, 2006, called for a scheduled pullout of US troops from his war-torn country but only after Iraq's security forces have become capable of taking on the country's security issues by themselves. Hashemi also called on the United Nations to play a greater role in promoting reconciliation between Iraq's rivalry Shiite and Sunni parties.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on January 3, 2007 he dislikes being the country's leader and would prefer to leave the job before his term ends. Mr Maliki said he would certainly not be seeking a second term. A compromise choice, his tenure has been plagued by factional strife within both the country and government, and rumours go on that the US has no faith in him. "I didn't want to take this position," he told the Wall Street Journal. "I only agreed because I thought it would serve the national interest, and I will not accept it again."

A prominent Shiite leader, Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, leader of the Shiite bloc in the 275-member parliament, said on January 29, 2007, that setting up federal regions in Iraq would solve the country's problems, adding that Shiites are being subjected to mass killings but they should not retaliate by using violence. He was speaking at a mosque in central Baghdad to mark Ashoura, one of the holiest days in the Shiite calendar commemorating the 7th century death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein.

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Saleh, said on January 29, 2007, Iran and the US were using Iraq as a "zone of conflict and competition" and jeopardizing efforts to stabilize the country. Saleh, a Kurd who has ties with both Tehran and Washington, accused the two countries of stepping on Iraq's sovereignty as they jockeyed for advantage. He urged Iran and the US to resolve their differences, at least where Iraq was concerned.

The war in Iraq is intensifying on February 1, 2007. More American combat troops are arriving. They are in more battles with insurgents. And from Washington there is a crescendo of briefings accusing the Iranians of flooding Iraq with money and weapons and even of arming Sunni insurgents. We shouldn't be surprised -this is what George Bush and his war planners intended. Even the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group, in its report before Christmas, said it could support a short-term "surge" to try and regain control of Baghdad. The bottom line is that the president, the study group and most Washington policy-makers want to get as many US combat troops as they can out of Iraq by the US presidential elections in 2008. But that doesn't mean pulling out. Consider the study group's "solution", which is widely considered "realistic" and is common ground with the administration. If the official Iraqi army and police can somehow be miraculously turned into efficient, disciplined, and loyal fighting forces, then US troops can leave and Iraqis will be left to kill each other. That would nicely reduce both the estimated $8bn a month cost of the war, and US casualties. In addition, the study group wants some 10,000 to 20,000 US troops, mostly officers, to stay, embedded in the Iraqi units down to company level. US forces would also "assist Iraqi-deployed brigades with intelligence, transportation, air support, and logistics support, as well as providing some key equipment", in other words, just about everything that makes up a modern army. As if that weren't enough, the US should leave behind "rapid-reaction and special operations teams". These, presumably, could include covert operations such as assassinations and bombings, thwarting or encouraging coups and squaring up to the Iranians on the border. So much for Iraqi sovereignty.

Iraq's Sunni vice-president has urged Washington on February 5, 2007, to speed up the deployment of extra US troops to stop the "round the clock" killing in his country. Tariq Hashimi said that previous security drives had failed because they had too few combat troops. Mr Hashimi, one of two vice-presidents, spoke after a bloody weekend that saw 135 people die in a Baghdad bombing.

US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad have arrested the deputy health minister during a raid at his offices on February 8, 2007. The minister, Hakim al-Zamili, is a key member of the political group led by radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr. He is accused of aiding Shia militiamen and using ambulances to move weapons. The arrest came on the day Gen David Petraeus arrived in Baghdad to assume command of US forces in Iraq and oversee a push against militants. Gen Petraeus will take over this weekend from Gen George Casey, who has been promoted to US Army chief of staff.

The Iraqi commander of the Baghdad security crackdown announced Tuesday February 13, 2007, that Iraq will close its borders with Syria and Iran as part of the drive to end the violence that has threatened to divide the capital along sectarian lines. Ahead of the crackdown, anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fled Iraq for Iran some weeks ago and is believed to be in Tehren where he has family. Baghdad's nighttime curfew would be expanded by an hour and permits allowing civilians to carry weapons in public would be suspended during all of the operation, which could last weeks.

Iraq closed its borders with Iran and Syria as US and Iraqi troops tightened their grip on Baghdad on Thursday February 15, 2007, setting up more checkpoints that stopped and searched even official convoys for weapons. US officials have long accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross its long, porous border into Iraq, and over the weekend presented evidence of what they said were Iranian-manufactured weapons being smuggled into Iraq.

Iraq's President Jalal Talabani is ill and travelled to Jordan on Sunday February 25, 2007, for tests after a drop in blood pressure. His office said there was no cause for concern. Talabani, who is in his early 70s, heads the secular, socialist Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of two parties that dominate the Kurdish enclave that broke away from Baghdad's control after the 1991 Gulf war. A former guerrilla leader who fought Saddam for years, Talabani capped a life dedicated to the Kurdish cause by becoming Iraq's first Kurdish head of state.

On February 27, 2007, the United States and the Iraqi government are launching a new diplomatic initiative to invite Iran and Syria to a "neighbours meeting" on stabilizing Iraq. The move reflects a change of approach by the Bush administration, which previously had resisted calls by members of Congress and by a bipartisan Iraq review group to include Iran and Syria in diplomatic talks.

Iraq's neighbours, including Iran and Syria, have agreed to join US and British representatives at a regional conference in Baghdad on the Iraqi security crisis we were told on Wednesday February 28, 2007. China, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the US and Britain will participate but Tehran has said publicly it has made no decision. The tentative date was March 10. On March 1, 2007 Iran said it will take part if it is "in Iraq's best interests".

Iraq's president is "almost back to normal" health on March 1, 2007, four days after he was flown to hospital in neighbouring Jordan. Jalal Talabani's condition was described as "excellent". Mr Talabani was expected to finish his treatment and leave hospital within days.

Iraq's prime minister appealed to neighbouring states on Saturday March 10, 2007, to co-operate in tackling the insurgency which has left tens of thousands dead since 2003. The one-day conference on ways to restore stability in Iraq is being attended by envoys from other members of the UN Security Council, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as other states bordering Iraq.

The one-day security conference aimed at seeking solutions to Iraq's deteriorating situation ended with limited results in Baghdad on Saturday March 10, 2007. Iranian officials on Friday urged US-led coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq, just one day before an international conference on Iraq's security in Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made an unprecedented visit Tuesday March 13, 2007, to Ramadi, the capital of the unstable Anbar province, a major stronghold of Iraq's Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida in Iraq. General David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, took him there by helicopter. Once they landed, Petraeus slipped out the left side of the chopper -out of view; Maliki exited from the right side in front of the waiting television cameras, with no Americans in sight. Local tribal sheiks, many dressed in long brown robes, turned out to greet him. Many were armed with petitions asking for more security and improvements in local services. Maliki said his government was prepared to help.

Iraqis are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the future of their country and unhappy about their lives, a survey suggested on March 19, 2007. Less than 40% of those polled said things were good in their lives, compared to 71% two years ago. However, a majority of those questioned said that, despite daily violence, they did not believe Iraq was in a state of civil war.

On March 21, 2007, he vice-president of Iraq, Tareq al-Hashemi, called for talks to be opened with the country's insurgents - with the exception of al-Qaida- in an attempt to bring peace. He added that militants were "just part of the Iraqi communities." Mr Hashemi, a Sunni, has personal experience of Iraq's violence. Last year his sister and two of his brothers were killed.

Ahmed Shibani, a senior aide to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, once branded a major security threat appeared in public alongside Iraq's prime minister on March 22, 2007, after being freed from US custody. Mr Shibani met Nouri Maliki hours after Iraqi government officials said they were talking with insurgent groups. Mr Shibani could help moderate extremism in Iraq.

Iraq's government has engaged in secret negotiations seeking to get some Sunni Arab insurgent groups to give up their fight, but the talks are deadlocked over the lack of a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, we were told Thursday March 22, 2007. Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi of the Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation said talks have been taking place inside and outside Iraq over the past three months and involved five or six insurgent groups. He did not identify the groups, saying only that they excluded al-Qaida in Iraq and Saddam Hussein loyalists. But he said senior members of Saddam's outlawed Baath party took part. He added further talks were planned but would give no details.

Iraq's vice-president warned on March 24, 2007, that a quick withdrawal of US troops could worsen the security situation in Iraq. Tareq al-Hashemi responded after the US House of Representatives passed a bill imposing a deadline for all US troops to leave Iraq by 31 August 2008. Mr Hashemi said replacing US troops with poorly trained Iraqis whose loyalty was questionable would create a security vacuum. US President George W Bush vowed to veto the Democratic-sponsored bill.

The suicide assassination attempt on Iraq's deputy prime minister was carried out or set up by a security guard who was a distant relative the official hired as a bodyguard despite a previous arrest as a suspected Sunni insurgent we were told on Sunday March 25, 2007. The major security breach, at least the third involving a top politician in four months, prompted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to order a government-wide security shake up, including plans to hire a foreign company to guard the Green Zone building where parliament meets.

On Tuesday March 27, 2007, the Iraqi government plans to bring in a new law to allow former members of ex-president Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to official posts. The law creates a three-month period for the ex-members to be challenged, after which they will be immune from prosecution over the Saddam era. If ratified, it will replace the de-Baathification programme that was created to eject key party members. The army was disbanded, thousands of teachers, university lecturers and civil servants were sacked and anyone who had been a member of the higher tiers of the party was banned from government employment. However, many were reinstated after the US found that it had cleared out key ministries and the military without having any replacements.

Iraqi Justice Minister Hashem al-Shibli resigned on March 31, 2007, the first cabinet member to do so since the current government took office nearly a year ago. Mr Shibli had disagreements both with the government and with his own party, but no further explanation has been made public. Mr Shibli's resignation seems to have been a pre-emptive move. It has been known for some time that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has been planning a cabinet reshuffle.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on April 1, 2007, the Shia militia known as the Mehdi Army has stopped its activities on the orders of its leader, Moqtada Sadr. The president described this as a positive response to the six-week-old Iraqi-US security push in Baghdad.

Citing improved security in the capital, the Iraqi government said Tuesday April 3, 2007, it was shortening the Baghdad curfew by two hours and would allow citizens to be on the streets until 10 p.m. The easing of the ban on movement around the city coincided with a one-day sharp drop in the number of people known to have been killed in sectarian violence nationwide. Violence in the capital has declined since the latest US-Iraqi joint security operation began on February 14, though there have been spectacular attacks. But bloodshed has increased elsewhere in Iraq. Last week more than 600 people were killed nationwide in sectarian attacks, mainly truck and suicide bombings thought to be the work of Sunni insurgents or al-Qaida in Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shia have demonstrated in the holy city of Najaf on Sunday April 8, 2007, calling for US-led troops to leave Iraq. The protesters were responding to an appeal by cleric Moqtada Sadr, who branded US forces "your arch enemy" in a statement. The demonstration marks four years since US troops entered Baghdad and ended the rule of Saddam Hussein.

The United States must make a strategic about-face if it is to salvage the political situation in Iraq after four years of a botched occupation, said on April 10, 2007, Ali Allawi, a former top minister in Iraq's transitional government. He added US efforts to create a democracy in his country have been disastrous, but that the United States remains the only power capable of rectifying the situation. Critical mistakes were made after Saddam Hussein's ouster, said Allawi, such as disbanding Iraq's armed forces. He criticized what he described as the "rank amateurism and swaggering arrogance" of the US-led former Coalition Provisional Authority that governed Iraq after the invasion.

The political group of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said today April 16, 2007, it is quitting the Iraqi government, as a wave of bombings left another 43 people dead in Baghdad. The move was to press the group's demand for a timetabled exit of US-led foreign troops. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his ally US President George W. Bush have steadfastly refused to set a timeline for the withdrawal. The Sadr group has six cabinet ministers in Mr Maliki's embattled government and 32 legislators in the 275-member Iraqi parliament. Mr Maliki last week during a trip of Tokyo rejected demands by the US Congress for a timetable to pull out American troops, saying any withdrawal should be based on the situation on the ground. His remarks angered the Sadr group, which gave its first indication it was preparing to walk out of government.

Monday April 16, 2007's departure of six government cabinet ministers from the Iraqi government will indeed erode support for American-backed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The ministers represented radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, on whom Mr. Maliki relied to take the top government post in Iraq. But the withdrawal of the Sadrists -who left in protest over the prime minister's refusal to set a date for the departure of US troops- highlights more troubling developments: widening fissures within the country's ruling coalition and a brewing Shiite fight for supremacy that threatens to unravel the leading political coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA).

Iraqi authorities have handed over two members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to Turkey on April 18, 2007, after they deserted the group and took refuge with one of the main Iraqi Kurdish groups running bordering northern Iraq. These two members of the PKK, designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the US and the EU, surrendered themselves to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The terrorists, unarmed, were handed over to Turkish authorities at the Habur border gate.

On April 19, 2007, Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki condemned bombings in Baghdad that killed nearly 200 people, the worst day of violence since a US security operation began. Mr Maliki said those behind Wednesday's attacks were "soldiers of Satan". He also ordered the arrest of the army commander responsible for security in Sadriya district where some 140 people died in a car bombing in a food market. The attacks came as the prime minister said Iraqi forces would take control of security across Iraq by the year's end.

Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabit said on April 20, 2007, that the soldiers of the foreign military accused of crimes will not be prosecuted in Afghanistan. He said Afghan prosecutor could not interfere in cases pertaining to foreign military. Representative of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said according to their agreement with the Afghan government, foreign soldiers, accused of crimes, would be prosecuted under the laws of their native country.

Responsibility for security in Maysan province was handed over by Britain to Iraq on April 20, 2007. "Then it will be province by province until we achieve this transfer before the end of the year," said Mr Maliki in a speech delivered on his behalf by the National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie. But the transfer of political or security control by the US and Britain to Iraqi authorities has always been deceptive. Iraqis believe, with some reason, that real control remains in the hands of the occupying forces. Real power in Iraq is still largely in the hands of the US: The Iraqi intelligence service is funded by the CIA; The Defence Ministry is under strong American influence; The Green Zone where the Iraqi government has its headquarters is under US authority.

Iraq plans to take security control of the whole country from foreign forces by the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on April 20, 2007, after British forces handed over control of a southern province. Fiery anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is increasing pressure on Maliki to set a timetable for the withdrawal of 146,000 US troops from Iraq, which Maliki maintains will only happen when Iraqi security forces are ready to take control. Maliki said three provinces in the autonomous Kurdistan region would follow next. Kerbala and Wasit provinces would follow these.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr strongly condemned construction of a wall around a Sunni neighbourhood in Baghdad on Wednesday April 25, 2007, calling for demonstrations against the plan as a sign of "the evil will" of American "occupiers." In the statement, al-Sadr said the protests showed that Iraqis reject "the sectarian, racist and unjust wall that seeks to divide" Sunnis and Shiites. Many Sunnis also protested the plan, saying they felt like they were being herded into a prison. Protesters in Azamiyah carried banners Monday with slogans such as "No to the sectarian wall" and "Azamiyah children want to see Baghdad without walls."

On April 27, 2007, the Iraqi government criticised the US Senate's approval of a bill requiring US troops to leave Iraq. Ali al-Dabbagh, the main government spokesman, said the decision was "negative" and sent the wrong signals to insurgents. The controversial measure makes $100bn (£50bn) in further funding for the war conditional on a withdrawal timetable.

Washington on Monday April 30, 2007, urged the Saudi king to meet with Iraq's premier at a security conference later this week, while US President George W. Bush said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would be "polite but firm" with her Iranian counterpart if they meet at the gathering in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The call by Washington came as further deep differences emerged between Iraq and Arab countries ahead of the conference -scheduled for Thursday and Friday- with Egypt proposing a three-month cease-fire between the Iraqi government and insurgents. King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz had refused to receive Premier Nuri al-Maliki before the summit on Iraq's security because he was sceptical of the Maliki's government.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki here Wednesday May 2, 2007, that he needs to work harder to convince Iraq's Arab neighbours of his commitment to heal sectarian divides and ensure more participation by minority Sunnis, as she redoubles her efforts to persuade those governments to be more understanding and supportive of Iraq. On the eve of an international conference the Bush administration hopes will lead to increased financial and political backing, Rice told Maliki that "progress has to take place as rapidly as possible" toward political reconciliation among Iraq's ethnic and religious groups.

On May 3, 2007, Iraq's prime minister has appealed for other countries to write off its debts, at the start of a summit called to try to rebuild and stabilise the country. Nouri Maliki urged delegates at the talks in Egypt to help "build a united, democratic and federal Iraq". US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet her Syrian counterpart at the conference. The last high-ranking diplomatic contact between Washington and Damascus was in January 2005. Ms Rice has hinted she could also meet the Iranian foreign minister on the sidelines of the summit.

Saudi Arabia said it is still negotiating with Iraq over writing off billions of dollars owed it by the war-torn country, and major creditors Kuwait and Russia failed to offer immediate debt relief on May 3, 2007. The United States has stressed the Iraqi role in organizing the conference, but US diplomats and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 's advisers have crisscrossed the globe and worked heavily to drum up support, particularly among Arab nations. But the debt issue loomed large over the meeting's unfinished business. The Paris Club of affluent lender nations has already written off $100 billion of Iraq's debt -most from former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 's war against Iran in the 1990s.

The international conference on Iraq ended Friday May 4, 2007, without top-level meetings between the United States and Iran. Senior diplomats from Iran and the US hoped the foreign ministers would meet on the sidelines of the conference. There was instead a few minutes ambassador-level meeting. At the conclusion of the conference in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Iran to stop arming extremists and supporting terrorism in Iraq.

Visiting US Vice-President Dick Cheney met Iraq's political leaders and US army chiefs on May 9, 2007, to discuss security and attempts at political reconciliation. His talks with PM Nouri Maliki focused on the operation to curb violence in and around Baghdad. A joint US-Iraq security "surge" in Baghdad is entering its fourth month but sectarian violence continues and US troops are being killed every day. As Mr Cheney arrived in Baghdad, at least 14 people were killed in the city of Irbil, in the relatively calm Kurdish north.

US and British troops need to stay in Iraq for another one to two years, the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, said on May 11, 2007. "I think in one or two years we will be able to recruit our own army forces and say goodbye to our friends," Mr Talabani told students during a visit to Cambridge University.

On May 11, 2007, a majority of Iraq's Parliament expressed support for a bill requiring gradual withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and a freeze on current troops. The Parliament's decision follows the same path of the Democrats' decision in the US Congress, creating a timetable for a gradual departure and requiring that the Iraq government secures Parliament's approval before extending the UN mandate for foreign troops in the country, which expires in the end of 2007.

Iraq is drawing up plans to cope with any quick US military pullout, the defence minister said Monday May 21, 2007. The statement by Defence Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi marked the first time a senior Iraqi official has spoken publicly about the possibility of a quick end to the US-led mission. It was unclear if the remarks were more than routine contingency planning.

From hiding, possibly in Iran, US nemesis and radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is believed to be honing plans to sweep into the power vacuum made all the more intense by news that his chief Shiite rival has lung cancer. And he's betting the US won't keep its troops in Iraq much longer. Al-Sadr aides and loyal lawmakers have told The Associated Press the cleric's ambitions mean he will avoid taking on the Americans militarily as he did in 2004, when his Mahdi Army militia fought US forces to a standstill. He plans to keep up the drumbeat of anti-American rhetoric, consolidate political gains in Baghdad and the mainly Shiite south, and quietly foster even closer ties with neighbouring Iran and its Shiite theocracy. The strategy is based in part on al-Sadr's belief that Washington will soon start pulling out troops or draws them down significantly, leaving behind a huge hole in Iraq's security and political power structure.

On Thursday May 24, 2007, Iraq's PM named six new cabinet ministers to replace supporters of the radical Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, who resigned last month. The nominees are independent technocrats who would demonstrate that the government was democratic and professional. Sunni Arab leaders have repeatedly criticised the Shia-dominated administration for discriminating against their community, threatening to resign from government unless their grievances were addressed. Parliament is to vote on Sunday on whether to approve the new ministers' appointments.

On May 25, 2007, Moqtada Sadr, the radical Iraqi Shia cleric, appeared in public in Iraq for the first time in months. He led Friday prayers in Kufa to deliver a defiant sermon condemning the US and the occupation of the country. A senior aide to Mr Sadr told the BBC that he had left Iraq over fears for his safety and made a regional tour, including a trip to Iran.

On Friday May 25, 2007, Moqtada Sadr, the radical Shia cleric, backed a peace plan with Sunni factions in a bid to calm Iraq's sectarian violence. Mr Sadr, who appeared in Iraq for the first time in months at Friday prayers in Kufa, said his followers would co-operate with Sunnis against US occupation. Mr Sadr has met moderate Sunni groups, aiming to forge a "united and democratic Iraq". Mr Sadr blamed foreign troops for Iraq's problems, and said Sunni and Shia alike should oppose their continued presence in the country.

US and Iranian officials began rare talks in Baghdad on Monday May 28, 2007 to discuss Iraq's spiralling violence, which Washington says Tehran is fuelling by giving arms, funding and training to Shiite militias there. Iran denies the charge. US do not expect any great breakthrough from the talks.

On June 5, 2007, we were told that US and Iraqi forces control less than one-third of Baghdad's neighbourhoods, according to a review of the security crackdown. More than 20,000 US reinforcements are being deployed as part of the campaign.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, in visit in Iraq, was set Saturday June 16, 2007, to press Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki to make stronger efforts at reconciliation amid fears that another round of mosque bombings will further inflame sectarian violence.

The US commander of a new offensive north of Baghdad, reclaiming insurgent territory day by day, said on June 24, 2007, his Iraqi partners may be too weak to hold onto the gains. The Iraqi military does not even have enough ammunition, said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek: "They're not quite up to the job yet." His counterpart south of Baghdad seemed to agree, saying US troops are too few to garrison the districts newly rid of insurgents. There has got to be more Iraqi security forces, said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch.

The two Sunni Arab blocs -the Iraqi Accordance Front and the National Dialogue Front- boycotted the June 24, 2007, session of the parliament after their demand to reinstate the body's ousted speaker, Mahmud al-Mashhadani, was denied. Parliament members voted on June 11 to oust al-Mashhadani, a Sunni, after a series of incidents in which he or his bodyguards physically attacked fellow lawmakers.

On June 26, 2007, judicial authorities in Baghdad have issued a warrant for the arrest of the Iraqi minister of culture on terrorism charges. Police raided Asaad Kamal al-Hashemi's house overnight and arrested at least six of the Sunni politician's guards.

Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc suspended its participation in cabinet on June 29, 2007, because of legal steps being taken against one of its ministers, the head of the bloc. The Sunni Accordance Front has six ministers in cabinet and the move is a big blow to Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki at a time when he is trying to push through laws aimed at reconciling Iraq's warring Shiite and Sunni Arab communities.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Sunday July 1, 2007, he is determined to hold provincial elections by the end of this year as part of plans to delegate more power to the country's divided communities. Iraq held its first contested full-term parliamentary elections in December 2005, but it has not held provincial elections since January 2005, when most Sunni Arabs stayed at home, leaving many councils vacant.

Iraq's government has approved an amended draft law on how to share the country's oil wealth, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on July 3, 2007. The bill, which will now be passed to parliament to be debated, will be the "most important law in Iraq". However, the cabinet has yet to endorse deals such as revenue sharing and the creation of a national oil company. In addition, a parliamentary boycott by some Sunni and Shia factions is expected to slow the bill's passage.

Iraqi Shia leaders linked to the radical cleric, Moqtada Sadr attacked their former government ally, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on July 9, 2007, accusing him of bowing to US demands and sanctioning US attacks on Mr. Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. In April, six cabinet ministers loyal to Mr. Sadr quit their posts in protest at the government's refusal to demand a deadline for the withdrawal of US troops. Support from Mr. Sadr's bloc was critical to securing Mr. Maliki's appointment as prime minister last year.

Iraq said on July 10, 2007, Turkey has 140,000 soldiers along its border, prompting fears of an incursion against Kurdish guerrillas. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari an ethnic Kurd himself, said his government was against any breach of Iraqi sovereignty. He called for talks with Ankara to solve the issue. Turkey accuses Kurdish separatists of staging attacks from inside Iraq. It has often warned Baghdad that it is prepared to take military action.

Iraq's PM Nouri Maliki shrugged off criticism of his government's political progress on July 15, 2007, saying delays in the face of such violence were "fairly natural". He said "international interference" was partly to blame and called for more time to reach Washington's benchmarks. In his first public comments since the US released its interim report on Iraq, he said Iraqi forces were ready to take over security if US-led troops left. President George W Bush also called for his plans to be given more time.

The political bloc allied to Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr said on Tuesday July 17, 2007, it has ended its boycott of parliament. The 30 legislators pulled out after an important Shia shrine in Samara was bombed for a second time in a June attack. The bloc's head, Nassar Rubaie, said they were returning as their demands for the rebuilding of the shrine had been accepted. The Sadrists will not re-enter the Iraqi government. And the ongoing boycott of parliament by two main Sunni groups may still obstruct work on the legislation demanded by the United States Congress.

A bloc of Sunni Arab lawmakers returned to Iraq's parliament on July 19, 2007, ending a five-week boycott and vowing to work with their Shiite counterparts to save the country from chaos. Iraq's legislature has been deadlocked for weeks, despite U.S. pressure to meet 18 benchmarks, including a national oil revenue law and legislation to rehabilitate state employees purged from government because of their membership in the late dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

On Wednesday July 25, 2007, the largest Sunni bloc in Iraq's parliament, the Accordance Front, has suspended its participation in the government and is threatening to withdraw completely. It gave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki one week to meet its demands to deal with Shiite militias and reform the conduct of raids and arrests.

A key aide said on July 28, 2007, that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's relations with Gen. David Petraeus are so poor the Iraqi leader may ask Washington to withdraw the overall US commander from his Baghdad post. It seems less a clash of personality than of policy. The Shiite Muslim prime minister has reacted most sharply to the American general's tactic of enlisting Sunni militants, presumably including past killers of Iraqi Shiites, as allies in the fight against al-Qaida here. An associate said al-Maliki once, in discussion with President Bush, even threatened to counter this by arming Shiite militias.

On July 30, 2007, we were told that nearly a third of the population of Iraq is in need of immediate emergency aid, according to Oxfam and a coalition of Iraqi NGOs. The report said the government was failing to provide basics such as food and shelter for eight million people. It warned of a humanitarian crisis that had escalated since the 2003 invasion. Meanwhile, the US agency overseeing reconstruction in Iraq said economic mismanagement and corruption were equivalent to "a second insurgency".

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faces a revolt on August 1, 2007, within his party by factions that want him out as Iraqi leader. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, al-Maliki's predecessor, leads the challenge and already has approached leaders of the country's two main Kurdish parties, parliament's two Sunni Arab blocs and lawmakers loyal to powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Jaafari's campaign is based on his concerns that al-Maliki's policies had led Iraq into turmoil because the prime minister was doing too little to promote national reconciliation.

Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc announced its withdrawal from the government Wednesday August 1, 2007, threatening Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's efforts to seek reconciliation among the country's rival factions.

Members of Iraq's national football team arrived back in Baghdad on August 4, 2007, almost a week after their victory in the Asian Cup in Indonesia. The government hosted an emotional welcome-home reception for the players in the heavily fortified Green Zone. However, several of the team were absent, including the captain, Younis Mahmoud, who said he feared for his life if he returned to celebrate.

On August 4, 2007, we were told that a planned summit of Iraq's political leaders will be "the moment of truth" for chances of a powersharing deal between Iraq's bitterly divided sects. The pullout of the main Sunni bloc this week left Iraq's government a national unity coalition in name only at a time when it is under pressure from Washington to pass key laws and reach agreement on sharing power.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's unity government has plunged deeper into crisis on August 6, 2007, after four secularist ministers withdrew from cabinet meetings, less than a week after the main Sunni Arab bloc quit. A total of 17 ministers, nearly half of Maliki's cabinet, have now quit or are boycotting meetings at a time when he is under growing pressure from frustrated US officials to make demonstrable progress in reconciling Iraq's warring sects.

On August 7, 2007, Turkey and Iraq agreed to try to root out a Kurdish rebel group from northern Iraq, but Iraq's prime minister said he could not sign an agreement implementing the promise until it was put to his parliament. Erdogan said the leaders signed a memorandum of understanding and agreed to speed up work to finalize a counterterrorism agreement to combat the Kurdish guerrillas who have escalated their attacks on Turkey from bases in northern Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki arrived in Iran on August 8, 2007, for talks which are expected to concentrate mainly on security and co-operation. Mr Maliki's visit comes days after Iran and the Unites States held a third round of talks in Baghdad on improving Iraqi security. Ties between the mainly Shia Iran and the Shia-dominated Iraqi government have become increasingly close lately.

On August 8, 2007, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has met Iranian leaders for talks aimed at winning Tehran's unequivocal support for restoring security to his war-torn country. Mr Maliki, who has strongly backed the landmark discussions between Iran and the United States on Iraq's security, met Iranian Vice-President Parviz Davuodi and national security chief Ali Larijani.

Diplomatic talks with Iran are failing to stem the insurgency in neighbouring Iraq, the US State Department said on August 8, 2007, as the military revealed Iranian-linked bomb attacks on troops are increasing. Two rounds of talks between Ambassador Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad, and lower level security discussions, haven't ``yielded positive results. President George W. Bush said at a press conference that Iran is being told that ``there will be consequences'' for people sending deadly explosives to Iraq to be used against US soldiers.

Iranian officials told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on August 9, 2007, that only a US pullout would bring peace to his nation and claimed the Tehran government was doing its best to help stabilize neighbouring Iraq. Al-Maliki said decisions about an American pullout were between Baghdad and Washington. US President George W. Bush said he hoped al-Maliki's message to Tehran would be the same as the U.S. message, that Iran should halt the export of sophisticated explosive devices used to attack US troops in Iraq or "there will be consequences." Meeting with al-Maliki, a fellow Shiite, in the sect's holy city of Mashhad, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that "occupation forces are responsible for the problems in all aspects of life" in Iraq. Al-Maliki also had a warm meeting Wednesday evening with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, walking hand-in-hand with him into an ornate meeting room.

A drum beat reverberated through northwest Baghdad on Thursday August 9, 2007, and behind it came millions of pilgrims' footsteps, footsteps in a display of Shiite religious fervour and political strength. Hundreds of thousands of faithful descended upon the Shiite enclave of Kazimiyah flogging themselves and chanting Koranic verse to the beat of a lone drummer propelling them toward Baghdad's holiest Shiite shrine. In 115-degree heat, the pilgrims -3 million of them- snaked toward the gold-domed Imam al-Kadhim shrine, built on the spot where an 8th-century Shiite saint is believed to be buried.

On August 12, 2007, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on senior Iraqi leaders to hold crisis talks this week in an effort to save his fraying national unity government. His latest attempt to bring the leaders of the warring communities under one roof came at a time when the American military declared that five more of its troops had been killed.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Monday August 13, 2007, warned Iraq and Turkey against launching any crackdown on the separatist movement after both countries agreed to end its safe haven on the frontier. "The Iraqi government should not interfere in the conflict between us and Turkey", spokesman Abdelrahman Chadarchi said. "If they plan to strike at the PKK politically or militarily, Iraq and Turkey will pay the price and the crises in Iraq and Turkey will deepen", he added. Chadarchi denied that his party received military aid from either Iraqi Kurds or the United States. On August 7 Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a document of cooperation to end the safe haven that separatist Turkish Kurd rebels enjoy in Kurdish-run northern Iraq.

As Iraqi politicians flew north on Thursday August 16, 2007, to survey the devastation in two villages ruined by bombings, Shiite and Kurdish political leaders announced the formation of a new alliance intended to begin mending the fractured government and defuse the forces behind such violence. Politicians from the largest Sunni bloc in parliament said they would remain apart from the new group, asserting that the ruling Shiites still have not met their demands for greater participation. The Sunnis' stance effectively undermines the coalition's chances of breaking the political gridlock that has frustrated U.S. and Iraqi officials.

Iraq's political leaders are to hold another round of talks to prevent the unity government from collapsing. The development comes after the country's top Shia and Kurdish leaders formed a new political alliance on Thursday, but without Sunni leaders. The talks are being attended by Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister who is Shia; Jalal Talabani, the president who is a Kurd; Tareq al-Hashemi, a vice-president who is Sunni; Adel Abdel Mahdi, a vice-president who is Shia; and Massoud Barzani, president of the northern Kurdish region. The talks began on Saturday August 18, 2007, and were to continue on Sunday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki visited Syria on Monday August 20, 2007, his first trip to the country since taking office last year. Mr. Maliki will be meeting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, during the three-day visit. Among the issues Mr Maliki is expected to discuss is the plight of Iraqi refugees, almost two million of whom live in Syria.

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday August 20, 2007, said he would welcome a planned expansion of the United Nations mission in Iraq if it was designed to help Iraqis rebuild their country.

The delegation of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and their Syrian counterparts signed an agreement Tuesday August 21, 2007, to bolster security along the two countries' porous 466-mile border, which US military officials say is the crossing point for most of the foreign fighters in Iraq. The pact marks the first formalized security deal between the two countries, which have shared long-standing suspicions of each other since the rule of Saddam Hussein.

Iraq's top Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political leaders announced on Sunday August 26, 2007, they had reached consensus on some key measures seen as vital to fostering national reconciliation. The agreement by the five leaders was the most significant political development in Iraq for months and was immediately welcomed by the United States, which hopes such moves will ease sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands.

The Iraqi militia leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, called a six-month truce on August 29, 2007, after fighting with a rival Shia Muslim group in the holy city of Kerbala left more than 50 dead. The Mahdi army would lay down its weapons for six months and, during this time, would attack neither rival Shia groups nor the US army. Although US forces will welcome any respite, most of the attacks they face in the centre and north of the country are from Sunni nationalist groups and al-Qaida in Iraq.

On August 30, 2007, the Iraqi government welcomed the move by radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr to freeze the activities of his Mehdi Army militia for six months. Iraq's national security adviser said the suspension of all armed attacks - including those on American troops - was "very good news" that would "contribute to peace and stability". But a US military spokesman said commanders would be watching to ensure that the pledge was followed through.

An outbreak of cholera in two northern Iraqi provinces killed eight people and infected 80 others we were told on August 30, 2007. Local health authorities were also treating 4,250 suspected cases of the disease in Sulaimaniya and Tamim. Specialist teams and emergency aid have been sent to the affected regions. Serious problems with water quality and sewage treatment, worsened by crumbling local infrastructure, are being blamed.

On August 30, 2007, we were told that lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation has led to 5,000 people in northern Iraq contracting cholera. The outbreak is among the most serious signs yet that Iraqi health and social services are breaking down as the number of those living in camps and poor housing increases after people flee their homes.

Iraq has managed to reach only three out of 18 progress benchmarks set by the US we were told on August 31, 2007. The reported findings of the Government Accountability Office -a Congressional watchdog- contrast with a White House study saying eight goals have been met.

The US military said on September 1, 2007, it is encouraged by a radical Iraqi cleric's order that his Mehdi army militia should freeze operations for six months.

Iraq's embattled prime minister accused his US critics on September 3, 2007, of going too far, saying they did not appreciate the scale of disaster facing his country nor his government's achievements.

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki called on September 5, 2007, for weapons to be removed from Iraq's holy cities, after fighting in Karbala last week left more than 50 people dead. Speaking after meeting the country's most prominent Shia cleric in Najaf, Mr Maliki proposed placing the cities under the protection of the Iraqi army. Mr Maliki and Ayatollah Ali Sistani also discussed the government crisis that has seen several ministers resign. Others are boycotting meetings, leaving at least 17 cabinet seats empty. One of the main blocs in the governing United Iraqi Alliance that of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, pulled out of the government in April in protest at Mr Maliki's refusal to set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal. The major Sunni alliance in parliament, the Iraqi Accord Front, quit the Cabinet after accusing the prime minister of sectarianism.

Most people across the world believe US-led forces should withdraw from Iraq within a year, a BBC poll suggested on September 7, 2007. Some 39% of people in 22 countries said troops should leave now, and 28% backed a gradual pull-out. Just 23% wanted them to stay until Iraq was safe. In the US, one-in-four supported an immediate withdrawal, while 32% wanted Iraq's security issues to be resolved before bringing the troops home.

The last political party boycotting Iraq's legislature has returned to the parliament on September 8, 2007. The move could help ease the political paralysis that has kept lawmakers from passing legislation crucial for national reconciliation in the troubled country.

Iraqi leaders criticised neighbouring countries on September 9, 2007, for interfering in the country's internal affairs. The prime minister and his foreign minister made the accusation at an international security conference in Baghdad, attended by Syria and Iran. The US has accused Syria and Iran of failing to stop the infiltration of militants or arming them.

On September 11, 2007, the Iraqi government welcomed a positive report on the progress of the US military surge in Iraq by the top US commander there. Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie praised the US' "enormous sacrifice" and predicted a reduced combat role for US troops. Gen David Petraeus told Congressional panel violence had declined since more US troops were sent to Iraq. But his verdict was heavily criticised by US opposition politicians.

On September 15, 2007, the political movement loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has withdrawn from Iraq's governing Shia alliance. The move deprives Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's coalition of 30 votes - leaving it in control of about half the seats in parliament. The decision, announced in the holy city of Najaf, comes five months after Mr Sadr pulled out his ministers from the cabinet. The group has complained that Mr Maliki has not consulted them over decisions. Other grievances voiced in the past by the Sadr bloc include their call -ignored by the prime minister- for a timetable for the withdrawal of US-led forces from Iraq.

Cholera was confirmed Friday September 21, 2007, in a baby in Basra, the farthest south the outbreak has been detected. Officials expressed concern over a shortage of chlorine needed to prevent the disease from spreading. A shipment of 100,000 tons of the water purifier has been held up at the Jordanian border over fears the chemical could be used in explosives. Baghdad, which has doubled the amount of chlorine in the drinking water, now has only a week's supply.

Iraqi vice-president and Sunni leader Tariq al-Hashemi held talks with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shia cleric on September 27, 2007, a day after Mr Hashemi published proposals that he said would help achieve reconciliation in Iraq. The plan calls for the curbing of militias and an end to sectarianism.

Reconstruction work will begin next month on the al-Askari shrine a revered shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra blown up in the current conflict.

The Kurdish regional government in Iraq announced on October 4, 2007, four new oil exploration deals with international energy companies. The news is likely to upset the central government in Baghdad and the US.

On October 4, 2007, Iraq ordered $US100 million worth of military equipment from China for its police force, claiming the US is unable to provide the material and is too slow to deliver arms shipments. The China deal had alarmed military analysts, who had said Iraq's security forces were already unable to account for more than 190,000 weapons supplied by the US. Many of these weapons are believed to be in the hands of Shia and Sunni militias and insurgents. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, said only one in five Iraqi police officers were armed and called for faster weapons delivery from the US to beef up Iraq's fledgling army.

Two of Iraq's most influential Shia leaders have signed a deal on October 7, 2007, to try to end violence between their groups. Radical cleric Moqtada Sadr and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, have been locked in a bitter dispute for months. The leaders have agreed to try to end further bloodshed, foster a spirit of goodwill and form joint committees throughout the country.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on October 8, 2007, he supports a US Senate resolution that calls for the decentralization of Iraq into autonomous regions for Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. The non-binding Senate resolution adopted last month is opposed by the Bush administration and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The resolution urges the creation of a federal government in Baghdad that would protect Iraq's borders and share oil revenues among the regions.

A key Shiite member of Iraq's ruling coalition, Ammar Hakim, a leader the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), called Saturday October 13, 2007, for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from his country and rejected the possibility of permanent bases. He also called on American forces to be more careful in their use of force after recent bombings killed civilians in a Shiite village north of Baghdad and in a Sunni area northwest of the Iraqi capital.

On Sunday October 14, 2007, Iraq's former anti-corruption chief, Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, described widespread abuse in his country. He said that the commission he headed had gathered evidence of 3,000 cases of corruption. He accused the Baghdad government of stopping him from pursuing culprits. He was speaking in Washington, where he fled earlier this year, saying he feared for his life.

Iraq's president, a Kurd, ordered Kurdish guerrillas Sunday October 21, 2007, to lay down their arms or leave Iraq after the rebels ambushed a military unit near Turkey's border, killing 12 soldiers and increasing pressure on the Turkish government to stage a cross-border incursion. Hours after the ambush, Turkey fired about 15 artillery shells toward Kurdish villages in the border area in northern Iraq but caused no casualties.

On October 29, 2007, US forces handed control of the mainly Shia province of Karbala in central Iraq to local authorities in a tightly-guarded ceremony. Karbala is the eighth of 18 provinces to be transferred to local control since the US-led invasion in 2003.

On October 24, 2007, anti-American Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr urged members of his Mahdi Army to respect his order for a six-month freeze of military activity, threatening offenders in the feared militia with expulsion.

On October 31, 2007, the Iraqi government has dismissed a US warning that Iraq's largest dam is at imminent risk of collapse and is threatening the lives of thousands. US claims that Mosul Dam, in the country's north, was the most dangerous in the world are inaccurate and "totally untrue" according to the Iraqi. It is under constant observation and regularly maintained. In May, the US told Iraq a catastrophic collapse could unleash a 20m wave on Mosul, a city of 1.7 million.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hailed the release of 450 detainees from US detention centres on Thursday November 8, 2007, and urged them to help improve security in the country. The Shiite prime minister spoke to rows of prisoners at US Camp Victory. Many of the men squinted in the sun and wore what appeared to be military-issue checked shirts.

Thirty-one Asians will soon face trial in Iraq on charges of entering the country illegally, in the wake of a shooting involving a foreign logistics firm we were told on Thursday November 22, 2007. Iraqi security forces detained 43 people including the 31 Asian workers from a convoy of vehicles at a checkpoint after the shooting in central Baghdad on Monday in which a woman was seriously wounded. The other 12 detained were guards. The US military has said those responsible for the shooting could be charged under Iraqi law because the company involved, Dubai-based ALMCO, was a logistics contractor for food supply, construction and training, not a security firm. Security contractors have immunity from Iraqi law.

On December 4, 2007, the Iraq's Cabinet agreed to ask the United Nations to extend authorization for US-led forces in Iraq through the end of next year. The current one-year mandate expires at the end of December 2007. This will be the last time the government seeks such an extension.

At least 25,000 Iraqi refugees have returned to their homeland from Syria since mid-September, according to preliminary estimates released Monday December 3, 2007. It is estimated that 1.5 million Iraqis fled to Syria in recent years. The recent widespread drop in violence in Iraq has drawn some refugees back; moreover many have run out of money. Recent visa restrictions are forcing people back, too. The vast majority of the returning refugees, roughly 20,000, came back to the capital, Baghdad, where their well-being is far from assured. The Iraqi government put the number at 60,000 for September and October, a figure that includes all Iraqis who crossed the Syria border during that time.

Two million children in Iraq are facing threats including poor nutrition, lack of education, disease and violence, the UN children's agency, UNICEF, said on December 22, 2007. Hundreds were killed in violence during 2007, while 1,350 were detained by the authorities. Some 25,000 children and their families had to leave their homes each month to seek shelter in other parts of Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Maliki returned to Baghdad on January 5, 2008, after "routine" medical tests in Britain. It is not clear precisely what kind of tests he had, but he had been said to be suffering from exhaustion. Mr Maliki himself said on arrival that he was in good health and would at once resume the work of rebuilding Iraq. While in Britain, Mr Maliki, 57, had talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown about British hostages in Iraq and political and economic progress.

The Iraqi Parliament passed a bill on Saturday January 12, 2008, that would allow some former officials from Saddam Hussein's party to fill government positions but would impose a strict ban on others. The legislation is the first of the major so-called political benchmark measures to pass after months of American pressure for progress. The measure, which is expected to be approved as a law by the presidential council, was described by its backers as opening the door for the reinstatement of thousands of low-level Baath Party members barred from office after the 2003 invasion. However, it was unclear how far the legislation would go toward soothing Sunni Arabs, because serious disagreements emerged in the hours after the vote about how much the law would actually do.

The US ambassador to Afghanistan flew to a town previously held by the Taliban in the world's largest poppy-growing region and told the ex-militant commander now in charge there that Afghans must stop "producing poison." Ambassador William Wood on Sunday January 13, 2008, drank tea and talked with Mullah Abdul Salaam, a former Taliban commander who defected to the government last month and is now the district leader of Musa Qala in the southern province of Helmand. Wood urged Salaam to tell his people to leave behind "the practice of producing poison," and said poppy production, the key element in the opium and heroin trade, was against the law and Islam.

Iraqi lawmakers approved a new flag Tuesday January 22, 2008, defusing a dispute with the Kurds, who refused to fly the national banner because of its connection to Saddam Hussein. The temporary flag, a one-year stopgap until a more permanent design is selected, will no longer bear the three green stars representing the "unity, freedom, socialism" motto of Hussein's Baath Party. The former leader's handwritten "Allahu akbar" (God is great) will be replaced with an old-style Arabic font.

On January 26, 2008, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki announced the start of a major offensive against al-Qaida militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Iraq's Parliament on Wednesday February 13, 2008, passed three benchmark pieces of legislation that had been demanded by Washington. US and Iraqi leaders expressed hopes that the deal would help resolve long-standing grievances, such as the treatment of former Sunni insurgents that have fuelled violence among ethnic and religious groups. The laws address some of the 18 political benchmarks established last year by the US Congress to measure progress in Iraq. Other key legislation, including a law that would more fairly share oil revenues, has yet to be approved.
The laws approved by Iraq's Parliament Wednesday seek to please each of the country's three major factions by:
- Passing an amnesty that could lead to the release from jail of thousands of former insurgents, among them many Sunni Arabs.
- Calling for new provincial elections on Oct. 1 that could bring more Shiite Arabs into government.
Providing a $48 billion budget for this year that maintains government spending for Kurds.

Radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement Sunday February 17, 2008, announced it was cancelling a pact it signed four months ago with its main Shiite rival aimed at reducing tension between the two groups. The agreement between the Sadrists and the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim "has failed and is cancelled," Nassar al-Rubaie, spokesman for the Sadr bloc in parliament said.

A law that could shape Iraq's future by clearing the way for investment in its oil fields is deadlocked by a battle for control of the reserves and no end is in sight, we were told on February 18, 2008. The bill should share revenue equitably between Iraq's Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds. They only agree on the fact that the law is vital to securing foreign investment to boost Iraq's oil output and rebuild its shattered economy after five years of insurgency and sectarian fighting. The law remains stalled by bitter rows between Baghdad and the largely autonomous Kurdistan region in the north over who will control the fields and how revenue will be shared.

Iraq announced Tuesday February 19, 2008, it will buy 40 new aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing plus another six from Canadian firm Bombardier to revitalize an ailing fleet depleted by UN sanctions. It has also agreed to buy four used aircraft from Boeing and has the right to buy another 10 new aircraft. The deal with Boeing, valued at $6 billion, is aimed at facilitating an increase of traffic to and from Iraq. Delivery of the aircraft would take place in 2013 and 2014.

On Thursday February 21, 2008, Iraqi security forces have been ordered to detain beggars and mentally ill people found on Baghdad's streets who could be exploited by militants. A handful of such people had been picked up from the streets so far. Those detained will be sent to mental institutions or back to their families. The policy follows allegations that two recent suicide bombings were carried out by mentally ill women.

On February 22, 2008, Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr ordered the renewal of the ceasefire his powerful militia has been observing for the past six months. This cease fire was widely credited with reducing sectarian tensions and contributing to the recent overall drop in violence.

On Thursday February 28, 2008, more than two million pilgrims gathered in Karbala to mark one of the holiest religious ceremonies on the Shiite Muslim calendar -Arbaeen. Pilgrims gather to pay homage at the burial ground of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein. One Shiite pilgrim was killed Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded near a bus in the Iraqi capital. Earlier this week, a series of attacks on pilgrims killed at least 63 people and wounded more than 100 others.

On March 26, 2008, the Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded that the country's prime minister leave Basra where he is overseeing a military operation to purge the southern city of its radical Shiite militiamen.

It appears on Saturday March 29, 2008, that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's ultimatum to Shiite Muslim militiamen to surrender to the Iraqi government might not be working precisely as he had intended. When nobody had turned up by Friday, Maliki gave members of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army militia 10 more days to turn in their weapons and renounce violence. Instead, about 40 members of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi army and National Police offered to surrender their AK-47s and other weapons this morning to Sadr's representatives in the cleric's east Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City. One of the police officers told journalists assembled at Sadr's office that he was heeding a call by an Iraqi cleric based in Iran, Ayatollah Fadhil Maliki, to stop fighting fellow Muslims.

Radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr said on April 13, 2008, the US will always be his enemy "till the last drop of blood". Mr Sadr was responding to a statement by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who said that all those within the political process were not enemies.

At a ministerial meeting in Kuwait Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki urged neighbouring states on April 22, 2008, to do more to support his country's economy. Iraq was still waiting for its neighbours to honour pledges to cancel debts. He also repeated a call for Arab states to provide more political support, by reopening embassies in Baghdad. Ms Rice has been pressing for Arab states to establish full diplomatic ties with Baghdad to counter Iranian influence in the region. No Arab countries currently have an ambassador based permanently in Iraq. Some have said they plan to reopen their embassies, but cite security concerns for the delay in doing so.

The Iraqi government said on May 18, 2008, that an al-Qaida in Iraq leader, Ahmed Ali Ahmed, an al-Qaida leader also known as Abu Omar, was sentenced to death for the slaying of a Chaldean Catholic archbishop, who was kidnapped in February and his body found days later. Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was snatched in February in the northern city of Mosul by gunmen who attacked his car as he left a Mass. His body was found later in a shallow grave.

The U.S. command said Friday May 23, 2008, that more than 140 suspected Sunni Arab insurgents surrendered to authorities after the resolution of a standoff involving three tribal leaders in Balad. It is a significant step toward reconciliation in the area that has been one of the hardest to control in Iraq.

On May 24 2008, we were told that Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is on verge of issuing fatwa, amounting to a defensive jihad, against occupying US troops. Sistani was against the Maliki government offensive on the Mahdi Army in Basra and Sadr City.

Iraq's main Sunni Arab political bloc said on Wednesday May 28, 2008, it had suspended talks to rejoin the Shiite-led government after a disagreement with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over a cabinet post. Persuading the bloc to rejoin has been a main aim of U.S. policy in Iraq and is widely seen as a vital step in reconciling the country's factions after years of conflict. Sunni Arabs have little voice in a cabinet dominated by Shiites and Kurds.

On May 29, 2008, UN chief Ban Ki-moon praised progress in Iraq at a UN forum in Sweden on the situation in the country. Mr Ban said Iraq was "stepping back from the abyss that we feared most" but warned the situation "remains fragile". Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki called for debt cancellation, mainly from neighbouring Arab nations. Nearly 100 countries are taking part in the forum, which is aimed at supporting Iraq's efforts to restore stability and rebuild a functioning economy.

On June 5, 2008, Iraqis across the political spectrum have objected to Bush administration proposals for unilateral authority over U.S. military operations in Iraq and the detention of Iraqi citizens, immunity for civilian security contractors, and continuing control over Iraqi borders and airspace. Failure to reach an agreement on the arrangements, which must be approved by the Iraqi parliament, would leave the negotiations over a future U.S.-Iraqi relationship and the role of U.S. forces in the country to the next American president.

Iraqi officials are hoping for a new era in the country's relations with Arab neighbours following the United Arab Emirates' pledge Thursday June 5, 2008, to send the first Arab ambassador to Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Arab nations have shied away from full relations with the new Iraqi government, which is dominated by Shiite Muslims and Kurds -two groups that were oppressed under the largely Sunni Muslim government of deposed President Saddam Hussein. The mostly Sunni Persian Gulf nations in particular have kept their distance, wary of Iran's regional ambitions and extensive ties with the new Iraqi government. Iran is dominated by Shiites. The antipathy has extended in both directions; many Shiites and Kurds in Iraq blame Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia for supporting Hussein as a bulwark against Iran. Some here accuse citizens from gulf nations of fuelling and financing Iraq's ongoing Sunni-led insurgency.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday June 8, 2008, assured Iran that Iraq would not allow its territory to be used as a platform to "harm" the Islamic republic. Maliki's comments come amid Iranian alarm over US pressure on Baghdad to sign an agreement that would keep US soldiers in the country beyond 2008. Iran has always called for the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. US President George W. Bush and Maliki agreed in principle last November to sign the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) by the end of July. But Iraq has now said it has a "different vision" from the United States on the issue. Iran's concern about the deal comes amid renewed tensions over its nuclear programme, which the United States fears is aimed at making atomic weapons, a charge vehemently rejected by Tehran.

On June 10, 2008, the Iraqi antiquities department recovered 11 ancient ceremonial seals that were looted after the US-led invasion of the country in 2003. Originally from the national museum, the artefacts, some of which date from 3,000BC, were seized by US customs officials in the city of Philadelphia. Iraq has previously blamed the looting of thousands of artefacts on organised smugglers and occupying foreign troops. The country has been carrying out a worldwide campaign to get the objects back.

Officials in Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's ruling coalition are questioning whether Iraq needs a U.S. military presence even as the two countries press forward with high-pressure negotiations to determine how long American forces will remain.

On June 10, 2008, some officials in Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party and his Shiite United Iraqi Alliance bloc, have spoken in favour of imposing severe restrictions on U.S. forces after the United Nations mandate authorizing their presence expires at the end of the year. According to Iraqis, Americans supported a draft of the agreement that called for allowing U.S. forces to detain Iraqis and conduct missions without the government's permission. They have also said the Americans required up to 58 permanent bases, control of Iraqi airspace and immunity for troops and contractors.

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki said on June 14, 2008, that talks with the US on a long-term agreement allowing US forces to remain in Iraq have "reached an impasse". Mr Maliki said the American demands infringed Iraqi sovereignty. With the UN mandate for US forces to be in Iraq expiring at the end of 2008, the White House wants a deal by July. The deadlock came as Mehdi Army leader Moqtada Sadr said only a select group of the militia should fight US forces. In an apparent attempt to reassert control over the militia, the radical Shia cleric said only a limited number of the estimated 60,000-strong group should be authorised to battle US troops in Iraq.

Members of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr's political bloc announced Sunday June 15, 2008, that the group would not compete as a party in coming local elections but would endorse candidates. The decision appeared aimed at allowing the Sadr movement to play a role in the Iraqi elections despite a government threat to bar the bloc from fielding candidates if it did not first dissolve its militia. The endorsements "will not be for Sadrists alone, but for individuals, chieftains, people with popularity and talents to serve and offer public services to the people," said Sadr loyalist and parliament member Haidar Fakhrildeen. The Iraqi parliament has yet to pass an electoral law, and the stalemate could delay balloting. The parliament is divided on whether candidates should compete individually or on party lists, and over whether the law should ban parties with militias from competing.

The expected transfer of an Iraqi province to Iraqi security control has been postponed without explanation. US-led troops had been expected to hand over Diwaniya on Monday June 30, 2008, making it the 10th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be transferred to government forces. Last week, the transfer of the first mainly Sunni province -Anbar, west of Baghdad- was also delayed. The authorities cited bad weather preventing officials from flying in!

The United States show flexibility in negotiations with Iraq on a new security pact, Iraq's foreign minister said on Wednesday July 2, 2008, adding the deal would be transparent and open to public scrutiny in Iraq. Sticking points remained, including control of military operations, airspace and the power to detain Iraqi citizens. Washington has dropped its demand for private contractors working for the US government or military to have immunity from Iraqi law. Joint committees are also expected to vet planned US military operations in advance. The security pact will replace a UN mandate for the presence of US troops in Iraq that expires on December 31.Washington and Baghdad are also negotiating a separate long-term agreement on political, economic and security ties. If no agreement is reached by the time the UN mandate expires, an extension could be sought or an interim deal made.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on July 5, 2008, he will not allow the country's territory to be used for an attack against Iran. As speculation grows over a possible Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, the question arises whether Israel will use Iraqi airspace to launch such an attack. The Iraqi Prime Minister has taken a strong stance against the use of Iraq as a base for an attack against Iran.

Iraq said on Tuesday July 8, 2008, it will not reach any security pact with Washington unless it sets a date for the pullout of US-led foreign troops. The Shiite-led government's demand -which was swiftly rejected by Washington- underlines Iraq's new tougher stand in complex negotiations aimed at striking a security deal more than five years after the US-led invasion.

On July 9, 2008, we were told that insistent demands from the Iraqi government for a firm timetable for the pullout of foreign troops reflect huge pressure from its Shiite majority constituency in the run-up to key provincial elections. The calls have been given strong backing by the Shiite spiritual hierarchy which the mainly religious parties that lead the governing coalition have found almost impossible to ignore. After a meeting with Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the shrine city of Najaf, National Security Adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie announced that Iraq would reject any deal that does not contain a timetable for a troop withdrawal.

US President George W. Bush said Tuesday July 15, 2008, that withdrawing all US combat troops from Iraq is the goal, but he rejected setting any timetable. Bush said whoever succeeds him next January, he shall listen to the "commanders, diplomats and Iraqis" before making any new decisions on Iraq. Iraq has become a central topic in the US presidential campaign this week.

On July 16, 2008, Iraq has taken control of security in Diwaniyah province from US-led forces, the tenth province to be handed over amid a nationwide fall in the level of violence. Iraq could take control of the remaining eight provinces by December.

President Bush agreed to "a general time horizon" for withdrawing American troops from Iraq, the White House announced Friday July 18, 2008, in a concession that reflected both progress in stabilizing Iraq and the depth of political opposition to an open-ended military presence in Iraq and at home. The agreement, announced in coordinated statements by the White House and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's government, reflected a significant shift in the war in Iraq. More than five years after the conflict began with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the American military presence now depends significantly, if not completely, on Iraqi acquiescence.

While visiting Iraq, Gordon Brown said he favours reducing troop numbers in Iraq but would not set an "artificial timetable" during talks with Iraqi leaders. The prime minister also met senior US officials during a surprise visit to the country, ahead of a statement next week on Britain's involvement there.

The main Sunni Muslim bloc in Iraq rejoined the Shia-led government on July 19, 2008, in what correspondents called an important step for national reconciliation. The return of six ministers from the Accordance Front to the cabinet was approved by lawmakers. The Sunni bloc withdrew almost a year ago following a row over power-sharing. Its return was "a real step forward for political reform" in the predominantly Shia country.

The US and Iraq are unlikely to come to an agreement on a long-term security pact before the 31 July deadline we were told on July 21, 2008. The two countries are hammering out a deal to allow US troops to stay in Iraq after the current UN mandate runs out on 31 December 2008.

Iraq's parliament on Tuesday July 22, 2008, passed a key draft provincial election law that would allow voting to take place in the country's 18 provinces later this year. The provincial elections aim to offer more powers to Iraq's provinces, especially in economic projects. Last week, the 275-member parliament voted on the law but it failed to pass because Kurdish lawmakers boycotted the session. On Tuesday, the Kurds again boycotted the vote but parliament still managed to get the law passed, a crucial move if the electoral commission is to make the necessary preparations for polls to go ahead as scheduled on October 1. The Kurds have opposed the bill because of disputes over how to constitute the provincial council of Kirkuk, the northern oil province claimed by both the Arabs and Kurds.

Athletes from Iraq have been banned from taking part at this summer's Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee has announced on July 25, 2008. The team was already the subject of an interim ban after the Iraqi government replaced the country's Olympic committee with its own appointees. Under the IOC charter, all committees must be free of political influence. Iraq had been planning to send a team of at least seven athletes to the Olympics which start on 8 August.

There is a slim chance that Iraqi athletes could take part in the Beijing games, the International Olympic Committee said on Saturday July 26, 2008. The IOC has banned Iraq from taking part because the government replaced the country's Olympic committee with its own appointees. But if Iraq reverses the decision, it could yet meet Wednesday's registration deadline for athletics events. Iraqi officials have indicated they are not prepared to back down on the issue.

The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday July 29, 2008, allowed Iraq to send a two-athlete team to next month's Beijing Games in a last-minute deal ending a dispute with the Iraqi government. Iraq was banned last week after the government disbanded the country's National Olympic Committee (NOC), a move that had angered the IOC.

Iraqi parliament failed on Sunday August 3, 2008, to pass a law on provincial elections, putting the date of important polls in doubt and leaving unresolved a political standoff that has stoked ethnic tensions. After struggling for hours to reach a quorum, lawmakers indefinitely postponed a special session they had called to pass the law, which has come unstuck over plans for the disputed northern city of Kirkuk and angered minority Kurds. The delay may mean the elections, originally planned for October 1, could be put off until next year. Electoral officials have said they need months to plan once the law is passed.

Iraqi members of parliament failed to reach agreement on Tuesday August 5, 2008, on a much-delayed local elections bill amid persistent disagreement over the disputed northern oil province of Kirkuk. A reworded draft put before MPs secured the backing of Kurdish parties that had previously been strongly against the proposed legislation but ran into opposition from Turkmen and Arab politicians. Longstanding Kurdish claims to Kirkuk and its oil wealth have been consistently opposed by northern Iraq's Turkmen minority as well as by many of the Arab settlers brought into the area by executed president Saddam Hussein's regime in a bid to keep the province under direct central government control.

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who launched the Shiite insurgency in Iraq four years ago, sparking a cycle of violence that killed scores of U.S. soldiers and led to a sectarian war, will transform his militia into a mostly nonviolent social organization, his office said on August 8, 2008.

We were told on Friday August 8, 2008, that Iraq and the US are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last support soldiers out three years later. US officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed. The proposed agreement calls for Americans to hand over parts of Baghdad's green zone, where the US embassy is, to the Iraqis by the end of this year. It would also remove US forces from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009.

Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shiite cleric, said Friday August 8, 2008, that he would divide his Mahdi army militia in two: one elite unit of fighters and a group that would work on community and religious programs. He urged his Shiite followers to volunteer for the new social wing named the Momahidoun, meaning "those who prepare the way."

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Sunday August 10, 2008, that the United States must provide a "very clear timeline" for its troops to withdraw in the ongoing negotiations on a security deal. The agreement would probably be presented to the Iraqi parliament for approval early in September. The two countries have failed to meet their July 31 deadline of the security deal which will set a framework for the US troops' presence in Iraq after 2008.

On August 14, 2008 we were told that the American soldiers will withdraw from cities across Iraq next summer and all US combat troops will leave the country within three years, provided the violence remains low, under the terms of a draft agreement with the Iraqi Government. Also the US military would be barred from unilaterally mounting attacks inside Iraq from next year. In addition, the power of arrest for US soldiers would be curbed by the need to hand over any detainee to a new, US-Iraqi committee. Troops would require the green light from this joint command before conducting any operation.

Iraq's largest Sunni party accused government security forces of sectarian bias Tuesday August 19, 2008, after soldiers arrested a Sunni university president and a Sunni provincial council member in Baquba. The raids follow an Iraqi crackdown there against US-backed Sunni Arab volunteers who turned against al-Qaida and joined the fight against the terror movement. The moves are likely to heighten Sunni suspicions about the Shiite-led national. Iraqi troops backed by US helicopters swooped down on the provincial government complex in Baquba. The troops stormed the office of the provincial governor, Raad Rashid al-Tamimi, triggering a gunfight that killed his secretary and wounded four of his guards. The Sunni head of the provincial council's security committee, Hussein al-Zubaidi, was arrested. Later, troops raided the home of the president of Diyala University, Nazar al-Khafaji, handcuffed him, placed a hood over his head and led him away. Troops also seized three computers and several books. Gov. al-Tamimi is a Shiite, but Sunni politicians believed both the raid on his office and the arrest of the university president were part of a crackdown against Sunni Arabs, the largest community in the province. The Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni faction, said in a statement that the raids were a sign "sectarianism remains the sole motive of the security forces," which are mostly Shiite.

Iraqi security forces arrested a son of the leader of the country's main Sunni Arab political bloc at his house in Baghdad on Tuesday August 19, 2008, accusing him of terrorism. Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Accordance Front which rejoined the Shiite-led government of Nuri al-Maliki last month after a nearly year-long boycott, said his son Muthana had been arrested by Iraqi troops while talking to guards near the house.

Iraq's foreign minister said on August 21, 2008, Iraq and the US are "very close" to a deal on the future of US forces in Iraq. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -on an unannounced trip to Baghdad- said the final deal would be in line with Iraqi laws and sovereignty. US troops' immunity from prosecution and the timing of a US pull-out remain to be resolved. The draft deal being discussed includes a commitment that US troops will start to pull out of Iraq's cities from next summer, moving to large bases out of public view.

On August 23, 2008, we were told that US combat troops could leave Iraq by 2011 under the terms of a deal awaiting approval by Iraq's parliament and presidency. The draft security agreement also calls for US forces to withdraw from all Iraqi urban areas by June 2009. The 27-point agreement reportedly includes a compromise allowing US soldiers some immunity under Iraqi law. However the final date when US troops leave will depend largely on security.

Iraq's top Shiite cleric took the unusual step on August 24, 2008, of inviting reporters to his office to deny widespread rumours he was seriously ill. Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani is thought to be 80 and suffers from an unspecified heart ailment for which he received treatment in London in 2004. The Iranian-born cleric does not give media interviews and rarely ventures out of his modest home in Najaf.

On the August 28, 2008, broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh falsely claimed that Senator Joe Biden "wanted to split Iraq into three different countries by ethnic lines." Limbaugh went on to say, "That would have created a civil war. He did not want to win." In fact Biden introduced a "five-point plan" to "maintain a unified Iraq by decentralizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis breathing room in their own regions." The plan also states that "the Iraqi constitution already provides for federalism" and that "the central government would be responsible for common interests, like border security and the distribution of oil revenues." You cannot trust the Americans in general about what they say on Iraq but ring wingers are real liars.

Top US defence officials have recommended that President George W. Bush withdraw one combat brigade from Iraq but not until early next year, Pentagon said on Thursday September 4, 2008. A US Army combat brigade has 3,000 to 5,000 troops. The United States now has 15 combat brigades in Iraq as well as many other units, making a total of more than 140,000 troops.

US President George W Bush announced on September 9, 2008, that about 8,000 US troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by February 2009 with 4,500 being sent to Afghanistan. There are currently 146,000 US troops in Iraq and 33,000 in Afghanistan.

The outgoing commander of US troops in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, said on September 12, 2008, that he will never declare victory there. He added that recent security gains were "not irreversible" and that the US still faced a "long struggle". When asked if US troops could withdraw from Iraqi cities by the middle of next year, he said that would be "doable". In his next job leading the US Central Command, Gen Petraeus will also oversee operations in Afghanistan.

David Petraeus, the American general who presided over Iraq's pullback from the brink of all-out civil war, relinquished his command Tuesday September 16, 2008, to General Ray Odierno.

US Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden bid a safe farewell on Friday October 3, 2008, to 112 "citizen soldiers" headed to Iraq, including his son, and told them "thank you for answering the call of your country."God bless you and may He protect you," Biden said a day after his debate with his Republican rival Sarah Palin, who as Alaska's governor saluted her 20-year-old son off to war last month.

On October 17, 2008, senior Iraqi politicians have adjourned talks on a draft deal with the US that could see the withdrawal of American troops in three years' time. The agreement has been the subject of negotiations for months, and its approval by the Political Council for National Security is not guaranteed. There is no indication of when the council will resume its debate.

On Saturday October 18, 2008, supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr staged a mass demonstration in Baghdad in protest against plans to extend the US mandate in Iraq. An estimated 50,000 protesters chanted slogans such as "Get out occupier!" Iraqi and US negotiators drafted the deal after months of talks but it still needs approval from Iraq's government. Under the agreement US troops would withdraw by 2011, and Iraq would have the right to prosecute Americans who commit crimes while off-duty.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ruling Shiite alliance said on Sunday October 19, 2008, that parts of the draft security agreement with the United States need more discussion and amendments before it can be approved.

After a meeting with visiting British Defence Secretary John Hutton, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on October 19, 2008, Baghdad and London will begin negotiating to decide the future of British forces in Iraq after the expiration of the U.N. mandate for foreign forces in the country at the end of the year.

Iraq's cabinet was discussing a contentious security pact with Washington on Tuesday October 21, 2008, as the top US military chief warned that time was running out for Baghdad to back the deal. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, bluntly warned that Iraq risked security losses of "significant consequence" unless it approved an agreement that provides a legal basis for US forces to remain in the country. He also charged that Iran was working hard to scuttle Iraq's adoption of the so-called Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA.

The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, said on October 22, 2008, that "pretty dramatic" consequences would follow if an accord governing the presence of US soldiers in Iraq falls through. He added that the door was "pretty far closed" on further negotiations towards a security deal - though it was not slammed shut. Iraq's cabinet discussed the pact and unanimously called for changes to the draft agreement now under review, despite US warnings that time is running out to finalise a deal.

Kazakhstan has decided to pull its troops out of Iraq after five years of fighting alongside the US army we were told on Tuesday October 21, 2008. Kazakhstan had deployed about 30 mine-clearing troops in Iraq a few months after the US-led invasion in the spring of 2003.

On October 23, 2008, Iraqi forces have been handed control of security in the province of Babil by the US military. It is the 12th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be handed back to Iraqis. The province includes a Sunni Muslim area which became known as the "Triangle of Death" because of the high number of attacks against US forces there.

The final draft of the United States-Iraq Status of Forces agreement -released October 23, 2008- on the US military presence represents an even more crushing defeat for the policy of the George W Bush administration than previously thought, the final text reveals. The final draft, dated October 13, not only imposes unambiguous deadlines for withdrawal of US combat troops by 2011, but makes it extremely unlikely that a US non-combat presence will be allowed to remain in Iraq for training and support purposes beyond the 2011 deadline for withdrawal of all US combat forces. Furthermore, Shiite opposition to the pact as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty makes the prospects for passage of even this agreement by the Iraqi parliament doubtful.

Iraqi authorities have taken over responsibility for security for the Wasir province from US military forces on October 29, 2008. Wasit, bordering Iran in the east of the country, is the 13th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be transferred. The transfer of Wasit took place at a ceremony in the provincial capital of Kut.

On October 31, 2008, we were told that Iraq wants to eliminate any chance U.S. forces will stay after 2011 under a proposed security pact and to expand Iraqi legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops until then. Those demands, which were presented to U.S. officials this week, could derail the deal. Failure to reach an agreement before Dec. 31 could force a suspension of U.S. military operations, and U.S. commanders have been warning Iraqi officials that could put security improvements at serious risk.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said on November 1, 2008, that the U.S. military could have bases in northern Iraq if Washington and Baghdad fail to sign the controversial security deal.

An agreement allowing U.S. forces to stay in Iraq for three years should be put to the public in a referendum, Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president said on Tuesday November 3, 2008. The pact, which will govern the U.S. presence in Iraq after a mandate from the U.N. Security Council expires at year's end, "must not pass without approval from Iraqis," Tareq al-Hashemi, who is one of Iraq's two vice presidents, said in a statement." "This agreement is an important and sensitive subject ... Iraqis should have their say."

The U.S. notified Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on November 6, 2008, it has accepted many of the changes proposed last week by the Iraqi cabinet in a draft security agreement between the two countries. Iraq's cabinet plans to meet Sunday to discuss the pact. If Iraqi ministers approve the deal, parliament could take it up next week.

The Iraqi cabinet approved on December 16, 2008, a security pact with the US governing the future presence of 150,000 US troops in the country. Under the deal, US troops will withdraw from the streets of Iraqi towns next year, leaving Iraq by the end of 2011. The decision will need to go before Iraq's parliament for a final vote.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and the US envoy to Iraq Ryan Crocker signed Monday November 17, 2008, the long-awaited security pact which would allow US forces to remain in the country for three more years. The agreement has to be approved by parliament before it goes into force.

On November 18, 2008, we were told that the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here. The dismissals, which were confirmed by senior Iraqi and American government officials on Sunday and Monday, have come as estimates of official Iraqi corruption have soared. One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials.

Parliament Wednesday November 19, 2008's session was cut short due to opposition from Iraqi lawmakers loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadrist members disrupted the session by shouting, and one lawmaker scuffled with guards. The agreement is expected to pass because Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ruling coalition dominates the legislature. Parliament is expected to vote on the pact November 24.

On November 20, 2008, thousands of people have protested in Baghdad against a proposed deal to allow US troops to remain in Iraq once their UN mandate expires. The demonstration was called by the Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr, who has strongly opposed any deal with the US. Security was tight around the area, but the organisers insist the protest in the capital will remain peaceful.

On November 28, 2008, Iraq's parliament paved the way for a US pullout within three years -and a withdrawal from the streets of cities and towns by June next year- when it passed the landmark security pact setting a timetable for the American exit. As many as 148 of the 198 members who turned up supported the historic motion, which for the first time prescribes a departure date and sets out declining duties for the US in the interim. Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has declared three days of mourning in response to the parliament's decision.

Japan has announced on November 28, 2008, that it will end its air support for US-led coalition forces in Iraq by the end of the year because the mission had achieved its goal. Taro Aso, the prime minister, said the national Security Council issued the order, which was anticipated for months, because there was progress in Iraq's security situation and its move towards democracy.

On November 30, 2008, Iraqi top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, expressed concern about the security pact approved earlier this week allowing U.S. troops to remain in the country for three more years. The influential cleric fears the deal will not guarantee Iraq's sovereignty. He also said he feels there is no national consensus on it. Ayatollah al-Sistani supports holding a referendum on the pact, which lawmakers agreed to do in order to get the approval of the main Sunni faction.

South Korean troops will end a five-year reconstruction mission, the latest departure from the dwindling US-led coalition. The South Koreans are among troops from 13 countries being sent home in advance of the December 31 expiration of the UN mandate that authorized military operations in Iraq. The South Koreans will begin leaving Wednesday December 3, 2008, and are all due to leave by December 20.

The Iraqi cabinet approved on December 17, 2008, a bill calling for all foreign soldiers except for American forces to pull out of the country by the end of July. The bill, which has to be passed by parliament, would mainly affect the roughly 4,100 British troops deployed at Basra air base

Thousands of Iraqis have taken to streets on Tuesday December 176, 2008, for second day to demand the release of an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush during a news conference two days ago. Iraqis across the country hailed the journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who worked for Cairo-based Baghdadia television, and praised his act of throwing shoes at Bush as a heroic action. Manifestations took place in Mosul, Nassriyah, Salahudin, Hilla and Fallujah as well as in other smaller towns.
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US president George W. Bush has "no hard feelings" about the Iraqi journalist who flung shoes at him, the White House said on December 17, 2008.

A session of the Iraqi Parliament erupted in an uproar on Wednesday December 187, 2008, as lawmakers clashed over how to respond to the continuing detention of an Iraqi television reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush during a Baghdad news conference.

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has apologised to Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki on December 19, 2008. TV reporter Muntader al-Zaidi wrote a letter to Mr Maliki asking for forgiveness over his "ugly act".

19 officials who were arrested amid rumours that they had been plotting a coup have been released on Friday December 19, 2008. Interior Minister Jawad Bolani said they were innocent and there was no evidence that they had conspired to restore the outlawed Baath party. Charges will also be dropped against four others arrested on Thursday.

On December 19, 2008, Iraq's parliament rejected a draft law that would have permitted forces from the UK, Australia and a number of other countries to remain after 2008. It will now be sent back to the cabinet for amendment. A vote is due next week.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution on December 23, 2008, to stop foreign governments, companies or individuals seeking compensation from Iraq during 2009. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said claims would be settled in due course, but that Iraq needed protection while its economy remained fragile. Kuwait is among those expected to ask for reparations for damage caused by Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule. Iraq's assets are currently shielded by a resolution which expires next week.

On December 24, 2008, Iraqi MPs authorised the government to sign agreements allowing British and other non-US troops to stay on in the country after 2008. They approved the move after speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani resigned at the demand of Shia and Kurdish parties, ending a political impasse.

On December 31, 2008, Iraq has signed deals with Britain and Australia for their troops to stay in the country after a UN mandate expires on 1 January. UK and Australian forces will be able to stay until July.

On Thursday January 1, 2009, Iraq has taken control of security in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone after a UN mandate for troops expired. The end of the UN mandate - put into place soon after the invasion in March 2003 - means Iraq will now take greater control of its own security. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki welcomed the move as Iraq's "day of sovereignty" at the handover ceremony. British troops have taken a step closer to withdrawing from Iraq with the handover of Basra International Airport that had been used as a UK military base during the conflict but the Iraqis have now resumed full control.

The first commercial flight between Western Europe and Baghdad in at least 17 years has landed in Iraq on January 3, 2009. Swedish-based company Nordic Leisure said it expects to fly to the Iraqi capital once a week. The plane, carrying about 150 passengers -mainly Iraqis- arrived from Denmark.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki arrived in Iran on Saturday January 3, 2009, for a two-day visit with top leaders, during which he is expected to allay Tehran's concerns about the United States' continuing influence in Iraq.

Iraq signed a $70 million agreement on January 5, 2009, to buy power generating turbines from the US engineering firm Pratt & Whitney. Iraq will buy five power generating units which can operate on fuel oil or gas and generate 180 megawatts of power.

The Iraqi journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at US President George W Bush is seeking asylum in Switzerland we were told on January 19, 2009. He fears for his safety in his Baghdad prison. Since his arrest, the Iraqi has reportedly been beaten in custody, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding.

Iraq is willing to have the US withdraw its troops and assume security for the country before the end of 2011, the departure date agreed to by former President George W. Bush we were told on January 21, 2009.

Iraq will close within two months a camp where opposition Iranian guerrillas have been living in exile for two decades we were told on Friday January 23, 2009. Over 3,000 inhabitants of Camp Ashraf have to leave Iraq.

When an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at George W. Bush last month at a Baghdad press conference, the attack spawned a flood of Web quips, political satire and street rallies across the Arab world. Now, it's inspired a work of art. A sofa-sized shoe statue was formally unveiled to the public Thursday January 29, 2009, in Tikrit, the hometown of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Artist Laith al-Amari described his fibreglass-and-copper work as a homage to the pride of the Iraqi people. The statue also has inscribed a poem honouring Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist Al-Zeidi.

The sculpture honouring an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush has been removed on January 31, 2009, from the orphanage in Tikrit because government property should not be used for something with a political bias.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Baghdad for the first time on February 10, 2009, in a bid to rebuild ties and drum up business for French companies. After talks with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and President Jalal Talabani, he pledged French support for Iraq's economic reconstruction. It is the first visit by a French head of state to Iraq since Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003.

Iraq's National Museum reopened on February 23, 2009, nearly six years after it was looted and vandalised in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion. Thousands of its antiquities were stolen at that time, and only about a quarter have since been retrieved.

Iraq's President Jalal Talabani confirmed on Sunday March 15, 2009, that he will not seek another term when his mandate expires at the end of the year and will focus instead on writing his memoirs. Talabani would remain head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party. Talabani, a Kurd and former guerrilla leader who fought Saddam Hussein's regime, has been president since 2005.

Violence and insecurity are no longer the main concern of most Iraqis, for the first time since the 2003 US-led invasion, an opinion poll suggested on March 16, 2009. It says Iraqis are much more hopeful about the future and are increasingly pre-occupied with more conventional worries like the economy and jobs. But Iraqis remain unhappy about the role foreign powers play in their country, notably Iran, the US and UK.

Thursday March 19, 2009, marks the sixth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. And while tens of thousands of American troops remain there, the landscape is much unlike the one they encountered on March 19-20, 2003, when the war began. However the US has not yet been able to win the war and pacify the country. What a waste!

Some 200 prominent, moderate followers of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have broken from his movement on March 30, 2009, forming a splinter group and further weakening his hold on what was once one of Iraq's most influential factions. At the same time, the government has begun granting secret amnesty deals to members of the breakaway group who also were members of Iranian-backed Shiite militias, in exchange for laying down their arms. The negotiations and the splintering of the Sadr movement could reduce a major source of instability in Iraq.

Iraq took a security gamble on April 1, 2009, when it disbanded the Sunni militias that helped turn the tide against al-Qaida in Mesopotamia and other insurgent groups. One hundred thousand members of the Awakening Councils will now be given jobs at the interior ministry, but many fear the plan will renew sectarian tension and spark disaffection among those not given security roles. Relations between the central government and the Awakening Councils had deteriorated ahead of the move, and reached a low over the weekend when 250 members battled with government forces in central Baghdad after soldiers tried to arrest a militia leader alleged to be a member of the military wing of the outlawed Ba'ath party.

A prominent Sunni paramilitary leader was released from jail Thursday April 2, 2009, a little more than a week after being arrested as part an apparent crackdown against the movement of former insurgents who switched sides and helped end Iraq's civil war. Raad Ali, head of the Sons of Iraq fighters in part of Baghdad's Ghazaliya district, returned home after a judge dismissed murder charges against him Wednesday. His release came after the arrest of at least two other Sons of Iraq leaders in Baghdad and the jailing of a few dozen other Sunni Arabs associated with the movement.

On April 7, 2009, the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at former US President George W Bush has had his sentence cut from three years to one year on appeal. Muntadar al-Zaidi's lawyer argued that the charge should be changed from assault to insulting a foreign leader. The judge agreed and reduced the term in line with the less serious offence. The presiding judge had also taken into account the fact that Zaidi had no prior criminal history.

Iraq's parliament on Sunday April 19, 2009, picked a prominent Sunni Arab as its new speaker, filling a post that had been vacant for four months due to political squabbling that had delayed legislative business. The previous speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, stepped down in December after widespread complaints about his brash style and insults he threw at fellow politicians. Mashhadani's resignation revealed fissures among Sunni lawmakers as Iraq emerges from the sectarian warfare triggered by the 2003 U.S. invasion between Sunni Arabs who dominated the country under Saddam Hussein and majority Shiite Muslims. Ayad al-Samarai, leader in parliament of the largest Sunni bloc, the Accordance Front, was picked as the new speaker, an influential post, by 153 deputies out of the 232 present.

Iraq's Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday May 2, 2009, met with some 70 co-religionists in Istanbul, including members of the Iraqi parliament. Sadr, who had not been seen in public for nearly two years before he arrived in Turkey on Friday, discussed "ways of serving the Iraqi nation" with the other Iraqi Shiites at an Istanbul hotel. He met Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first for talks on "security in Iraq and the promotion of links between the parties. He was then entertained by President Abdullah Gul at the president's residence; the Turkish foreign ministry's special Iraq envoy, Murat Ozcelik, was also in attendance.

A brother of Iraq's trade minister has been arrested on suspicion of corruption on Sunday May 10, 2009. Sabah Mohammed al-Sudany was held at a checkpoint in the south of the country.

On May 15, 2009, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a member of Iraq's Shiite Arab majority, has called for a reduction in power-sharing pacts that have given minority Sunnis and Kurds a greater political voice since 2003. Maliki said continuing indefinitely with the agreements, which have provided a degree of consensus in a country battling to contain sectarian violence, would lead to "catastrophe" and that Iraq needed to embrace majority rule. His comments were likely to fuel suspicions of Sunni Arabs, dominant under Saddam Hussein, and Kurds, who have their own semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq that minority groups could be subject to majority Shiite tyranny.

On May 18, 2009, we were told that a consortium of oil companies plans to revive a project to supply Europe with gas from northern Iraq. Austria's OMV and Hungary's MOL have teamed up with two companies from the United Arab Emirates to extract the gas from fields in Iraq's Kurdish region. Supplies will be sufficient to feed the long-planned Nabucco pipeline, which proposes pumping gas to Austria via Turkey. The pipeline would reduce Europe's dependency on gas from Russia.

Police on Saturday May 30, 2009, detained Iraq's former trade minister, Abdul Falah al-Sudany, in connection with graft allegations involving food rations, ordering a plane in which he was flying to Dubai to turn back.

Iraqi authorities said five US contractors detained last week in connection with the killing of an American businessman have been cleared of his death. Iraqi officials said Thursday June 11, 2009, they released three of the American contractors for lack of evidence, but ordered them to post bail due to the ongoing nature of the case. They say the other two Americans remain in Iraqi custody for suspected drug offenses.

Campaigning got under way on June 24, 2009, in northern Iraq ahead of parliamentary elections for the semi-autonomous Kurdish regional assembly on 25 July. The month-long campaign is expected to be more competitive than in the past with several opposition groups vying with the dominant PUK and PDK parties.

The US vice-president has marked American Independence Day, July 4, 2009, in Baghdad, urging Iraqi leaders to do more to encourage political reconciliation. President Barack Obama has charged Joe Biden with overseeing the American departure from Iraq. Earlier this week, US forces completed their withdrawal from Iraqi towns and cities, in preparation for a full departure by 2011.

Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has made a rare public appearance in Syria, where he met President Bashar Assad on July 21, 2009. They discussed the status of American forces in Iraq. Mr Sadr's militia, the Mehdi Army, fought against the US forces in Iraq until a peace deal was signed in 2007. He has rarely been seen since then.

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki hinted on July 24, 2009, that US forces could stay in Iraq beyond the current deadline of 2011. He reiterated that the troop presence is due to end on 31 December 2011, under a bilateral agreement. "Nevertheless, if the Iraqi forces required further training and further support, he shall examine this then at that time".

Long lines snaked out of polling stations Saturday July 25, 2009, as Iraqi Kurds voted in an election that has stirred fierce passions in this most peaceful corner of Iraq. The large turnout in the semiautonomous Kurdistan region attests to the enthusiasm generated by the appearance, for the first time, of a viable challenge to the 18-year monopoly of the two ruling parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdish Democratic Party.

Polls have closed in the evening of July 26, 2009, in presidential and parliamentary elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the ruling coalition faces a stiff challenge. Incumbent President Masood Barzani and the two main parties are expected to win, despite a strong campaign by the reformist Change movement. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, called it a great day for the autonomous Kurdish region. Official results are not expected to be declared until early next week.

Iraqi Kurdistan's two-party ruling alliance has retained control of the autonomous region's parliament, taking 57% of the vote in elections we were told on July 30, 2009. Masood Barzani was re-elected in the presidential poll with 69.6%, the preliminary results indicate. He said he hoped the elections would be a "first step to solving issues with Baghdad". Tension has been high between the Kurds and the central government over the control of oil and disputed territory.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived at Sulaimaniyah airport in the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq on Sunday August 2, 2009, to hold talks with regional leaders over key disputes of oil and land. Maliki was received by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and senior Kurdish leaders. During his first visit to Iraq's Kurdistan as premier, Maliki is expected to hold talks with Talabani and the regional president Masoud Barzani, to solve outstanding problems between the central government in Baghdad and Kurdish regional government, including disputes over the expanding of the autonomous region in northern Iraq and the revenues of oil.

On August 15, 2009, about 200 Iraqi journalists, writers and publishers have protested in Baghdad at what they say is growing state interference in their work. The protest follows the introduction of new rules for censoring books, and a proposal to ban certain websites. Some journalists say there has been an increase in lawsuits against those investigating security or corruption. The authorities say they will only block websites that are pornographic or incite violence or criminal behaviour.

Major Shiite parties with close links to Iran announced a new coalition Monday August 24, 2009, that excludes Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a development that appears to make him the underdog in the coming national elections. If the new coalition remains intact and secures a majority of parliamentary seats in the January 16 vote, Iraq's next government probably will be run by leaders with deep ties to Iran. The new alliance and the likelihood that Maliki will be forced to find Sunni partners suggest that Iraqi politicians are increasingly willing to cross sectarian lines in the pursuit of power. Maliki's exclusion from the alliance was not entirely surprising. Despite his considerable popularity, the prime minister has become a divisive figure, and a recent surge in violence has triggered criticism from Iraqis who view his administration as cocky and incompetent.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of one of the most powerful Shia Muslim parties in Iraq, has died on August 26, 2009. Hakim had been suffering from cancer and had been receiving treatment in hospital in the Iranian capital Tehran. He did not hold any government post in Iraq's elected Shia-led government since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, but was an important power broker.

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush was released Tuesday September 22, 2009, after nine months in prison and in a defiant address, he accused Iraqi security forces of torturing him with beatings, whippings and electric shocks. Muntadhar al-Zeidi, whose stunning act of protest last December made him a hero for many in the Arab and Muslim worlds, said he now feared for his life and believed that U.S. intelligence agents would chase after him. The 30-year-old reporter's act deeply embarrassed Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who was standing beside Mr. Bush at a December 14 news conference when Mr. Zeidi suddenly shot up from his chair had hurled his shoes toward the podium. Mr. Bush, who was on his final visit to Iraq as American president, was unhurt but had to duck twice to avoid being hit.

Iraqi asylum seekers sent back to Baghdad by the UK government have been refused re-entry to their homeland, and flown back to Britain. The flight, carrying about 40 asylum seekers, landed in Baghdad on Thursday October 15, 2009. Ten were admitted but the rest were turned away and have now arrived back.

Iraq was thrown into a fresh political crisis on Wednesday November 18, 2009, after a vice president vetoed a newly passed election law, delaying the vote. One of two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashemi, said that he had vetoed the new election law the night before; he had threatened a veto but the Americans did not expect him to follow through. Shortly afterward, the chief executive of Iraq's United Nations-supported electoral commission said that the elections would have to be delayed.

Iraq's parliament has unanimously approved a new electoral law on December 7, 2009, paving the way for elections early next year. Parliamentarians were called to vote in a special late-night session to try to end a political crisis, and they voted minutes before the midnight deadline.

Iraq's presidency council has again delayed the parliamentary elections, setting March 7 as the new date for the nationwide vote we were told on Wednesday December 9, 2009.

A group of 5,000 Iraqi Shiite demonstrators in the city of Karbala turned the religious observance of Ashoura into a political protest against the government on Sunday December 27, 2009, expressing wide-ranging criticisms as the country prepares for a critical national election in early March. The protesters gathered outside the Imam Hussein shrine to greet the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who had descended on the city. "We don't vote for people who steal public money," the protesters shouted.

An Iraqi court on Tuesday December 29, 2009, sentenced three men to death for a bombing in June that killed at least 73 people.

On January 14, 2010, a court in Baghdad sentenced 11 Iraqis to death for their role in multiple truck bombings last August. More than 100 people died in the attacks on government ministries. Those convicted included an alleged member of al-Qaeda in Iraq and a man who said he had received funding from a senior Baathist now living in Syria.

On February 12, 2010, the Iraqi interior minister said he expelled 250 former employees of the US security firm Blackwater, whose guards were charged with killing unarmed civilians in Baghdad.

Iraq said on February 26, 2010, it will reinstate 20,000 army officers who served in the army of the former president, Saddam Hussein. The officers were dismissed from their posts after the 2003 US-led invasion during a purge of the previous government's Baathist Party officials.

On April 7, 2010, we were told that behind the scenes Shiite clerics are quietly intriguing over who will succeed the sect's most revered and politically influential leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in a tussle that circles around money and foreign meddling as much as knowledge and piety. The 83-year-old al-Sistani's departure from the scene would dramatically change Iraq's political landscape. There are already signs that neighbouring Iran is seeking to increase its influence in Najaf and has long-term hopes of seeing a figure closer to Tehran's clerical leadership eventually ascend to al-Sistani's position. Since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein, al-Sistani has used his patriarchal standing to keep stability throughout Iraq's shaky shift to democratic rule by urging Shiites to stay away from any violence. At the same time, he has firmly promoted the rise and consolidation of Shiite power by urging his followers to turn out strongly in every election. Al-Sistani, who rarely leaves his modest Najaf home and does not grant media interviews, works from behind-the-scenes, offering his counsel to senior politicians who privately seek his guidance and support. His public pronouncements -carefully worded fatwa, or edicts, that address the nation- are observed by most Shiites in Iraq and elsewhere.

Iraq has decided to dissolve state-owned Iraqi Airways and declare it insolvent we were told on May 28, 2010. That's part of a decades-long dispute in which Kuwait claims Iraqi Airways owes more then $1 billion in reparations for the theft and plundering of Kuwaiti commercial aircraft during the 1990 Saddam Hussein-led invasion of Kuwait. Prior to that announcement, Iraqi Airways had announced it would suspend planned routes to Britain and Sweden after Kuwaiti officials tried to have one of the airline's aircraft impounded in London

The new parliament convened in Iraq on June 14, 2010, more than three months after inconclusive elections. But there is no sign yet of a new government being formed. The 325 members swore the oath of allegiance, but the session was then suspended until further notice. It is a hung parliament with none of the four main factions in a position to command a majority, so more time will be needed for coalition negotiations. After the national anthem and a Koranic recitation, the members of the new parliament stood to take the oath of allegiance, first in Arabic and then in Kurdish for members from the north.

On June 22, 2010, Iraq's electricity minister has offered his resignation after violent protests in several cities over power shortages. Karim Waheed said the impatience of Iraqis and a lack of funds for his ministry was to blame for the lack of electricity generation. Electricity is available for several hours a day and public anger has grown as temperatures have soared to 50C. Two people were killed in Basra on Saturday when police opened fire on a protest against power shortages. Mr Waheed had been electricity minister since Nouri Maliki became prime minister in 2006.

Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish peshmerga fighters exchanged punches and some gunfire along the frontline between minority Kurds and Iraq's majority Arabs, we were told on Monday July 5, 2010. The confrontation in Qarah Tappah in Diyala province came on Sunday. U.S. military leaders fear that long-running disputes between Kurds and Iraqi Arabs over land, oil and power could lead to Iraq's next major conflict as the sectarian bloodshed unleashed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion recedes. U.S. troops, and local leaders, intervened in Qarah Tappah and calm had returned. No one died.

The top American military commander in Iraq said Tuesday July 6, 2010, that U.N. peacekeeping forces may need to protect disputed territories in the nation's north if tensions between Kurds and Arabs haven't eased by the time U.S. troops leave in 2011. U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno said U.N. peacekeepers might be one option if Kurdish soldiers haven't integrated into the Arab-dominated Iraqi army over the next year. He said he hopes the U.N. forces won't be necessary. But Odierno acknowledged that tensions between the two cultures -and the oil-rich land in Iraq's north that each side claims as their territory- have been simmering for years without resolution. Iraq's Kurds want several areas of Ninevah, Tamim and Diyala provinces to be part of their autonomous region, a move opposed by the Arab-dominated central government.

On August 5, 2010, Saddam Hussein's most loyal deputy, Tariq Aziz, accused Barack Obama of 'leaving Iraq to the wolves' by pressing ahead with a withdrawal of combat troops in the face of festering instability and a surge in violence. In his first interview since he was captured shortly after the fall of Baghdad more than seven years ago, Iraq's former deputy prime minister and long-time face to the world said the United States would cause the death of Iraq if it continued to withdraw its combat forces. Speaking only days after Obama confirmed that the US would be ending its combat mission in Iraq this month with the withdrawal of thousands of troops; Aziz said the country was in a worse state than before the war.

The man who once served as Saddam Hussein's leading lieutenant has appealed to the United States to extend its presence in Iraq, saying that President Barack Obama is abandoning the country, according to a British newspaper -The Guardian- interview published Friday August 6, 2010. Aziz slammed the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country, saying that both America and the United Kingdom had left the country a wreck and they had an obligation to make sure Iraq was back on its feet before exiting. "We are all victims of America and Britain," Aziz said, according to the paper. "They killed our country in many ways. When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death." Aziz has already been sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against humanity, and is accused of being part of a campaign targeting members of Iraq's Dawa Party, of which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a member. The 64-year-old, who has suffered several strokes, appeared frail at a court appearance last month. The Guardian's piece offered no assessment of Aziz's condition, but said that his prison was "clean and well-managed."

Iraq's prime minister said the end of U.S. combat operations on Tuesday August 31, 2010, restored Iraq's sovereignty and meant it stood as an equal to the United States, despite political deadlock and persistent violence. U.S. troop levels were cut to 50,000 before the partly symbolic deadline set by President Barack Obama to fulfil his pledge to end the war launched by his predecessor George W. Bush. The six remaining U.S. brigades will turn their focus to training Iraqi police and troops as Iraq takes charge of its own destiny ahead of a full U.S. withdrawal by the end of next year.

The United States began a fragile new era in its turbulent history with Iraq on Wednesday September 1, 2010, as American political and military leaders marked the official end of combat operations but acknowledged that a difficult milestone, the creation of a new coalition Iraqi government, was not yet in reach. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates and Gen. Ray Odierno sounded the same theme in a made-for-television ceremony to inaugurate Operation New Dawn, as the post-combat phase has been named. The United States, they said, was moving toward an exit after seven years of war but would not abandon the country.

More than 600 ancient artefacts that were smuggled out of Iraq, recovered and lost again have been found misplaced among kitchen supplies in storage at the prime minister's office we were told on Monday September 20, 2010. The 638 items include pieces of jewellery, bronze figurines and cylindrical seals from the world's most ancient civilizations that were looted from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. After their recovery, the U.S. military delivered them last year to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office, where they were misplaced and forgotten about. The artefacts, packed in sealed boxes, were misplaced because of poor coordination between the Iraqi government ministries in charge of recovering and handling archaeological treasures. Iraqi and world culture officials have for years struggled to retrieve looted treasures but with little success. Thieves carted off thousands of artefacts from Iraqi museums and archaeological sites in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion and in earlier years of war and upheaval. Many items ended up abroad. Collections that were stolen or destroyed at the National Museum chronicled some 7,000 years of civilization in Mesopotamia, including the ancient Babylonians, Sumerians and Assyrians.

Several dozen Iraqis who failed to gain asylum in Europe were returned to Iraq on Wednesday September 22, 2010, despite concerns the situation is still too dangerous. As the plane carrying the deportees landed at the Baghdad airport, 10 of the passengers refused to disembark and had to be escorted off the aircraft by police. The returnees did not resist the security personnel who boarded the plane, but told them they were not returning to Iraq voluntarily. All the deportees will be questioned by the police before being let into the country. The plane had left earlier from Stockholm with 27 Iraqi deportees from Sweden, nine from Norway, four from the Netherlands and an unknown number from the United Kingdom. The Iraqi official said 56 deportees were returned Wednesday from several European countries.

On Saturday November 27, 2010, Iraq Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said there's no need for U.S. troops to remain in the country after their scheduled departure at the end of next year. He added that the Iraqi army, police and the services are capable of handling the security situation."

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said on December 8, 2010, that he is threatening to quit Iraq's new power-sharing government as "power-sharing is not happening." Mr. Allawi also says the new government is "not set to work in a meaningful way." He says if it does not change, he will not support it.

Iraq has executed 257 people -251 men and six women- since 2005 we were told on Thursday December 16, 2010. This year, Iraq has executed just 17 people, sharply down on 2009 when it put 124 people to death, four of them women.

Iraq's Parliament approved a new government on Tuesday December 21, 2010, ending nine months of infighting that threatened to throw the nation into a constitutional crisis but leaving many festering problems unresolved.

Anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose militia contributed to the bloodiest days of the Iraq war, made a surprise return to Iraq on Wednesday January 5, 201, ending nearly four years of self-imposed exile in Iran.

To a rapturous welcome that conflated the religious and political, the populist Iraqi cleric Moktada al-Sadr delivered his support on Saturday January 8, 2011, for an Iraqi state he had once derided as a traitorous tool of the United States and that his followers had battled in the streets of Iraq's most important cities only a few years before.

After his triumphant return to Iraq on January 5, an aide to firebrand anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on January 22, 2011, that Sadr has gone back to Iran, where he has spent more than three and a half years studying in the Shiite theological centre of Qom. Analysts are debating the implications of Sadr's latest move.

Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistan, urged the country's politicians Saturday February 26, 2011, to heed calls for reform after thousands of Iraqis took to the streets to protest against corruption and poor basic services. He called on Iraq's government and parliament to take serious steps in improving electricity services, providing jobs and fighting corruption in the country, where progress remains slow eight years after the U.S. invasion.

On March 4, 2011, authorities imposed curfews and limited access to city centres across Iraq as thousands of protesters demanded economic progress and an end to corruption. Demonstrators were reported to be gathering in Baghdad, Basra, Nineveh, Anbar and Salaheddin. The developments follow weeks of demonstrations across the country by protesters angry about unemployment, poor basic services, corruption and a lack of freedom. At least 13 people died in protests on February 25.

On Sunday March 6, 2011, thousands of people have converged on Baghdad's Tahrir, or Liberation, Square to protest against corruption and unemployment, despite a vehicle ban that forced many to walk for hours to the heart of the Iraqi capital.

Two political parties that led demonstrations in Baghdad over the past two weeks said Monday March 7, 2011, that security forces controlled by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had ordered them to close their offices. The actions, which the government said were merely evictions, came amid growing concerns that Mr. Maliki's American-backed government is using force and other measures to stifle dissent in this fragile democracy, where tens of thousands of demonstrators have seized on the upheaval sweeping the Arab world to rally for government reforms and better services.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki should step down if his government fails to meet his own 100-day target to improve its performance in the wake of Egypt-inspired protests, one of his deputies said on March 10, 2011. The remarks, by Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, reveal the deep divisions remaining in a fractious coalition government formed in December after nine months of wrangling following an inconclusive election.

Clashes in a prison, central Tikrit, in Salahuddin province wounded 15 people including a senior officer. The riot erupted on Sunday March 13, 2011. Prisoners were planning to run away but the situation is under control.

Two top Kurdish politicians resigned Tuesday March 15, 2011, from local government in northern Iraq in what appears to be a political manoeuvre to challenge Arabs for control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Resigning provincial council chairman Rizkar Ali, a Kurd, would be replaced with Turkoman Hassan Torhan, raising speculation that a deal was struck to strengthen ties between the two groups against the area's Arabs. The other resigning Kurd is provincial Gov. Abdul-Rahman Mustafa. Both men stepped down during a public meeting in Kirkuk.

On Saturday April 9, 2011, Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr says his supporters will resume their fight against U.S. forces in Iraq if they stay beyond a deadline to withdraw at the end of the year. His announcement comes after U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates told U.S. troops in Iraq that the United States would be willing to maintain a military presence past the end of the year if the Iraqi government requests it.

A day after Defence Secretary Robert Gates suggested that American troops could remain here for years, tens of thousands of protesters allied with Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical anti-American Shiite cleric, flooded the streets demanding an end to the American military presence. The protests were scheduled before Gates' comments although his statements may have fuelled some of the day's fervour. The protesters were whipped up by comments drafted by al-Sadr, who sent a message to the crowd threatening to reconstitute his militia, the Mahdi Army, if the American military did not leave this year. A demonstration against the American invasion is held each April 9, the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad in 2003. But the event took on more political importance this year because it came amid the debate about whether American troops will leave on schedule by the end of the year or stay on in some capacity. The departure date was set by a security agreement that binds both countries.

The Iraqi government officially turned down on April 13, 2011, a call by the U.S. Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, for a longer U.S. military presence in the country. An Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that Gates had raised the demand in a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Iraq's High Criminal Court on Thursday April 21, 2011, sentenced to death three Saddam Hussein-era spies convicted of assassinating the father of a sitting Iraqi lawmaker in Beirut in April 1994. Hadi Hassuni, Abdul Hassan al-Majid and Farukh Hijazi were agents of the intelligence services. Two other men, military intelligence chief Saber Duri and Saddam's secretary Abdul Hamid Mahmoud, were sentenced to life imprisonment at the conclusion of the trial. Sabawi Ibrahim Hassan, the executed dictator's half-brother, and Saddam's deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz were acquitted in the trial. The convictions came over the murder of Sheikh Taleb al-Suhail al-Tamimi, head of the Banu Tamim tribe, who fled Iraq for the Lebanese capital with his family after a Baath Party coup in 1968. He later attempted his own coup against Saddam, who rose to power in 1979, but was gunned down outside his Beirut home on April 14, 1994.

An insurgent leader accused of plotting the deadly siege against an Iraqi church last autumn led a bloody revolt for several hours on Sunday May 8, 2011, inside a Baghdad prison. The prison holds some of the people suspected of being the country's most violent terrorists. Several inmates seized a cache of grenades and other weapons and killed six security officers, including a high-ranking counterterrorism official. The inmates overran part of the prison until they were beaten back by an Iraqi police assault team. Eleven inmates were killed.

On May 9, 2011, we were told that the accused coordinator of a fatal Baghdad church siege last year was shot and killed yesterday after wresting a gun from a prison guard and launching an hour-long revolt that left 17 people dead, including a top Iraqi counterterrorism general. None of the prisoners -all suspected members of Al Qaeda in Iraq- managed to break out of the heavily fortified Interior Ministry headquarters in eastern Baghdad. Ringleader Abu Huthaifa al-Battawi, who allegedly led the October attack on the Our Lady of Salvation cathedral that left 68 dead, was slain as he tried to flee in a car.

Eighteen people were killed during a wild and brazen late night prison siege on Saturday May 7, 2011. Senior leaders of the terrorist organization, Al-Qaida, in Iraq were killed, as were eight prison guards during the jail break attempt.
Senior leaders of the terror group were inmates at the Interior Ministry Counterterrorism Jail Complex in Baghdad's central Karrada district. It can't be confirmed whether the ten inmates killed were all associated with Al Qaida.

Among the senior leaders being interned at the correctional facility were Huthaifa al-Batawi. Batawi was severing a prison sentence at the facility for being the mastermind behind the infamous attack on Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad. The attack which took place on October 31 of last year saw members of the terrorist group attack the church with assault rifles. The massacre claimed the lives of 50 Iraqi Christian parishioners.

Iraqi Shiite militia fighters led a massive rally of followers of a hard-liner anti-American cleric on Thursday May 26, 2011, marching in Baghdad in a show of defiance as Iraqi leaders weigh whether to keep U.S. troops in the country beyond the end of the year. An estimated 70,000 supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr waved Iraqi flags and shouted "No, no, America!" as the tight columns of the unarmed but ominous Mahdi Army marched though one of Baghdad's poorest neighbourhoods. U.S., Israeli and British flags were painted on the pavement to be stomped on by the marching protesters, and Iraqi military helicopters buzzed overhead while soldiers stood guard to keep peace if needed. The rally was a message to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki about the staunch opposition by Iraq's most devout Shi'ites -and the ones who grudgingly helped him clinch a second term in office last year- to a continued U.S. military presence in 2012. Under a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad, the 46,000 combat troops still in Iraq are required to leave by Dec. 31. But Iraq's widespread instability has led U.S. and Iraqi leaders to reconsider the deadline for the sake of the country's security.

Tens of thousands of followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al Sadr staged a military-style parade Thursday May 26, 2011, in Baghdad to demand that US troops leave the country as scheduled by December 31, a show of force intended to intimidate Iraqi officials who favour asking that some American troops stay on. Dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with Iraqi flags, the men marched in groups of 100, swinging their arms in a military fashion as they passed a reviewing stand filled with Shiite clerics in the impoverished Shiite Sadr City section of Baghdad, named after Sadr's father. "No, no, America. No, no, Israel," they chanted. To set the tempo, they punctuated their march by calling out "Mahdi," a reference to the disbanded Mahdi Army militia, in what sounded like a warning that it could be reconstituted if US forces remain after year's end.

One of Iraq's three ceremonial vice presidents resigned just two weeks after being appointed to the post, his political bloc's leader said on Monday May 30, 2011, citing a need to reduce the size of the government. Adel Abdel Mahdi was re-elected as vice-president by MPs on May 12 after several months of wrangling, but the leader of his Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council bloc, a Shiite religious group, said he had decided to step down in the hopes of streamlining the country's bloated cabinet. Iraq's vice-presidents used to retain veto power over legislation, but that is no longer the case, and while the country had two deputies to national President Jalal Talabani during the previous parliamentary term from 2006 to 2010, it now has three. The country has also expanded its cabinet, which now includes around 50 ministers and ministers of state.

The Iraqi authorities dug up a mass grave with some 900 bodies believed to be Kurds killed during Saddam Hussein's rule in 1980s we were told on Thursday July 7, 2011. The corpses were found in al-Shanafiyah area, near Diwaniyah, the capital city of al-Qadsiyah province. The judicial teams have transferred some of the bodies to forensic laboratories in the city of Najaf to help in identification.

The remains of 222 people, probably Kurds killed under Iraq's former regime in 1987, were extracted from a mass grave south of Baghdad, we were told on Sunday July 10, 2011. Iraqi authorities announced on Wednesday they had discovered another mass grave with 900 corpses in the Shanafiyah region near the city of Diwaniyah.

Iraq wants the United States to supply several thousand trainers for its military but is unlikely to ask Washington to extend its troop presence beyond a year-end deadline we were told on Monday July 18, 2011. The difference between troops and trainers, usually former soldiers and police contracted to the U.S. government, may be critical for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as he deals with squabbling politicians and tries to appease constituents who want the Americans out. Americans expect President Barack Obama to wind up the unpopular war in Iraq as he grapples with debt talks and a fragile economic recovery while the election campaign heats up. Any decision to extend U.S. troops is risky in Iraq. The political bloc of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr openly opposes a continued U.S. presence and Sadr has threatened to escalate protests and military resistance if troops stay.

Iraqi political leaders were unable to meet a self-imposed deadline on Monday July 25, 2011, to decide whether to request U.S. troops stay beyond a planned end-of-the-year withdrawal. The deadline imposed by President Jalal Talabani passed over the weekend with lawmakers divided over how or even whether to request an extension, raising questions about when Iraq may ask and whether it will be too late to turn around withdrawing troops.

Iraq's foreign minister said Wednesday July 27, 2011, that his country needs U.S. help to train its military past the end of 2011, hinting at a possible deal with the United States. All American forces are scheduled leave Iraq by the end of this year, in line with a 2008 security deal agreed to by Baghdad and Washington. But privately many Iraqi and American officials say Iraq's nascent military will still need American military assistance. Zebari and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appear to be preparing the public for some type of American military presence in Iraq past 2011, but have been trying to paint it as a training force as opposed to combat units.

Moqtada al-Sadr, an anti-American Shiite cleric with thousands of followers in Iraq, said Sunday August 7, 2011, that US forces that stay past the December 31 withdrawal deadline would be fair game to attack. Iraqi officials, worried about a potential backlash if US troops remain in the country, have tried to portray any American forces that do not withdraw as trainers of the still-growing Iraqi military rather than as combat troops. Sadr's comments suggested that even limited training would not be acceptable to his Shiite militia, which has stepped up rocket and bomb attacks against American forces as the December deadline approaches.

Radical anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called for US forces to return home to their families in a rare English message that threatens violence but also appeals to Christian sentiment. "Go forth from our holy land and go back to your families who are waiting for your arrival impatiently, that you and we, as well, lead a peaceful life together," Sadr said in a message addressed to US troops on Monday August 8, 2011.

Iraq's fiercely anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Sunday September 11, 2011, called on his followers to suspend attacks against U.S. troops to ensure they leave Iraq by a year-end deadline. But the Shiite cleric, whose Mehdi Army militia fought U.S. forces until 2008, warned that if they did not depart on time, military operations would resume and be "very severe."

President Hamid Karzai landed at Kabul International Airport Wednesday September 21, 2011, and faced a country even more fearful and divided than the one he had left just three days ago. The assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the head of the country's High Peace Council, on Tuesday by a supposed emissary from the Taliban was still reverberating through the country. His death raised disturbing questions about who was responsible and, if it was the Taliban, whether the insurgents had any interest in pursuing peace with an American-backed government. By Wednesday it was apparent that the killing threatened to splinter the already fragile alliances between Afghanistan's ethnic groups, leaving a sense of desolation about the country's future. No one lost more politically when Mr. Rabbani died than Mr. Karzai. Mr. Karzai is a Pashtun from Kandahar, in the south, while Mr. Rabbani was a former president and onetime leader of the Northern Alliance, the anti-Taliban force made up mostly of ethnic Tajiks.

The presence of U.S. military trainers in Iraq beyond the December 31 deadline is an organized occupation, Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said on Tuesday October 11, 2011. Baghdad last week said thousands of U.S. military trainers would stay behind to help the Iraqi military. U.S. forces, under the terms of a bilateral status of forces agreement with Baghdad, are required to leave Iraq by December 31. Sadr, an anti-American cleric, said that the continued U.S. military presence was "an organized occupation in new attire."

On Wednesday October 12, 2011, we were told that Iraq has requested that more than 5,000 U.S. military trainers stay on past the formal U.S. withdrawal date of Disencumber 31, and it's awaiting a "yes or no" from the United States. The statement, which appeared in most Iraqi newspapers Tuesday, is the first by any American or Iraqi official to detail the size of the U.S. training contingent that the Iraqis have requested. It seemed to make clear that there were no further discussions likely on the thorny issue of immunity, something U.S. officials have always said was a non-negotiable condition of leaving American troops in Iraq.

Iraq has executed 12 al-Qaeda members convicted for the massacre of 70 people at a wedding, although they were officially put to death for other murders. The 12 were executed for the murders of cooking gas salesmen, though they were also convicted of involvement in the 2006 wedding massacre, we were told on Thursday November 24, 2011 fifteen people were convicted of the crimes, but 'three of them were not executed today because we still have legal procedures to deal with. Fleih al-Jaburi, who was said to be the leader of a cell involved in a string of attacks, was among those executed.

On November 29, 2011, we were told that Iraq plans to import 3 million metric tons of wheat in 2012. The grain board wants $3 billion to spend on grain imports next year, up 10 percent from this year. Iraq uses 4.5 million tons of wheat a year and 1.25 million tons of rice, mostly imported. The rice harvest has started for this year, with production forecast at 250,000 tons compared with 150,000 tons last year. Iraq's wheat production for 2010-11 was 1.73 million tons. The last wheat purchase was for 350,000 tons about 45 days ago.

A secular bloc which won the most seats in Iraq's March 2010 vote suspended its participation in parliament on Saturday December 17, 2011, sparking a political crisis just days after US forces ended their mission. The Iraqiya bloc, led by ex-premier Iyad Allawi, walked out of parliament in protest at what it charged was Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's monopolising of decision-making. The boycott represents one of Iraq's most serious political crises, and comes just a day after US forces handed over control of their last remaining base, with virtually all remaining American troops due out of the country in the coming days.

Iraq's political crisis deepened December 19, 2011, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the country's vice president off of a plane and had him held temporarily at Baghdad airport, on suspicion that members of his security detail took part in a string of assassinations. The confrontation between the prime minister, a Shiite Muslim, and Vice President Tariq al Hashimi, a Sunni, took the spotlight off of what could have been a day of Iraqi unity and celebration -as the last American tanks and troops rolled south to Kuwait, ending the nearly nine-year US military presence.

As Iraq's Sunni vice president on Tuesday December 20, 2011, angrily rebutted the government's accusations that he had been running death squads, many people in Iraq's Sunni minority dismissed the charges as politically motivated, underscoring how deeply alienated they have become from the Shiite-led government. Coming just a day after the United States military withdrew from Iraq, the government's decision to issue an arrest warrant for the vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, raised alarms in Washington and other capitals. But for average Sunnis here, it was just another in a series of moves to marginalize them.

Iraq's anti-American Shiite cleric launched Saturday December 24, 2011, an initiative calling for peaceful coexistence among all Iraqis after the withdrawal of US troops from the country. Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militiamen were blamed for sectarian killings during the worst years of Iraq's violence, is seeking to assert his political weight in post-US troops Iraq. The initiative comes as a government crisis has strained ties between two main Muslim sects, Sunnis and Shiites to the breaking point. The Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki is engaged in a showdown with the top Sunni political leader in the country. His government has issued an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi for what al-Hashemi says are trumped-up charges that he ran hit squads against government officials.

An influential political bloc in Iraq has called for early elections in a worsening standoff that has stoked sectarian tensions, amid fresh violence in the capital, Baghdad. Baha al-Araji, the Sadrist parliamentary chief, said in a statement on Monday December 26, 2011,that his bloc, loyal to the Shia Muslim leader Moqtada al-Sadr, wanted to "dissolve parliament and repeat elections". The call came amid a dispute that has seen Iraq's Sunni vice-president, Tariq al-Hashemi, 69, accused of running a death squad and a deputy prime minister call the government a "dictatorship".

A political row festered on Friday December 30, 2011, as a top Sunni leader denied he penned a commentary criticising the Shiite-led government. Since the departure of US troops less than two weeks ago, Iraq has plummeted into a political standoff. Mutlak and Hashemi's Sunni-backed Iraqiya party has boycotted parliament and cabinet, and on Wednesday, the New York Times ran a piece by three Iraqiya leaders -Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi, parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and Iraqiya leader Iyad Allawi -sharply critical of Maliki's administration. Nujaifi, however, has since said his name was added to the piece without his knowledge.

Television stations in Baghdad are calling it "Iraq Day," the Saturday December 31, 2011, deadline for American troops to completely withdraw from the country under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact. Stations aligned with Sunni and Shiite extremist groups, many of whom attacked U.S. troops, have dubbed it the "Day of Defeating the Occupier" -others have called it the "Day of Fulfilment" or "Day of Evacuation." It's a day many Iraqis say they have waited for since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, even as they admit their country is mired in a political crisis that has raised fears of a return of sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart at the height of the war.
"Iraq Day, we are all for Iraq," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a mass text message sent Saturday morning.

On January 1, 2012, Amjad Abdul-Salam is one of a growing number of Iraqis who say a separate state for his fellow Sunni Muslims is the only way to stop the country sliding back into sectarian chaos. Tensions between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Muslims are rising after the United States pulled out the last of its troops on December 18, leaving the country run by a fragile unity government. Hours after the exit, Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sparked the worst political crisis in a year by announcing an arrest warrant for the Sunni vice president on charges he led death squads. The premier also tried to get his Sunni deputy fired. Sunnis are a minority in Iraq but for decades held the reins of power under dictator Saddam Hussein. Many say they have felt marginalized since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam and paved the way for the rise of the Shiite majority.

To detractors -on January 9, 2012- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threw down the gauntlet with stunning speed when his Shiite Muslim-led government demanded the arrest of a Sunni Muslim vice president seemingly moments after the departure of U.S. troops. Already seen as having autocratic tendencies in a country where most people have known little but dictatorship, Maliki has long expressed doubt about the efficacy of his brawling partnership government of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions. But the move to arrest Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and a demand that parliament remove Maliki's Sunni deputy, Saleh al-Mutlaq, ignited a political storm that threatens Iraq's shaky U.S.-backed coalition and, for some, has called into question Maliki's commitment to any sort of democracy.

Iraq's Sunni-backed political alliance ended a parliament boycott Sunday January 29, 2012, but the bloc's ministers will stay away from Cabinet meetings to protest arrests and prosecution of Sunni officials. The decision underlines sectarian tensions in the Shiite-dominated government as violence surges just weeks after U.S. troops left the country.

On January 31, 2012, Iraqi security forces have detained 16 of Tareq al-Hashemi's bodyguards who were practising assassinations with silenced rifles and pistols targeting interior ministry officers and judges. Hashemi is hiding in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq after the Baghdad authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in mid-December on charges of running a death squad. The Kurdistan authorities have so far declined to hand him over to the central government for trial. The guards confessed after being detained, and that the arrests followed confessions by some of their colleagues.

Ministers from Iraq's Sunni-backed bloc ended their boycott of the Cabinet on Tuesday February 7, 2012, a move that could restore some stability to the country. The government of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki set off the political crisis in December by issuing an arrest warrant against the country's top Sunni official, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, charging him with running death squads.

Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr presented himself on Thursday February 9, 2012, as a statesman who can unite a fractured Iraq, drawing tens of thousands of supporters to celebrate the departure of U.S. troops and flex his political muscle. Two days after ministers from the main Sunni-backed political bloc eased a crisis with Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by returning to work, Sadr struck a markedly moderate note, calling on the fractious blocs to come together. Sadr, a Shiite cleric whose Mehdi Army fought U.S. troops for years, remains an influential political player. It was not until he backed Maliki nine months after parliamentary elections in 2010 that Maliki was able to form a government.

An Iraqi judicial panel said Thursday February 15, 2012, the Sunni vice president and his employees ran death squads that killed security officials and Shiite pilgrims. The findings, touted as the first independent assessment of the accusations, were likely to only further hike sectarian tensions over the politically divisive case. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi has denied the charges, and the accusations have angered many Sunnis who see them as part of a campaign by the Shiite prime minister to push them out of politics.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki fired two senior security officials in the western Anbar province after militants disguised as police killed at least 27 members of the security forces on Monday March 5, 2012. Maliki approved the dismissals of the provincial police chief and the army's head of the operation centre in Anbar. The prime minister is keen to show that his forces have a grip on security ahead of an Arab summit later this month.

On Saturday March 10, 2012, we were told that more than 90 Iraqi students have been stoned to death for their Emo haircuts by religious extremists in Baghdad in the past month after Iraq's interior ministry dubbed it 'devil worshipping'. Iraq's Moral Police released a statement on the interior ministry's website condemning the 'emo phenomenon' among Iraqi youth, declaring its intent to 'eliminate' the trend. The move is part of a wider clampdown on young people taking on what government officials call 'Western appearances' in Iraq.

On Tuesday March 13, 2012, Iraq's Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose followers regularly demonstrate against Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, has banned protests during this month's Arab League summit, hoping to avoid scenes that could embarrass Gulf rulers and their Baghdad hosts. Iraq is hosting an Arab League summit on March 27-29 for the first time in more than 20 years, an event that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government touts as Baghdad's diplomatic debut after the withdrawal of U.S. forces last year. But the summit risks drawing attention to the chilly relations between Iraq - which has a Shiite Muslim majority and a Shiite-led government and the Gulf Arab states, which are all ruled by Sunni Muslim royal families.

Up to a million followers of Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took to the streets on Monday March 19, 2012, in a massive show of force before an Arab League summit which Iraq's long-oppressed Shiite majority view as their debut on the regional stage. The protest in the southern city of Basra marked the anniversary of the start of the U.S. invasion in 2003. Slogans were mainly directed at the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for failing to improve the lives of Iraq's poor. But the main context appears to be the March 27-29 Arab League summit, the first in Iraq in more than 20 years and the first ever hosted by a mainstream Shiite Arab ruler. Basra police estimated the size of the crowd at between 700,000 and 1 million.

On Thursday March 22, 2012,Iraqi lawmakers from the Sunni-dominated bloc are accusing the country's Shiite government of torturing to death a jailed bodyguard who worked for the fugitive Sunni vice president. The guard was held on suspicion of terrorism. Authorities say he died of kidney failure on March 15. A Sunni lawmaker from Iraqiya, Salman al-Jumaili, demanded an investigation on Thursday. He says human rights organizations should look into the case. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi -Iraq's the highest-ranking Sunni official- has been accused of running death squads against Shiite pilgrims, government officials and security forces. He has denied the charges and has fled to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region to avoid an arrest warrant issued in December.

Drought and uprisings are threatening to undermine the Middle East's economy, Arab officials said Tuesday March 27, 2012, as they discussed plans to boost the region's stability at the start of a key summit in Baghdad. For the first time in a generation, leaders from 21 states gathered in Iraq for the Arab League's annual summit. Iraq is hoping the summit will better integrate its Shiite-led government into the Sunni-dominated Arab world, and has deployed thousands of soldiers and police forces across Baghdad to prevent insurgent threats from upending it. Economic ministers tentatively agreed to cooperate on proposals for tourism and to deal with water shortages and natural disasters. The proposals, put forward at the summit's opening meeting, still need to be approved by the rulers and heads of government on the final day of the gathering Thursday.

Fewer than half the leaders of the Arab world showed up at an Arab summit in Baghdad on Thursday March 29, 2012, a snub to the Iraqi government that reflects how trenchantly the sectarian division between Sunnis and Shiites and the rivalry with neighbouring Iran define the Middle East's politics today. The powerful Sunni monarchs of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, other Gulf nations and Jordan and Morocco were absent. The only ruler from the Gulf to attend was the emir of Kuwait, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. One reason for the absences was the Gulf leaders' deep distrust of Iraq's Shiite-dominated government, which they believe is a proxy for Iran. In unusually direct remarks, Qatar's prime minister said the lower representation was to protest what he called the Baghdad government's marginalization of Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority. Another reason was the bitterness surrounding the main issue hanging over the summit -the conflict in Syria- on which Iraq has taken an ambivalent stand.

Iraq's prime minister on Friday March 30, 2012, praised this week's Arab League summit in Baghdad as a turning point in the emerging relationship between Iraq and the Arab world. Nouri al-Maliki said that his government lived up to the technical, political and organizational challenges to hold the Arab summit, despite doubts that the war-battered country would be able to provide security and logistics for the 21 visiting delegations. Only half of the heads of states of Arab League members attended the summit, reflecting deep divisions between Shiite and Sunni Muslim nations. Most Sunni leaders stayed away from Baghdad, ruled now by al-Maliki's Shiite-led coalition government.

Arab leaders who gathered Thursday March 29, 2012, in Baghdad broke no new ground on Syria or other regional crises, but their summit was still hailed as a success -for returning Iraq to the Arab fold after years of isolating war and occupation. Ten of the Arab League's 22 member nations sent a head of state to the summit, most notably Kuwait, whose emir traded ceremonial kisses with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, a rapprochement that comes two decades after Saddam Hussein invaded that tiny neighbour in a provocation that sparked the first Persian Gulf War. Other Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar sent pointedly lower-level delegations, but none of them boycotted the summit.

Iraq's fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, at the centre of a political row that has jeopardized Iraq's sectarian balance, left the autonomous northern Kurdish region for Qatar on Sunday April 1, 2012. Hashemi, one of the top politicians from the Sunni minority, is accused by Baghdad's Shiite-led government of running death squads, a charge he denies. He has been holed up in the Kurdish zone since Baghdad issued an arrest warrant for him in December. The government includes Kurds and Sunnis under a power sharing deal designed to calm tensions that led to extreme sectarian violence in 2006-07 when thousands of Iraqis were killed. Hashemi's office said he had left the country to visit predominantly Sunni Qatar, which Iraq said was a clear defiance of his arrest warrant.

A long-awaited Iraqi reconciliation conference has been postponed indefinitely because of deepening sectarian tensions between rival political groups, the parliament speaker said Wednesday April 4, 2012, as holding it under current circumstances would only complicate matters. The meeting was to formally open on Thursday. Iraq's Sunnis accuse the Shiite-dominated government of seeking to marginalize them and of targeting senior Sunni politicians.

Qatar's official news agency said Wednesday April 4, 2012, that al-Hashemi had left the Gulf state after talks with top officials there. It did not say where he was headed. But the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted him as saying he planned to go to Saudi Arabia.

Iraq's fugitive vice president arrived in Saoudi Arabia Wednesday April 4, 2012, hours after he vowed in a television interview that he would return home. Tariq al-Hashemi, the top Sunni official in Iraq's Shiite-dominated government, flew to Saudi Arabia from neighbouring Qatar where he stayed for four days. He was greeted by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal in the Red Sea port city of Jiddah.

On Monday April 9, 2012, Iraq's fugitive vice president has flown to Turkey, his third stop in what he has called an "official visit" to regional countries. He will meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the developments in the region. He previously visited Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Iraq's parliament has sent a letter to the cabinet telling it not to interfere in monetary policy in a skirmish over central bank independence that reflects concerns over the extent of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's influence. Maliki won a court ruling in January 2011 putting independent bodies like the Central Bank of Iraq under the cabinet, alarming critics who view with suspicion signs of authoritarianism in some of his actions. He said this would not affect the CBI's independence, but other moves by Maliki, a Shiite, against senior Sunni politicians and his control over key security ministries have raised concern that he is trying to consolidate his power. Parliament sent the letter after cabinet wrote to the CBI stating that it should have a say in its monetary decisions.

Two Iraqi election commission officials have been detained on Friday April 13, 2012, after authorities reopened a corruption case against them, a move they dismissed as an effort to pressure the panel. The move, while spotlighting the challenges Iraq faces in rooting out graft, threatens to fuel opposition charges that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is seeking to consolidate power and suppress officials that do not go along with the government's agenda. Charges have not yet been brought against the men, who deny any wrongdoing. They were taken into custody on Thursday.

The arrest of Iraqi electoral commission officials has inflamed political tensions here, drawing accusations on Friday April 13, 2012, that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki aims to destroy the democratic process. Faraj al-Haidari, the head of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), was detained on Thursday along with another of the body's members, Karim al-Tamimi. The Higher Judicial Council said on Friday that "the decision to detain Faraj al-Haidari and Karim al-Tamimi was based on (them paying) real estate registration employees to register pieces of land for them, from the budget of the electoral commission." The arrests are "targeting the independence of the electoral commission, and the goal behind them is to kill the democratic process by enhancing control over an independent institution that is working to make the electoral process work in the country".

Iraq's electoral commission chief and another member were released on bail on Sunday April 15, 2012, after spending three days in jail on corruption charges, in a case that has stirred political tensions in the country's fragile power-sharing government. Faraj al-Haidari, head of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), and Karim al-Tamimi were arrested on Thursday on charges they had given illicit bonuses to some IHEC employees, charges they have denied.

On Sunday April 22, 2012, Iraq's prime minister is in Tehran for top level talks, underlining the close ties between governments of the two countries. Nouri al-Maliki is expected to meet Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his two-day official visit. Al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government has received support from Iran, a regional Shiite powerhouse. Among topics for discussion will be Iran's nuclear program. Iraq will host the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the six world powers in Baghdad May 23. Al-Maliki was given a red carpet welcome by First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi at Saadabad Palace in north Tehran.

The president of Iraq's self-rule Kurdish region demanded Wednesday April 25, 2012, that Shiite leaders agree on sharing power with their political opponents by September or else the Kurds could consider breaking away from Baghdad. The warning by Kurdish President Massoud Barzani underscores that Shiite domination in Iraq's government is reviving secession dreams that the now departed American military had tried to contain.

Powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will meet Kurdistan chief Massud Barzani Thursday April 26, 2012, in a bid to resolve a crisis between the autonomous region and Baghdad. Sadr, who spends most of his time on religious studies in Iran, "will meet Barzani today, and there is a significant possibility that he will go to Najaf after finishing his meetings in Kurdistan". Tensions are high between Kurdistan and Baghdad, and especially between Barzani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Barzani said on April 22 that he opposes the sale of F-16 warplanes to Iraq while Maliki is prime minister, as he fears they would be used against Kurdistan. Barzani had previously accused Maliki of moving toward dictatorship, and said the premier aimed to "kill the democratic process" after the head of Iraq's electoral commission was arrested for alleged corruption. Earlier this month, Kurdistan stopped oil exports of more than $1.5 billion owed to foreign oil companies working in the region that it says Baghdad has withheld.

On Saturday April 28, 2012, we were told that one of Iran's most senior clerics (63-year-old Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi) is about to extend his power -and Iran's theocratic system- into Iraq. Ayatollah Shahroudi, a powerful member of the inner circle of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, is positioning himself to become the next spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, a move observers say would be impossible without Tehran's blessing and funding. The Iraqi religious establishment, based in Najaf south of Baghdad, opposes religious intervention in day-to-day government. But in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's theory that God's authority is vested in the supreme leader and senior religious scholars is law. It looks like Prime Minister Mr Maliki agreed to have Iranian Ayatollah Shahroudi replacing the ailing Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani as the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiites.

Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said Monday April 30, 2012, the terror trial of the country's fugitive Sunni vice president will begin Thursday. The trial will focus on three charges out of 150 cases in which Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi has been linked to death squads against Shiites and government officials. Al-Hashemi, the country's top Sunni official, is now in Turkey and it is unlikely that he will appear in court. He has vowed to not return to Baghdad to face what he calls politically motivated charges. Last December and days after the U.S. military withdrawal, Iraq's Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant against al-Hashemi, touching off an ongoing political crisis and deepening the country's sectarian divide.

A U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday May 22, 2012, voted to eliminate funding for a police training program for Iraq, saying the danger and expense were just too great after the American troop pullout last year. The panel refused to provide $850 million that President Barack Obama's administration requested for fiscal year 2013 for the program, in which U.S. security advisers are training Iraqi police. It has been seen as a key component of the U.S. civilian aid mission to Iraq now that U.S. troops are gone. The subcommittee's decision must still be ratified by the full Senate and the House of Representatives for it to become law.

As many as 100 people are feared dead in an earthquake and landslide that buried more than 20 houses in northern Afghanistan on Monday June 11, 2012. A massive landslide of mud and rocks buried houses so deep in the remote mountain village of Sayi Hazara that rescuers gave up trying to use shovels to dig through the buried buildings. An earthquake measuring a magnitude 5.4 struck the Hindu Kush region, followed by a 5.7 quake. Baghlan province's Burka district, the site of the landslide, is a remote collection of mountain villages. It takes more than two hours to drive the approximately 40 kilometres from the provincial capital of Pul-e-Khumri to the area. The police led a team of rescue workers and medics from Pul-e-Khumri, but discovered on arrival that they could be of little use. The handful of people who survived the landslide had already been driven to clinics.

A poll conducted by YouGov from April 26 to May 2, found that fully 63 percent of Republican respondents still believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded in 2003. By contrast, 27 percent of independents and 15 percent of Democrats shared that view. The Bush administration's insistence that the Iraqi government had weapons of mass destruction and might give them to terrorists was a key selling point in its campaign to take the country to war. It turned out to be untrue. Debate continues over whether former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and other top officials knew there were no WMD, but intentionally deceived the American people and Congress because they were intent on attacking Iraq for less palatable reasons, or whether they managed to convince themselves that it was true using cherry-picked intelligence. There is no reality-based argument that Iraq actually had WMD, after extensive searches found none, but this is hardly the first time many Americans have been certain of something that simply wasn't true. It just shows Americans are stupid an especially the Republicans who are brainwashed by such media as Fox News.

The speaker of Iraq's parliament declared Thursday June 21, 2012, that lawmakers are prepared to oust the nation's prime minister if he refuses to share authority with his political opponents and break a deadlock that has all but paralyzed the government. The threat by the speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi, a leader in the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya political coalition, counters a claim last week by Iraq's president that there is not enough support in parliament to call a vote to push Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from power. al-Nujaifi said he personally believes al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, should step down from the job that he barely won after national elections in 2010 failed to produce a clear winner. Since then -and particularly after U.S. troops left Iraq last December- critics have accused al-Maliki of sidelining his political opponents and violating agreements to share power within a unity government. The political deadlock has all but brought Iraq's government to a standstill so far this year. Bickering between the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad and the self-rule Kurdish region in Iraq's north threatens to stunt vital foreign investment in the country's lucrative oil industry.

Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, head of a powerful Shi'ite movement in Iraq, on Sunday June 24, 2012, called for more political reforms, saying he would back a no-confidence vote against the prime minister if they were not made. Sadr is now an influential player in government after his bloc's support of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki helped secure his position. He did not elaborate on what kind of political reforms he would like to see and said he would only support a no-confidence vote provided it did not prove harmful to Iraqis. Iraq's main Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions have been locked in a dispute over power since U.S. forces left. Maliki's opponents have been calling for a vote of no- confidence against the Shiite leader, but have so far failed to muster enough support for the motion. The ruling National Alliance was formed when Maliki's party linked with Sadrists and other Shiite groups. A successful ballot would be the most serious challenge to Maliki in his six years in office, potentially sinking the government and escalating sectarian tensions in a country still pulling back from years of war.

An Iraqi regulatory body has ordered the closure of 44 media outlets in the country including the BBC and Voice of America in a dispute over broadcast licenses, we were told on Sunday June 24, 2012, but no action has yet been taken. Other organizations targeted for shutdown include privately-owned local TV channels Sharqiya and Baghdadia as well as U.S.-financed Radio Sawa. The Communications and Media Commission (CMC said the move had nothing to do with the way the outlets had reported on sectarian conflict in the country. The CMC sent such a letter warning them that they're going to shut down their services because they didn't pay their license fees.

Iraq has suspended orders to close 44 media operations in the country, including the BBC and Voice of America, after an outcry by press freedom advocates, we were told on Tuesday June 25, 2012. The Communications and Media Commission that regulates the news media in Iraq will give the targeted organizations more time to pay outstanding fees and renew lapsed licenses. The commission denied that its previous order to close the agencies, most of them Iraqi, represented a crackdown on a free press. No media outlets were known to have been shut down.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned on Wednesday June 27, 2012, he will call for early elections if other political parties refuse to negotiate to end a crisis over power-sharing that threatens to revive sectarian tensions. Iraq's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political blocs have been locked in turmoil since the last U.S. troops left the country in December, with Maliki's critics now seeking a vote of no confidence against the Shiite leader. Maliki's statement was not an immediate call for early elections, but a signal from the prime minister to other political parties to negotiate over the ongoing crisis or face an early ballot.

Fifteen neighbourhood officials in the Iraqi city of Baquba have resigned to protest what they say is the government's inability to protect them from Qaeda infiltrators, we were told on Friday July 27, 2012. The development was yet another indication in the past week of efforts by Al Qaeda to stage a resurgence in Iraq. The resignations of the officials, known as mukhtars, was confirmed on Friday by Abdullah al-Hiali, the head of the City Council in Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province. He said the officials resigned "to save their family members' lives because of living under threats from Al Qaeda and militants."

On Wednesday August 1, 2012, we were told that an Iraqi court has rejected a request to send a Hezbollah commander to the United States for trial, a decision that apparently ends the Obama administration's efforts to prosecute the Lebanese militant figure held in Iraq for the 2007 killings of five American soldiers. The U.S. believes Ali Mussa Daqduq is a top threat to Americans in the Middle East, and had asked Baghdad to extradite him even before two Iraqi courts found him not guilty of masterminding the 2007 raid on an American military base in the holy Shiite city of Karbala. But the July 30 decision by the Iraqi central criminal court ordered that Daqduq be freed immediately. It also makes it clear that Iraq believes the legal case against him is over.

Iraq's communication minister has resigned to protest interference by the premier in the work of his ministry, another sign of disarray in the country's leadership. The minister, Mohammed Allawi, said he sent a letter to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last month, demanding that he stop meddling in his ministry, reinstate some officials he ordered transferred or accept his resignation. Al-Maliki's reply was to accept his resignation instead of meeting the demands, we were told on Monday August 27, 2012. Allawi is a member in the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc.

On Monday Iraq has executed 21 people convicted of terror-related charges, including three women, on the same day, we were told on Tuesday August 28, 2012, bringing to 91 the number of people executed so far this year. The executions come despite a call from the UN’s human rights chief for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Iraq, amid concerns over the lack of transparency in court proceedings.

Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, who fled the country months ago, was sentenced to death Sunday September 9, 2012. Al-Hashimi was sentenced to hang because he was involved directly in killing a female lawyer and a general with the Iraqi.
Al-Hashimi denies the charges, which include the accusation that he ran death squads. He called the accusations part of a "black comedy" in February.

Hundreds took to streets in Iraq on Thursday September 13, 2012, castigating an inflammatory anti-Islamic video and the nation where it was produced, the United States.
Angry protesters in the Sadr City district of northeast Baghdad carried banners, Iraqi flags and images of radical Shiite and anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as they railed against what they see as an insult to their faith. A growing number of Muslims have demonstrated around the world in recent days over the obscure 14-minute film trailer that mocks Islam's prophet.

Russia announced on Tuesday October 9, 2012, it has signed $4.2 billion in arms deals with Iraq, making it the largest weapons supplier to the Middle East country after the United States. The deals, disclosed in a Russian government document issued at a meeting between Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, give Russia a big boost at a time when the future of its arms sales to Libya and Syria is uncertain. Iraq had been all but off limits for Russia's defence industry after the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

Iraq has agreed to buy 28 combat planes from the Czech Republic for about $1 billion as part of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's program to rebuild the country's air force and control its vulnerable airspace. Iraq has had no real air force since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, and Baghdad says it will not be able to defend its airspace until 2020. The country will buy 24 new L-159 aircraft made by Czech company Aero Vodochody and four planes from the Czech military's stock. The first plane, which will come from the Czech Defence Ministry, will be handed over within seven months of the contract's signing. New plane deliveries should start in two years.

On Saturday November 10, 2012, Iraq has cancelled a $4.2bn deal to buy arms from Russia because of concerns about "corruption. The purchase -said to include attack helicopters and missiles- was only signed off in October. Iraq has been rebuilding its armed forces since the end of US-led combat operations against insurgents. One Russian military expert has suggested that the Iraqi authorities closed the Russian arms deal under pressure from Washington.

On Tuesday November 13, 2012, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's rivals have started campaigning for term limits in an attempt to block the Shiite leader running for a third term in 2014. Since the last American troops left Iraq nearly a year ago, the country's Shiite, Sunni Muslim and ethnic Kurdish parties have been caught up in a power-sharing stalemate that has left key oil and investment laws paralyzed in parliament. Kurdish parties, the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc and even some rivals in Maliki's own Shiite coalition failed earlier this year to trigger a vote of no confidence against a prime minister whom they accuse of consolidating power at their expense. Those same factions have now handed a proposed law to parliament that would limit the mandate of prime minister to two terms, challenging a leader well-known for his skilful manoeuvring through Iraq's shifting alliances.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has suffered a stroke and was rushed to a hospital in Baghdad on Monday night December 17, 2012. Talabani was in intensive care after the stroke. The president's office did not immediately confirm the stroke. Talabani's office released a statement saying that he was exhausted.

Iraq's finance minister on Thursday December 20, 2012, accused a "militia force" of kidnapping members of his staff and said he holds the prime minister personally responsible for their safety. Al-Issawi is a member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, al-Maliki's main political rival. He was flanked during the televised address by senior members of the bloc, including the parliament speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi, and Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, who last year branded al-Maliki a dictator in a TV interview. Al-Issawi blasted al-Maliki's government as one "that does not respect its institutions and sovereignty and that cannot live without crisis."

Protests erupted Friday December 21, 2012, in Sunni-dominated areas of Iraq after 10 bodyguards to Rafe al-Essawi, the finance minister and a top Sunni politician, were arrested on terrorism charges in an episode that further deepened a political crisis. The targeting once again of a Sunni leader by the Shiite-dominated central government threatened to further hinder Iraq’s halting process of sectarian reconciliation. The arrest of the bodyguards on allegations of terrorism was reminiscent of the campaign last year against Tariq al-Hashimi, a leading Sunni politician who was then a vice president, on charges of running death squads. Mr. Hashimi fled the country and has since been tried, convicted in absentia and sentenced to death three times. Many here were left wondering if Mr. Essawi himself, like Mr. Hashimi, could soon be arrested. Many of Mr. Hashimi’s bodyguards were convicted in a case that critics of the central government say relied on torture to secure confessions.

Tens of thousands of Sunni Muslims blocked Iraq’s main trade route to neighbouring Syria and Jordan in a demonstration on Wednesday December 26, 2012, against Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite. The size of the protests in the Sunni stronghold of Anbar Province was an escalation in protests that erupted last week after troops detained the bodyguards of Finance Minister Rafe al-Essawi, a Sunni. The move against Mr. Essawi’s guards came hours after President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who has mediated among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions, left the country for treatment in Germany after a stroke that could end his steadying influence over Iraqi politics.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi Sunnis angry over perceived second-class treatment by the Shiite-led government massed along a major western highway and elsewhere after traditional Friday prayers in the country Friday December 28, 2012, for the largest protests yet in a week of demonstrations. The biggest of Friday's demonstrations took place on a main road to Jordan and Syria that runs through the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in the Sunni-dominated desert province of Anbar, west of Baghdad. Several thousand protesters took to the streets in Fallujah, holding aloft placards declaring the day a "Friday of honour." Massive crowds also blocked the highway in Ramadi, further to the west, to demand "fair treatment" from the government and the release of prisoners. In Mosul, abound 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets to denounce what they called the sidelining of Sunnis in Iraq and to demand the release of Sunni prisoners.

On Sunday January 6, 2013, we were told that Street protests in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland pose a new challenge to Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as shock waves from the Sunni-led insurgency in nearby Syria strain his country's fragile political balance. Over the past two weeks, tens of thousands of Sunnis have staged demonstrations, and in Anbar province they have blocked a highway to Syria in a show of anger against Maliki, whom they accuse of marginalising their community and monopolising power. The discontent is real, but the protests are driven by Sunni Islamist parties bent on carving out an autonomous region akin to the Kurdish one in the north, Kurdish and Sunni sources say. They say the Sunni Islamists scent an opportunity to escape what they see as Shiite domination, counting on a victory by Sunni rebels trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite minority has its roots in Shiite Islam.

Thousands of Sunni Iraqis have taken to the streets of Baghdad and other parts of the country to decry the alleged targeting of their minority, in rallies hardening opposition to the country's Shia leader. Counter-demonstrations were held on Friday January 11, 2013, in predominantly Shia areas of southern Iraq calling for authorities to resist demands to reform anti-terror laws or consider a wide-ranging prisoner release, both key demands in majority-Sunni areas. Anti-government protests were held in Baghdad's mostly-Sunni districts of Adhamiyah and Ghazaliyah, as well as the cities of Ramadi, Samarra, Mosul and Tikrit. Several smaller towns north of Baghdad also held rallies. In Ghazaliyah, hundreds of protesters rallied after Friday prayers at the Umm al-Qura mosque, holding up banners calling for the repeal of anti-terror laws, the release of women prisoners, and improved human rights in jails.

Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki should reform laws seen as unjustly marginalizing the country's Sunni Muslims or mass protests could spiral out of control, a top Sunni leader said on Sunday January 13, 2013. Thousands have taken to the streets in Sunni stronghold provinces for three weeks of daily protests, posing the sternest test yet for Maliki's fragile government composed of Shi'ites, Sunnis and ethnic Kurds. Protesters also want to end a campaign against members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party that Sunnis fear is used to harass their leaders and sideline them from politics.

Iraq has begun releasing hundreds of inmates, we were told on Monday January 14, 2013, offering a concession to Sunni protesters demonstrating against the country’s Shiite-led government. For more than three weeks, protesters from Iraq’s Sunni minority have been rallying against what they see as unfair treatment by the government. The release of detainees has been one of their main demands, and some of those freed on Monday came from areas where antigovernment unrest has surfaced. Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said that 335 detainees had been freed in the past week and that more would be released in the coming days.

Thousands of Sunnis rallied Friday January 18, 2013, in western and central Iraq, denouncing the Shiite-led government's policies they claim sideline their sect and saying that recent concessions by the authorities are not enough. The protests come as tensions are rising among Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups, threatening to plunge the country into more instability. In the beginning, the protests were concentrated in Iraq's western Anbar province but they spread to the central city of Samarra and other Sunni strongholds. In Samarra, about 3,000 took to the streets, demanding that the government release more Sunni detainees from jails and halt allegedly random arrests of Sunnis in their province.
 
An Iraqi protester set himself ablaze on Sunday January 20, 2013, in a dramatic turn in more than three weeks of rallies by Sunni Muslims challenging Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government. During protests of around 2,000 demonstrators in Mosul, one man set himself ablaze before others quickly stamped out the flames with their jackets. He was sent to hospital with burns to his face and hands. Sunday's incident in Iraq shows the frustration among Sunnis that has not ebbed despite concessions from Maliki.

Iraqi lawmakers said parliament has approved on Saturday January 26, 2013, a law that would limit the terms of the prime minister, president and parliament speaker to a maximum of two terms. The measure, which must still be approved by Iraq's president, could pose a challenge to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's plans to seek the post again in 2014.

Iraqi troops opened fire on stone-throwing Sunni demonstrators in the country's west on Friday January 25, 2013, leading to the deaths of at least five protesters. Two soldiers were also killed, apparently in retaliation. Hours after the shooting, police said gunmen attacked an army checkpoint, killing the soldiers, in apparent payback for the earlier bloodshed. At least one army vehicle was set ablaze, and dozens of civilian gunmen were seen roaming the streets before local authorities imposed a curfew in the city.

Security forces arrested a French journalist several days ago while he was taking photos in a restricted area. Nadir Dendoune was arrested while taking pictures of a security location in Baghdad's southern Dora neighbourhood. We were told on Thursday January 31, 2013 that the detained journalist is in good health and that the matter is still under investigation. The journalist lacked the necessary government permits for taking photographs.
 
Iraq has executed 21 people convicted of terror-related charges, including three women on Tuesday January 29, 2013, bringing to 91 the number of people executed so far this year.

Chanting "No" to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, tens of thousands of Sunni Muslims protested after Friday prayers (1/2/2013) in huge rallies against the Shiite premier. Sunni Muslim outrage erupted in late December over what protesters see as abuses and discrimination against their minority sect since the fall of Saddam Hussein and the rise of the country's Shiite majority. Waving the old three-star Iraqi flag from Saddam's era, Sunni clerics, tribal sheikhs and young protesters called for reform of anti-terrorism laws they say security forces abuse to target Sunnis and unfairly detain prisoners. Iraq's al Qaeda affiliate, Islamic State of Iraq, still active after years of losses against American and Iraqi soldiers, has also urged Sunni protesters to take up arms though moderate leaders reject the incitement to violence.

Iraq’s finance minister told crowds of Sunni Muslim protesters on Friday March 1, 2013, he was resigning, after more than two months of demonstrations demanding an end to marginalisation of their minority sect. The demonstrations in the country’s Sunni heartland are fuelling concerns the increasingly sectarian conflict in neighbouring Syria will push Iraq back towards the bloody Sunni-Shia strife of 2006-2007.

Iraq executed 18 people this month, eight of them on the same day we were told on Wednesday March 27, 2013, and this despite global condemnation over its ongoing executions. They were the first confirmed executions this year. Iraq executed at least 129 people last year.

Iraq put 21 men to death on Tuesday April 16, 2013, the latest in a series of mass executions that have drawn international condemnation. All of the men were Iraqis and had been convicted on anti-terror charges. Iraq typically carries out its executions by hanging. The latest executions brought to 50 the number of executions Baghdad has carried out so far this year, despite widespread calls for a moratorium on the country's use of capital punishment. Iraq carried out 129 executions in 2012 and Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari insisted last month that Baghdad would continue to implement the death penalty.

The Iraqi authorities announced on Sunday April 28, 2013, that they had revoked the operating licences of the broadcaster al-Jazeera and nine other satellite TV channels, alleging that they are promoting a sectarian agenda, as the country grapples with a wave of violence. The move, effective immediately, comes as Baghdad tries to quell rising unrest in the country after clashes at a protest camp last week. More than 180 people have been killed in gun battles with security forces and other attacks since the unrest began on Tuesday. The violence follows more than four months of largely peaceful protests by Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority against the Shia-dominated government.

Iraq's ailing President Jalal Talabani, who is being treated in Germany for a stroke, is recovering and will be able to fulfil his official duties upon his return, we were told on SaturdayJune 1, 2013. Talabani, 79, travelled to Germany in December after suffering a stroke, the latest in a series of health problems in recent years.

More than 1,000 Kurdish career soldiers in the Iraqi army have deserted and want to be integrated into forces loyal to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region we were told on Wednesday June 12, 2013. The move comes after the Kurdish troops disobeyed orders to take part in an operation ordered by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad against a mainly Sunni Arab town. If their request is fulfilled, such a mass defection would deal a heavy blow to Iraq's stretched armed forces as they grapple with a surge in violence that has sparked fears of renewed sectarian bloodshed.

Baghdad has signed a deal with Iran to import natural gas for power generation, further intertwining the economies of the two Shiite-dominated countries. On Tuesday July 23, 2013 we were told that the four-year deal stipulates that Iraq buy 850 million cubic feet a day of gas at international market prices. The gas will be shipped through a pipeline which will be completed in the coming two months. He said the gas will feed a power plant in Diyala province east of Baghdad and two others in the capital to generate 2,500 MW. The deal was signed in Baghdad on Sunday.

On Saturday July 27, 2013, Iraq’s prime minister has ordered the detention of several senior security officials in connection with a major jailbreak that saw hundreds of inmates escape, including members of al-Qaida. Those detained include the chief of staff of the federal police’s fourth division, as well as other police, prison and intelligence officials.

Iraq executed 17 prisoners on Monday August 19, 2013, all but one convicted for terrorism. The Justice Ministry said authorities had executed 15 Iraqis and an Egyptian convicted of terrorism for "carrying out crimes against the Iraqi people." The other prisoner was convicted of another unspecified criminal offense. Two of those hanged were women. This year, a total of 67 people have been executed in the country.

Iraq’s top court said Tuesday August 27, 2013, that it had rejected a law that would have prevented embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from seeking a third term in office after 2014 national elections. The Supreme Federal Court said that it had ruled unconstitutional a controversial law that limits the premier, president and the parliament speaker to two terms of office.

Iran won Iraqi support for its efforts to oppose a U.S.-led military strike on Syria during a visit to Baghdad on Sunday September 8, 2013, by the new Iranian foreign minister, highlighting how close the two countries have grown since U.S. forces withdrew in 2011. Speaking during his first visit abroad since he was appointed last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javed Zarif warned that U.S. intervention in Syria risks igniting a region wide war.

On Saturday September 28, 2013, we were told that Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region is moving ever closer to declaring independence, thanks largely to its oil reserves of 45 billion barrels and increasingly close energy links with neighboring Turkey. Iraq's central government is diametrically opposed to Kurdistan breaking away for fear it will encourage other federal regions to seek greater autonomy at Baghdad's expense, and can be expected to do all that it can to prevent that. But the Kurdish enclave already operates like a de facto state with its own legislative, executive and judicial branches, its own army, and firm economic foundations provided by the oil and large reserves of natural gas as well. Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Total of France have all turned their backs on Baghdad, despite its vast energy riches, to develop Kurdistan's oil industry. Other companies, like BP, are coming on to join around 40 small and medium-sized independents who set up several years to get exploration moving. But Turkey's support is critical right now if the Kurds are to move forward toward the independence for which they battled Baghdad and Saddam Hussein's grotesque regime for decades, and suffered horrific losses in the process.

Iraq ratified Friday September 27, 2013, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), an accord that however cannot enter into force until the United States, China and six other states follow suit. Iraq's move, formalised at UN headquarters in New York, raises the number of countries that have adhered fully to the treaty to 161. In the Middle East, Egypt, Israel, Iran, and Yemen have not yet ratified the CTBT, while Saudi Arabia and Syria remain outside as non-signatories. To enter into force, the CTBT must be signed and ratified by 44 specific states, only 36 of which have done so including France, Russia and Britain. The remaining eight are China, the United States, India, Pakistan and North Korea; Israel, widely believed to have atomic weapons; Iran, suspected of wanting them; and Egypt.

An opposition movement bested Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's party in the autonomous Kurdish region's parliamentary polls, shaking a decades-long duopoly on power, according to election results announced Saturday September 28, 2013. Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdish region president Massud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have long dominated politics in the three-province autonomous region of northern Iraq. But with 95 percent of votes counted, the KDP was first with 719,004 votes, the opposition Goran movement second with 446,095, and the PUK third with 323,867. In the last parliamentary vote in the Kurdistan region, which took place in 2009, the KDP and PUK ran on the same list and finished first, while Goran, a breakaway faction of Talabani's party, placed second.

Iraq executed 23 people during two days in September, most of them convicted on terrorism charges we were told on Tuesday October 2, 2013. Twenty of the 23 were either Al-Qaeda members or otherwise involved in terrorism, while three were convicted of unspecified criminal charges. The executions were carried out on September 22 and 26. They take to at least 90 the number of people who have been put to death in Iraq this year. Executions in Iraq, which are usually carried out by hanging, have drawn widespread condemnation from the European Union, the United Nations and rights watchdogs.

The leading party in Iraq's northern self-ruled Kurdish region advanced its position in the local legislature on Wednesday October 2, 2013, winning the largest bloc of seats even as its coalition partner fell behind an opposition movement that took second place. The results bring attention to public frustration over alleged corruption and nepotism by politicians and perceived heavy-handedness by state-contracted private security forces in the three-province region —themes upon which the opposition parties campaigned. The Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani, secured 38 seats in September's vote for the 111-seat regional parliament. The KDP previously held 30 seats. The main opposition party Gorran, or Change, won 24 seats. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which ran in coalition in with the KDP in the last election but on its own this time around, won only 18 seats. The results are not expected to upend the domination of PUK and KDP, the region's two main political parties which have a power-sharing agreement. But they do represent an advance for opposition movements, which could now have a say in the next regional government.

Iraq has hanged 42 prisoners convicted of terrorism-related charges, including a woman, we were told on Thursday October 10, 2013, in Baghdad's latest use of capital punishment despite international appeals to have it abolished. Human rights groups have questioned trial procedures in Iraqi courts, alleging that some verdicts are based on testimony obtained by torture or forced statements against the accused. All 42 executed over the past two days were Iraqis convicted of "terrorist crimes, killing dozens of innocents in addition to other crimes aimed at destabilizing the country, causing chaos and spreading horror. Sentences were appealed "more than one time and verdicts were reviewed by the judges of the Appellate Court to check accuracy".

Iraq took collection Thursday November 7, 2013, of the first four Russian-made Mi-35 helicopter gunships sold to the Middle Eastern nation as part of a multibillion dollar weapons deal. Iraq expects to receive a consignment of around 40 Mi-35 and Mi-28NE attack helicopters by the end of the year. Iraq is looking to use the newly bought military materiel to bolster its borders and for use in antiterrorist operations. Russia is to supply 48 Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile gun systems in addition to the helicopters under a $4.3 billion agreement on cooperation in the defense and technology sector signed in 2012. Russia has under the framework of that deal also committed to supplying Iraq with Ka-52 single-seat attack helicopters.

Iraqi authorities announced the execution of a dozen “terrorism” convicts on Monday November 18, 2013, defying widespread international condemnation of Baghdad’s use of the death penalty as violence nationwide has surged. The latest executions, carried out on Sunday, bring to at least 144 the total number of people put to death by Iraq so far this year, compared to 129 for all of 2012.

Iraq has confirmed seven more executions, pushing the number of people put to death this year to more than 150 in defiance of widespread international condemnation. Those executed, who included a Libyan, had all been convicted of offences related to “terrorism” we were told on Thursday November 21, 2013.

Iraq has executed 11 more people convicted of crimes related to "terrorist attacks we were told on Tuesday November 26, 2013. The eleven terrorists, all Iraqi men, were executed on Sunday, November 24. They were executed after being convicted by the courts of carrying out terrorist attacks. The executions bring to at least 162 the number of people put to death in Iraq so far this year. Executions in Iraq, usually carried out by hanging, have increased this year despite persistent international calls for a moratorium.

The Iraqi government on Thursday December 12, 2013, signed a deal to buy 24 multi-role light fighters from South Korea to boost the Iraqi security forces' capability for fighting terrorism. The T-50IQ is a supersonic advanced trainer and multi-role light fighter, developed by South Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The jet fighter is equipped with precision-guided weapons, missiles and machine guns.

Iraq has executed seven people over the past two days convicted on terrorism charges we were told on Thursday December 19, 2013. The seven Iraqi nationals "were found guilty under Article IV of the anti-terrorism law. Iraq has executed nearly 170 people this year who were convicted of terrorism charges, but the rulings have had no discernable impact on the unrest gripping the country. ---

The Justice Ministry said Tuesday January 21, 2014, that Iraq hanged 26 prisoners convicted of terrorism-related charges, all of them Iraqi nationals. The executions were carried out on Sunday for those found guilty of carrying out “ugly terrorist attacks” against the Iraqi people. Those executed included Adel-al-Mashhadani, a former anti-al-Qaida Sunni leader in Baghdad who was sentenced to death in late 2009 for murder and kidnapping.

Iraq’s Shiite-led government said Tuesday January 21, 2014, it had decided in principle to create three new provinces from contested parts of the country in an apparent attempt to address Sunni grievances and counter the expansion of the Kurdish self-rule region. One of those provinces would be centered on Fallujah, a city overrun earlier this month by al-Qaida and allied insurgents. Separate province status was not a major Sunni demand, but it could allow the area to receive increased federal funding. The other two areas —Tuz Khormato and the Ninevah Plain— border Iraq’s northern Kurdish self-rule region. The former is a mixed city containing Arabs, Kurds, and ethnic Turkomen, while the latter has a large Christian population.

Iraq hanged 11 people convicted of terrorist offences on Thursday January 23, 2014. All those executed were Iraqi nationals. This brings the total number of people executed in less than one week to 37. Iraq hanged at least 151 people in 2013, up from 129 in 2012 and 68 in 2011.

One of Iraq's most influential Shiite clerics, Muqtada al-Sadr, says he has decided to quit politics, distancing himself from any political movement that uses his name. Al-Sadr has made such announcements before, but the current declaration comes only two months before national parliamentary elections. Sadrists hold 40 out of 325 seats in the legislature, making them the largest single Shiite bloc, and hold six Cabinet seats. In the late Saturday February 15, 2014, statement, al-Sadr said his move was to "preserve the reputation of the al-Sadr (family)... and to put an end to all the wrongdoings that were conducted, or could be conducted, under their title." It did not explain further.

The Interior Ministry Said on Monday March 3, 2014, that it has discharged some 1200 policemen in Iraq`s Anbar province for abandoning their posts amid violence that has swept the province since last December. Hundreds of policemen abandoned their posts in the predominantly-Sunni province after ISIL militants took over large swathes of Ramadi and Fallujah, Anbar`s two main cities. According to government estimates, hundreds have been killed and injured since violence first broke out in Ramadi and Fallujah late last year. ---

Iraq executed two people convicted on anti-terror charges on Tuesday April 8, 2014, despite international condemnation of Baghdad's use of the death penalty and criticism of the country's judicial system. The executions, carried out by hanging, were the first to be confirmed since March 13, and brought to at least 46 the total number of people put to death so far this year.

Iraq's authorities have closed down a notorious prison west of Baghdad over security concerns we were told on Tuesday April 15, 2014. 2,400 inmates have been transferred from Abu Ghraib to other prisons in safer areas of the country. It was a precautionary measure because the Abu Ghraib facility is located in "a restive area." The prison is at the edge of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, which has been engulfed in clashes between an al-Qaida-splinter group and government forces.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite Muslim coalition won a majority in national elections and is set to stay in government. The National Alliance, including Maliki’s State of Law parliamentary bloc, won more than 170 of parliament’s 328 seats in the April 30 balloting we were told on Tuesday May 20, 2014. State of Law has chosen Maliki to remain as prime minister in the new government. Maliki, 63, has governed the nation of 33 million people since 2006. Iraq is seeking to maintain the growth in oil output that’s seen it overtake Iran as OPEC’s second-biggest producer, and halt a resurgence of sectarian violence in the past year. State of Law won 92 seats, the largest number of any parliamentary bloc, and was followed by two Shiite factions, the Sadrists with 33 seats and the Islamic Supreme Council in Iraq with 29 seats. Maliki himself won more than 721,000 votes, the most of any candidate, according to state-run Iraqiya television. Twenty-two women were elected.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki won the largest share of Iraqi parliamentary seats in last month's national elections, dealing a blow to Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish rivals who opposed his  serving a third term. Preliminary results showed Maliki won at least 94 seats, far more than his two main Shiite rivals, the movement of Muqtada Sadr, which picked up 28 seats, and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), which won 29 seats. Maliki picked up 92 seats on his formal State of Law blocs, and another two seats through minority candidates affiliated with him who ran their own campaigns. Kurds gained a total of 62 parliament seats, while Sunnis won at least 33 seats between their two main coalitions. A secular bloc, headed by the former Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, took 21 seats. Final results are expected in the coming weeks after the electoral commission rules on complaints of voter fraud and irregularities. The federal court then certifies the results. ---

Iraq’s leading Shiite Muslim cleric called Friday Jun 20, 2014, for a new government to be formed without delay and said all Iraqis must work together to resolve the country’s political crisis. The comments by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq’s majority Shiites, came as pressure mounts on Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to make significant changes to an authoritarian leadership style that has fuelled the takeover of large swaths of northern and western Iraq by Sunni Muslim insurgents. While not mentioning Maliki, Sistani said the new government, to be formed after a court this week certified the results of April parliamentary elections, must be inclusive.

An al-Qaeda breakaway group that seized large swaths of Iraq in recent weeks declared Sunday June 29, 2014, the creation of a new religious state in Iraq and Syria, as it continued to repel government forces in Tikrit, the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein. The militant group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced it will now be known as The Islamic State. The group's chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, remains its leader, and called on residents in areas under its control to swear allegiance to al-Baghdadi and support him. The Islamic State's announcement made it clear that it would perceive any group that failed to pledge allegiance an enemy of Islam. The group, which was disowned this year by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri, has developed an elaborate bureaucracy and an efficient model of governance, providing modern social services together with medieval justice. And it has supporters in Jordan, Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurds plan a referendum for independence and will keep troops in the nearby oil hub of Kirkuk until people there can vote on whether to join the Kurdish enclave we were told on Wednesday July 2, 2014. Iraq’s minority Kurds, who historically have resisted control by Arab-dominated central governments, are charting a course to independently develop oil reserves that the KRG calculates at 45 billion barrels (larger than BP Plc’s estimate for deposits in the U.S. or Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer). Kurdish armed forces moved last month outside their region in northern Iraq and occupied the long-disputed Kirkuk oil fields after the Iraqi army fled from Islamist militants.

The leader of the al Qaeda offshoot now calling itself the Islamic State has called on Muslims worldwide to take up arms and flock to the 'caliphate' it has declared on captured Syrian and Iraqi soil. Proclaiming a "new era" in which Muslims will ultimately triumph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi issued the call to jihad -holy war- in an audio message Tuesday. It was his first purported message since the group -previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - proclaimed the caliphate on Sunday and declared him its leader, in an audacious bid to sweep away state borders and redraw the map of the Middle East. ---

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who has been in Germany for medical treatment since December 2012, will return home on Saturday July 19, 2014. President Talabani is coming home on Saturday July 19 after receiving successful health treatment in Germany. He is going to resume his duties as president of the Republic of Iraq.

Iraqi President Fouad Massoum on Monday August 11, 2014, named a replacement for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, upping the stakes in the fierce struggle for political control of the besieged government. Massoum's nominee, deputy speaker of the parliament Haider al-Ibadi, has 30 days to form a government that can win parliamentary approval. Al-Maliki, however, vowed to fight for a third four-year term that begins this year. His Shiite-dominated bloc won the most parliament seats in April elections. On Monday, he accused Massoum, a Kurd elected by parliament, of carrying out "a coup against the constitution and the political process." Iraqi Special Forces loyal to al-Maliki were deployed at Baghdad's main intersections. Two main streets were partially closed as hundreds of al-Maliki's supporters waved posters and signs while shouting, "We are with you, al-Maliki." President Obama, speaking to reporters Monday while vacationing at Martha's Vineyard, Mass., praised the designation of a new prime minister, calling the prospect of a new government "a promising step forward." He called for formation of a new cabinet "as quickly as possible" and pledged U.S. support. Al-Maliki has drawn the ire of U.S. officials by refusing to build a coalition government to include the minority Sunnis. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry earlier Monday reiterated the Obama administration's support for al-Maliki's exit, saying the Shiite leader has little backing in Iraq.

Iraq's parliament has officially named Haider al-Abbadi as the country's new prime minister and approved most of his proposed Cabinet, as the country battles to take back territory lost to the Islamic State group. Legislators on Monday September 8, 2014, approved all of the candidates proposed for Iraq's new government, with the exception of two posts, namely the defence and interior ministers. Al-Abbadi requested an additional week to name them. Outgoing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and former Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujeifi were given the largely ceremonial posts of co-vice president. Kurdish politician and former Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari was named as one of three deputy prime ministers. Former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari was named foreign minister. ---

On Saturday October 18, 2014, Iraqi MPs have approved new defence and interior ministers, completing a unity government that is battling the spread of Islamic State militants. Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, a Shia, was appointed interior minister, while Khaled al-Obeidi, a Sunni, was confirmed as defence minister. IS controls large parts of the country, and has been making gains despite US-led coalition air strikes. On Friday, a curfew was imposed in the city of Ramadi amid fierce fighting.

Former UN chief Kofi Annan blamed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq for the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS), warning that the Middle East must evolve and adapt for lasting peace. Annan, who was speaking Sunday February 8, 2015, at the Munich Security Conference where many world leaders and ministers have been discussing global issues that include the wars in Iraq and Syria, said he had always opposed the US invasion of Iraq. “The folly of that fateful decision was compounded by post-invasion decisions such as the wholesale disbandment of the security forces, among other measures poured hundreds of thousands of trained and disgruntled soldiers and policemen onto the streets. “The ensuing chaos has proved an ideal breeding ground for the Sunni radical groups that have now coalesced around the Islamic State label”.

Iraq's national museum officially reopened Saturday February 28, 2015, after 12 years of painstaking efforts during which close to a third of 15,000 stolen pieces were recovered. On Thursday, the jihadists who have occupied Iraq's second city of Mosul since June last year released a video in which militants smash ancient statues with sledgehammers. Militants are also seen defacing a colossal Assyrian winged bull in an archaeological park in Mosul with a jackhammer. The Mosul destruction was the worst disaster to strike Iraq's treasure since the national museum in Baghdad was looted in the chaos that followed the U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein.

On Thursday March 5, 2015, Islamic State militants have "bulldozed" the ancient Nimrud archaeological site, which dates back to the 13th century BCE, near the northern city of Mosul. Nimrud, located on the banks of the Tigris River, 18 miles southeast of Mosul, is one of the world's most important Assyrian archaeological sites, but has been threatened by looting and damage since the United States-led invasion in 2003.

Iraq officials and lawmakers denounced Friday March 6, 2015, the destruction of the remnants of a 3,000 year old city by Islamic State militants. One parliamentarian called for urgent international military intervention to save the trove of archaeological treasures. Thursday the militants had “bulldozed” the ancient city of Nimrud using heavy military equipment.

Islamic State militants have bulldozed ancient remains of the 2,000-year-old city of Hatra in northern Iraq. The tourism and antiquities ministry had received reports from its employees in Mosul, which is controlled by the radical Islamist group, that the site at Hatra had been demolished. A nearby resident said he heard a powerful explosion early on Saturday March 7, 2015, and that neighbours had reported that Isis militants had destroyed some of the larger buildings in Hatra and were bulldozing other parts. The destruction follows a similar incident this week when Isis fighters bulldozed the ancient Assyrian archaeological site of Nimrud, south of Mosul. Some of the works had survived for more than 1,500 years. Unesco, the United Nations cultural agency, condemned the action as “cultural cleansing” and said they amounted to war crimes.

The ancient archaeological site of Khorsabad in northern Iraq has become the latest to be attacked by Islamic State. There are concerns the militants had removed artefacts and blown up the site, located nine miles north-east of Mosul. Militants have begun demolishing the Khorsabad site on Sunday March 8, 2015. On Friday, the group razed 3,000-year-old Nimrud and on Saturday, they bulldozed 2,000-year old Hatra, both Unesco world heritage sites.--

Militants have desecrated another ancient Iraqi capital on Wednesday March 11, 2015, razing parts of the 2,700-year-old city of Khorsabad famed for its colossal statues of human-headed winged bulls. Officials have been checking reports of damage at Khorsabad following attacks on the cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Hatra by the Islamist radicals who control much of northern Iraq. The head of Iraq's antiquities board and the country's antiquities minister both confirmed that damage had been inflicted in recent days at Khorsabad. The city walls were razed, and some elements of the temples.

While the United States has invested trillions of dollars and thousands of lives since 2003 to bring Iraq into its orbit, today it is Iran that appears to have achieved that goal, albeit with far less costs in terms of money and lives. There appears to be no better demonstration of Iran’s success in having firmly established its hegemony across Iraq than in the current operation to retake the Sunni-dominated province of Salahuddin in central Iraq. The operation to push out Islamic State (IS) militants from Tikrit and its surrounding areas in Salahuddin is being carried out by a ragtag force of Shiite Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs), the Iraqi army and some local Sunni tribes. The largest military campaign so far against IS, the Salahuddin operation has been noted for the heavy involvement of Iranian military advisers and the conspicuous absence of the US military. While the United States has in the past aided similar operations by the Iraqi military and PMUs in areas such as Amerli and Baiji, no US warplanes are now dropping bombs in Salahuddin. The Iranians have checkmated the Americans and the Americans now understand this we were told on Wednesday March 18, 2015.

Iran is the main provider of weapons, ammunition and supplies for Shiite militias working with the Iraqi Army in the fight against ISIS we were told on Wednesday March 18, 2015. The weapons and ammunition the Iraqi army and PMF [People's Mobilization Forces] use in the fight against ISIS in Salahadin province have been provided by Iran without limits or conditions. Iran has also reportedly dispatched advanced missile systems to Iraqi army bases in Salahadin province to help retake areas still controlled by ISIS. The Shiite-led government of Iran has been actively involved in Iraq’s security issues since ISIS militants overran parts of the country seeking to create a Sunni-Islamic caliphate. Iran’s Quds Force under the leadership of Qassim Sulaimani has been backing Shiite militias in the ongoing attack on ISIS-held Tikrit and other operations against the extremists. Sulaimani has been reportedly directing tens of thousands of Shiite fighters battling ISIS in Iraq since last year.

On Thursday March 19, 2015, we were told that barbaric Islamic State militants have dealt yet another blow to Christian history in Iraq by using explosives to destroy the 4th Century Mar Benham monastery. The ancient building, built by Assyrian king Senchareb 1,600 years ago, stood in the Christian-dominated town of Bakhdida, just 20 miles south east of Mosul.

Iraq’s Council of Ministers on Monday March 23, 2015, denied there were any foreign combat forces in the country, reacting to reports that Iranian forces have been fighting alongside the Iraqi Army in the war with ISIS. The role of all non-Iraqi military personnel is advisory we were told. It's clear to Iran and all Iraq's friends who have military advisors in Iraq that Iraq's sovereignty must be respected. They have been operating in coordination with the Iraqi government. ---

The Syriac Orthodox Christians of Mar Matti, a monastery that dates back to the 4th century, moved to rescue their library of around 80 manuscripts in August, at the height of the ISIS blitz, when its fighters were bearing down from Mosul to the north, toward the monastery, 20 miles from the city. Their advance was halted by Kurdish pershmerga fighters, who now hold the road leading to the monastery. That was a relief to the monastery's monks and their community. But they aren't taking any chances and are leaving the manuscripts where they are until the group is decisively defeated. As Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants advanced toward this monastery perched on a mountain in northern Iraq, the monks rushed to protect a cherished piece of their heritage: Their library of centuries-old Christian manuscripts. Dozens of the handwritten tomes were spirited to safety in nearby Kurdish-ruled areas. There they remain, hidden in a nondescript apartment in the Kurdish city of Dohuk, where Christians who have fled the extremists' onslaught are living and watching over them. The library contains a collection of copies of Bibles and biblical commentaries, mostly written in Syriac -a form of the ancient Semitic Aramaic language- and mostly dating back 400-500 years. The oldest is a copy of the letters of Saint Paul, some 1,100 years old. The bound tomes, some with tattered pages written in black and red ink, lay on shelves. When they captured Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, and other parts of the north last summer, most Christians and other minorities fled the city and nearby towns for the Kurdish autonomous zone further north. The militants seized churches and monasteries in and around Mosul, removing symbols of Christianity like the cross and blowing up some of the buildings. ISIS has also attacked Sunni Muslim shrines they consider idolatrous. In recent months they have accelerated their campaign to destroy more ancient sites, like the 3,000-year-old ruins of Nimrud; they shattered artifacts in Mosul's museum and burned hundreds of books at Mosul's library and university, including rare manuscripts.

Islamic State militants purportedly destroyed artefacts and buildings in Iraq's ancient city of Hatra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, we were told on Friday April 3, 2015. A video shows militants using sledgehammers, pickaxes and Kalashnikov rifles to destroy statues, archways and pillars in the Mesopotamian city. In the last month, Islamic State militants have desecrated other ancient Iraqi capitals, including the 2,700-year-old city of Khorsabad famed for its colossal statues of human-headed winged bulls. There were also some damages at Khorsabad following attacks on the cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Hatra by the Islamist radicals. The Islamic State rejects all but its own narrow interpretation of early Sunni Muslim theology as heresy, has systematically destroyed historic temples, shrines, manuscripts statues and carvings. ---

On Saturday April 11, 2015, the Islamic State group has released a video that shows militants smashing artefacts at the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq before blowing up the site. The site, on the Tigris river about 18 miles south-east of Mosul, was completely levelled. Destruction at the site was reported more than a month ago but the extent of the damage was unclear at the time. Militants can be seen rigging large barrels filled with powder in a room whose walls are lined with imposing gypsum slabs, beautifully carved with representations of Assyrian deities. The ensuing footage shows a massive explosion that sends a mushroom of brown dust into the sky. Earlier, Isis militants are seen hacking away at the relief and statues with sledgehammers. One is shown sitting on the slabs and carving them up with an angle grinder. ---

A suspected cholera outbreak has killed four people west of Baghdad, where vulnerable displaced populations have been affected by the lack of clean water we were told Saturday September 19, 2015. The deaths, which occurred in the Abu Ghraib area near Baghdad, were the result of a cholera outbreak first reported a week earlier. Last week, 12 cases of cholera were detected in Abu Ghraib and Najaf. Since then, other cases have appeared in Abu Ghraib, and the reason is water that is not suitable for drinking. Some people are drinking directly from the (Euphrates) river and the wells. The river water is polluted because the level is too low.

Iraq's first major cholera outbreak since 2012 has risen to at least 121 cases and spread to southern provinces along the Euphrates River, though no new deaths have been reported in days we were told on Wednesday September 23, 2015.

The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday September 22, 2015, the killings of Abu Bakr al-Turkmani, a senior Islamic State (ISIS) leader in Iraq and French Jihadist David Drugeon, an al-Qaeda operative and explosives expert. Coalition forces conducted an airstrike resulting in the death of Abu Bakr al-Turkmani, an ISIL senior leader, on September 10 near Tal Afar, Iraq. al-Turkmani was an ISIL administrative emir and had been an al-Qaeda member before joining ISIS. Al-Turkmani was closely affiliated with many senior ISIS leaders in Mosul. The Pentagon official also confirmed that coalition airstrikes had killed Drugeon, a French national who was an al-Qaeda explosives expert, on July 05 2015 near Aleppo, Syria. Drugeon was a member of a network of veteran al-Qaeda operatives, sometimes called the Khorasan Group, who are plotting attacks against the United States, its allies, and partners.

Chief of Crimes Unit of Baghdad police, Brig. Ismail Hamid Zair, was among the dead of the Hajj stampede on September 24 we were told on Sunday September 27, 2015. No one from the hundreds of pilgrims from the Kurdistan Region were among the victims. However, several Iranian Kurds from Mahabd city were among the dead.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s government and Russian president Vladimir Putin on Sunday September 27, 2015, disclosed that Iraq has security and intelligence agreements with Russia, Iran, and Syria (the Damascus regime of Bashar al-Assad in the fight against ISIS, bringing the U.S.-backed country closer into the orbit of Washington’s rivals and enemies in the Middle East. Iraq will begin sharing "security and intelligence" information with Syria, Russia and Iran to help combat the Islamic State group, a move that could further complicate U.S. efforts to battle the extremists without working with Damascus and its allies. The countries will "help and cooperate in collecting information about the terrorist Daesh group. Iraq has long had close ties with neighbouring Iran and has coordinated with Tehran in fighting IS — which controls about a third of Iraq and Syria in a self-declared caliphate. Iran has sent military advisers to Iraq and worked closely with Shiite militias battling the IS group. ---

The number of recorded cases of cholera in Iraq has climbed to at least 533 we were told on Wednesday September 30, 2015. The victims are from across Iraq, but no one had died of the epidemic. However, Baghdad Governor Ali al-Tamimi said less than a fortnight ago that at least five women had died of cholera in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad, and that many more victims were infected. He said some were in critical condition. UNICEF has provided the Abu Ghraib district with 50,000 boxes of bottled water, 1,000 20-liter water bottles and chlorine tablets to add to drinking water. Cholera has become a problem in Abu Ghraib due to unclean drinking water.

As Moscow deepens its military involvement in the region, Iraq appears to be increasingly looking east for assistance in its fight against Islamic State extremists. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Thursday October 1, 2015, that he would welcome a Russian bombing campaign. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that there are no plans for Russia to strike Islamic State militants in Iraq.

According to the head of Iraq’s parliament’s Defence and Security Committee, Baghdad may soon request Russian air support in battling Islamic State (IS). Iraq may turn to Russia for military help in the fight against IS if Russian airstrikes in Syria prove successful, the head of the Iraqi Parliament’s Defence and Security Committee said on Wednesday October 6, 2015. He also said that his government wants Moscow to have a bigger role than the United States in the war against the jihadist group.

Russia’s entry into the conflict in Syria has drawn support from Iraq, with citizens welcoming Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions as U.S. efforts to stop the terrorist group the Islamic State militant group have not lived up to expectations we were told Thursday October 8, 2015. The U.S. has led airstrikes in Iraq against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, for more than a year, but the Iraqi government has asked for greater support for its own troops on the ground. Some Iraqis have referred to the Russian president as “Hajji Putin,” a title of respect denoting someone who has participated in the pilgrimage to Mecca, and social media support and jokes about Putin having family roots in Iraq have also spread. “We don’t want the international coalition, we want only Russia and we will slaughter a sheep to welcome them,” one Iraqi said.---

Up until the night of Monday, October 12, 2015, the number of infections of cholera in Iraq reached 1,430, out of which one person died. People are urged to use clean water and wash fruit and vegetables before eating. A health official in the city of Duhok in the Kurdistan region, said that several cases of cholera were found in the city this week. The majority of cases are from the refugee camps.

The Iraqi government has issued arrest warrants for Trade Minister Milas Muhammad Abdul Karim and his brother Nehru on corruption charges. The minister faces charges related to accepting bribes, receiving illegal benefits, and misusing his position. Abdul Karim is suspected of awarding contracts without tenders to firms linked to his Jordan-based brother Nehru. Last week, arrest warrants were issued for several former officials at the Electricity Ministry and the Baghdad municipality for alleged corruption.

The Russian president has asked the Iraqi government for greater cooperation between Moscow and Baghdad. Russian Ambassador to Iraq Ilya Murgunov met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday October 19, 2015, delivering a personal letter from President Vladimir Putin. The Russian president suggested Abadi increase military cooperation in the fight against Islamic State (IS). Russia recently formed a coalition with Iran, Iraq and Syria to counter IS jihadists in the region. Abadi told the Russian ambassador that any international cooperation aiming to eradicate terrorism in the country “is crucial for Iraq.” Iraq believes a closer relationship with Russia will serve mutual interests between Baghdad and Moscow.

The number of cholera cases in Iraq has risen to more than 1,800 as the epidemic spread to the northern autonomous Kurdish region we were told Tuesday October 20, 2015. The disease has killed six people so far, including four in the Abu Ghraib region at the very beginning of the outbreak, before health authorities had set up a response plan. The Kurdish health ministry reported its first cases since the outbreak, two each in the provinces of Arbil and Dohuk. Two of the cases were people displaced from the most affected parts of central Iraq. --

Iraq's ruling alliance and powerful Shi'ite militias have urged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to request Russian air strikes on Islamic State militants, who control large parts of the country. Growing pressure on Abadi to seek Russian support puts him in the delicate position of trying to appease his ruling coalition, as well as militias seen as a bulwark against Islamic State, while keeping strategic ally Washington on his side. America's top general, Joseph Dunford, said on a trip to Baghdad on Tuesday October 20, 2015, that the United States won assurances from Iraq that it would not seek such strikes. Apparently Abadi and Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi both told him they were not seeking Russia's help.

Scores of convicts have received the death penalty in Iraq for engaging in terrorist actions we were told Monday October 26, 2015. The sentences have been signed by the Iraqi president and 160 terrorists are now on death row. 20 other terrorists have already been executed. According to Amnesty International 675 people were sentenced to death in Iraq between 2005 and 2014. The organisation has been pressuring the Iraqi government to stop death penalties as sectarian motives may be involved in the court orders.

Ten former Iraqi ministers have been found guilty of fraud and corruption while in office on a number of different charges brought against them by the parliament’s Commission of Integrity. The ministers have been high-ranking members of former Iraqi Cabinets since 2003. A court in Baghdad has also issued arrest warrants for some of the convicted ministers. Kurdish Minister Shex Muhammad Shex Abdulkareem Kasnazani, who served as the minister of trade in past Cabinets, was among those convicted. Half of Iraq’s revenue since 2003, estimated at $1 trillion, remains unaccounted for since the ministries have not submitted final reports concerning their expenditures. Some ministers are accused of embezzling $900 million, some of $500 million and others are accused of $100 million. Some fake ministry contracts are worth $1.5 billion. Iraq was ranked 170th out of 175 countries in the corruption list.

Iraqis expressed mixed feelings over the death of the prominent politician Ahmed Chalabi, who pushed Washington to invade Iraq in 2003 with discredited information on Saddam Hussein's military capabilities, after he passed away on Tuesday November 3, 2015, from an apparent heart attack. Attendants have found him dead in his bed in his Baghdad home. A secular Shiite, Chalabi rose to prominence as leader of the then-exiled Iraqi National Congress, which played a major role in encouraging the U.S. administration of former President George W. Bush to invade Iraq and oust Saddam. On the streets of Baghdad, there were mixed emotions. ---

On Friday November 6, 2015, we were told that the cholera outbreak in Iraq has spread to Kuwait and Bahrain, and risks turning into a region-wide epidemic as millions of pilgrims prepare to visit the country. The disease, which can lead to death by dehydration and kidney failure within hours if left untreated, was detected west of Baghdad in September and has since infected at least 2,200 people in Iraq and has killed six.

Flash flood in Iraq has left nearly 60 people dead over the past few days we were told on Friday November 6, 2015. Most of the victims died due to electrocution caused by flood-related incidents. Iraq was hit by days of heavy torrential rain that caused major flooding in the capital, Baghdad, and other areas. The rain, which started last week and still continues with scattered showers, also caused heavy property damage to private and public buildings. Many streets, houses and shops are flooded with a combination of rainwater and sewage.

Iraq closed its northern airspace to commercial flights on Monday November 23, 2015, for at least two days due to military traffic from Russia's air campaign in neighbouring Syria. The closure was expected to affect domestic routes to Erbil and Sulaimaniya as well as international flights from Turkey, Jordan, the Gulf and Austria.
Flight suspensions had been made "to protect travellers and because of the crossing of cruise missiles and bombers in the northern part of Iraq launched from the Caspian Sea.

For the first time in its history, Erbil International Airport will be grounding all its flights for the next two days we were told on Monday November 23, 2015. All incoming and outgoing flights to the Kurdistan region have been cancelled, including those at Sulaimani Airport. The closures are in response to a warning issued by the Iraq Civil Aviation Authority regarding Russian cruise missiles launched from the Caspian Sea that will cross through airsace in northern Iraq and Syria. The closure will last through today and Tuesday, but could extend longer.

On Tuesday December 1, 2015, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Iraq does not need foreign ground troops to defeat the Islamic State group, after Washington announced it would deploy Special Forces to fight the jihadists. Abadi did not directly reject the deployment but he insisted that any operations be coordinated with the Iraqi government. The presence of American ground forces is a contentious issue in Iraq, where the United States fought a nearly nine-year war, and it is politically expedient for Abadi to distance himself from the deployment. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday that the US was deploying a "specialised expeditionary targeting force" to Iraq to work alongside local forces against IS, which overran large parts of the country last year.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador on Saturday December 5, 2015, to demand that Turkey immediately withdraw hundreds of troops deployed in recent days to northern Iraq, near the Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul. The Turkish forces have entered Iraqi territory without the knowledge –and authorisation- of the central government in Baghdad, and that Iraq considered such presence "a hostile act". But Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the troop rotation was routine and that Turkish forces had set up a camp near Mosul almost a year ago in coordination with Iraqi authorities. ---

Iraq’s foreign ministry has summoned the Turkish ambassador to demand that Turkey immediately withdraw hundreds of troops deployed to northern Iraq, near the Islamic State controlled city of Mosul. The ministry said on Saturday December 5, 2015, that the Turkish forces had entered Iraqi territory without the knowledge of the central government in Baghdad, and that Iraq considered such presence “a hostile act”. The Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, said the troop rotation was routine and that Turkish forces had set up a camp near Mosul almost a year ago in coordination with Iraqi authorities. This camp was established as a training camp for a force of local volunteers fighting terrorism, he said.

Iraq on Sunday December 6, 2015, gave Turkey 48 hours to withdraw forces it said had entered the country illegally or face "all available options", including recourse to the UN Security Council. Baghdad, which is struggling to assert its sovereignty while receiving foreign assistance against the Islamic State jihadist group, said Turkish forces with tanks and artillery entered Iraq without its permission. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a letter to his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi that there would be no deployment of forces until Baghdad's concerns were addressed. However, the future of the forces already there remained unclear.

The Arab League on Sunday December 6, 2015, condemned a Turkish troop deployment the city of Mosul over the weekend, calling it “an intervention” into another country. Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil al-Arabi said the deployment of Turkish troops inside Iraq was “a blatant intervention”. It is against all international treaties and United Nations’ decisions. Turkey on Saturday deployed a training battalion equipped with armoured vehicles near the city of Mosul, which is under control of Islamic State (IS) militants.

Turkey said on Monday December 7, 2015, it would not withdraw hundreds of soldiers who arrived last week at a base in northern Iraq, despite being ordered by Baghdad to pull them out within 48 hours. The sudden arrival of such a large and heavily armed Turkish contingent in a camp near the frontline in northern Iraq has added yet another controversial deployment to a war against Islamic State fighters that has drawn in most of the world's major powers. Ankara says the troops are there as part of an international mission to train and equip Iraqi forces to fight against Islamic State. The Iraqi government says it never invited such a force, and will take its case to the United Nations if they are not pulled out.

Kurdish President Masoud Barzani said Tuesday December 8, 2015, that Kurdistan will remain neutral in a row between Baghdad and Ankara over Iraqi objections to Turkish troops training Peshmerga forces near Mosul. Before, there were agreements between Turkey and Baghdad and local authorities of Mosul over training (Sunni) Arab volunteers to be well-prepared for an anticipated battle for Mosul, Barzani said. On Saturday, Turkey revealed it had been training Peshmerga forces in four provinces in Iraq, after Baghdad disclosed that fresh forces had been sent into Iraq without consultations with the central government. A new force of some 150 trainers was relieving the previous team. On Sunday, Baghdad gave Turkish 48 hours to withdraw the forces. ---

Iraq's parliament suspended its meeting on Tuesday January 19, 2016, amid protests by Sunni Muslim MPs over violence that targeted their community in eastern Iraq and left dozens killed in apparent retaliation for anti-Shi'ite bombings claimed by Islamic State. Sunni lawmakers urged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to disband and disarm the Shi'ite militias which they accuse of being behind the latest attacks in and around the town of Muqdadiya. Two Sunni MPs from Diyala province where Muqdadiya is located, said 43 people had been killed over the past week and nine mosques fire bombed.

Iraq on Tuesday February 2, 2016, awarded an Italian company a contract to overhaul and maintain the Mosul dam in the country's north, days after a U.S. general warned of its possible collapse. The Cabinet awarded the contract to Italy's Trevi group. The contract was worth $230 million and that work on the dam would begin later this month. News of the contract came just days after Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the top U.S. general in Iraq, warned of dam's potential collapse, which could cause mass flooding. Built in the early 1980s, the dam is made largely of earth and situated on soft mineral foundations, which are easily dissolved by water.

A fire that broke out in a hotel in Irbil, capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq killed 17 people, 14 of which were Filipinos. Nawzad Hadi, the governor of Irbil, said the fire broke out in the sauna of the Hotel Capitol on Friday February 5, 2016. The victims died after being trapped in a room at the massage centre. Firefighters took around an hour to enter because of the strength of blaze. The cause of the fire is still unknown. There were no early indications that the incident was a terrorist attack.

The Iraqi Health Ministry announced on Sunday February 21, 2016, that a device containing highly dangerous radioactive material was found in the south of Iraq near a petrol station in the town of Zubair in the Basra Governorate. It had not been damaged and there were no concerns about radiation from the material. The device is 100 percent intact and there is no fear of radiation.

Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi handed in a resignation letter on Thursday March 24, 2016, for the second time saying he has ceased to exercise his duties. The oil minister had previously submitted his resignation to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on August 9, 2015. Abadi announced plans for a new set of reforms earlier this month that would reorganize cabinet posts and add academics as well as technocrats and professionals to senior government positions.

The Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and hundreds of his supporters entered Baghdad's Green Zone to stage a sit-in against the government and pressure them to implement reforms on Sunday March 28, 2016. Sadr has been pressuring the incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to implement a reform program which will include replacing several ministers with apolitical technocrats in a bid to eliminate patronage networks and the crippling corruption which comes with them. The sit-in took place despite heavy rain.  ---

. Senior Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has met with the country’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ahead of a deadline set for the premier to enact political reforms. Iraq's parliament on Monday March 28, 2016, voted to give Abadi a three-day deadline by which to present his new government or face a vote of no-confidence. Thursday will be the final deadline for al-Abadi to present his new cabinet. Sadr's Ahrar bloc, which holds 34 seats in the 328-seat parliament and three ministerial portfolios in the current government, rejected a proposal to give al-Abadi a further two weeks to unveil a new government. Sadr met the prime minister on Sunday night, hours after the clergyman entered Baghdad’s Green Zone, which houses the government, parliament and various embassies. The cleric is there to stage a sit-in, in protest at Abadi’s failure to reform the country’s political structure as he has promised.

The Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the protesters to end their demonstrations on Thursday March 31, 2016, after the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reshuffled his government cabinet before parliament on the same day. Sadr and hundreds of his supporters entered Baghdad's Green Zone to stage a sit-in against the government and pressure them to implement reforms on Sunday. He voiced support for Abadi's new cabinet on one condition: "We support it, but if the parliament did not approve it by voting, we will take away its confidence". 

On Friday April 1, 2016, we were told that at least four children have died of starvation in the Sunni-majority Fallujah and the situation in Fallujah is only getting worse. No food or medicines are left in Falluja. The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has been asked to send humanitarian assistance but nothing has reached the town and the number of starving people is on the rise.

Iraq's prime minister delivered a new list of cabinet nominees to the parliament speaker on Tuesday April 12, 2016, sparking rebuke from some lawmakers who said the list only perpetuated the system of ministries being distributed according to political quotas. Parliament descended into chaos after the session, with some MPs shaking fists and chanting against political quotas and in support of the constitution, which other politicians have fought hard to keep. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had called for a government of technocrats to replace the current party-affiliated ministers, but has faced major resistance from powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. He presented a list of 13 cabinet nominees to parliament on 31 March, but MPs later said that the political blocs would nominate other candidates, a process that apparently resulted in the current list of names. But with major disagreement over the proposed list, the session was postponed until Thursday as the new list is opposed by almost a third of MPs.

Parliament convened at the request of several dozen MPs who began on Tuesday evening April12, 2016, a sit-in inside the parliament building to demand that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi sticks to his plan to introduce a cabinet of independent technocrats. The cabinet reshuffle is part of long-promised anti-corruption drive that Abadi needs to deliver. Or he risks weakening his government as Iraqi forces mount a campaign to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants.

• A dispute between Kurdish and Shi'ite lawmakers developed into a tussle, where they shoved and hit each other.
• The Kurds opposed a demand by the some Shi'ite MPs to seek the resignation of President Muhammad Fuad Masum, a Kurd, together with Jabouri, a Sunni, and Abadi, a Shi'ite.
• In Basra several hundred supporters of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr blocked the main street, demanding that a non-partisan government be formed.

Iraq's parliamentary speaker Salim al-Jabouri may request the dissolution of the assembly after ministers scuffled during a chaotic parliamentary session on Wednesday April 13, 2016, over a plan to overhaul the government that aims to tackle graft. The possibility of holding new elections in Iraq was raised after state TV reported that al-Jabouri was considering the future of the current assembly. According to Iraqi constitution, dissolving the parliament requires the approval of the majority of the MPs at the request of one third of the assembly, or the approval of the president at the request of the prime minister.

Twenty months ago the Islamic State (ISIS) abducted thousands of Yezidi women and girls as the extremist group swept through their villages in northern Iraq. Many were forced to become sex slaves for the group’s fighters. Hundreds remain enslaved and many of those who have escaped are still reliving the trauma and often not getting the help they desperately need. The shocking reports of recurring ISIS atrocities and its destruction of precious monuments to a cradle of civilization remain in the news. But little has been reported about what has happened to these women in the almost two years since their abduction.

Failed attempts to oust the speaker of parliament and a fresh ultimatum from an influential Shiite cleric have left Iraq in a state of political limbo. Backroom negotiations continued late into the night Saturday April 16, 2016, between Iraq's powerful political blocs after lawmakers attempting to oust speaker Selim al-Jabouri failed to maintain quorum.

A political crisis in Baghdad escalated this week when parliament failed to approve a new Cabinet line-up presented by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The shakeup was just the most recent effort by al-Abadi to salvage promises of reform first made last August in the form of austerity measures that he claimed would also help combat corruption. Following the Cabinet vote delay, parliamentarians staged a sit-in Wednesday April 13 2016, demanding the country's top political leadership step down, including the speaker and prime minister. The protest quickly descended into a brawl with the country's elected leadership throwing punches and water bottles. Eventually the scuffles subsided and no one was seriously hurt.

Iraq's powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday April 17, 2016, he would re-start protests in 72 hours if the nation's leaders failed to vote on a technocrats' cabinet proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to stem corruption. Sadr addressed the warning to Abadi and the two other top state officials, President Fuad Masum and Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri. Abadi is struggling to deliver on a plan to overhaul his government by bringing in independent professionals who can free their ministries from the grip of the dominant political groups. ---

Failed attempts to oust the speaker of parliament and a fresh ultimatum from an influential Shiite cleric have left Iraq in a state of political limbo. Backroom negotiations continued late into the night Saturday April 16, 2016, between Iraq's powerful political blocs after lawmakers attempting to oust speaker Selim al-Jabouri failed to maintain quorum. The crisis escalated this week when parliament failed to approve a new Cabinet line-up presented by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. This was al-Abadi’s attempt to salvage promises of reform first made last August in the form of austerity measures that he claimed would also help combat corruption. Following the Cabinet vote delay, parliamentarians staged a sit-in Wednesday demanding the country's top political leadership step down, including the speaker and prime minister. The protest quickly descended into a brawl with the country's elected leadership throwing punches and water bottles. Eventually the scuffles subsided and no one was seriously hurt. Hours after the failed vote in parliament Saturday, Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr issued a handwritten statement giving parliament 72 hours to vote in a new Cabinet.

Iraq’s bickering political factions in parliament agreed on meeting Tuesday April 19, 2016, to discuss choosing the next parliamentary president, to exit a political crisis. The decision to meet, announced Monday, came shortly after US Defence Secretary Ash Carter arrived in Baghdad to discuss the next step of the war with ISIS and meet with Iraqi commanders and officials, including the embattled Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi.

On Sunday April 17, 2016, Iraqi forces tightened security in Baghdad, after angry supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took to the streets of the Iraqi capital, attacking four ministries to press for demands that ministers be fired and that Abadi take serious steps to stamp out government corruption. Security forces barred the gates of ministries to protect the lives of those inside, as helicopters flew overhead. The violence flared after a failed meeting of lraqi lawmakers, Kurdish and Iraqi political blocs that were looking for possible resolutions to end the crisis.

Iraqi parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri has suspended parliament "until further notice" after a week of political rows, brawls and attempts by rebel MPs to unseat him. The announcement came during a Tuesday April 19, 2016, parliament session, days after rebel MPs voted to remove him and elected Adnan al-Janabi as an interim replacement, meaning there are now two claimants to the speakership. Jabouri insists the vote to sack him and his deputies was invalid because the session lacked the necessary quorum, but his opponents are seeking to move ahead with selecting replacements. But Janabi has called for a session to be held on Thursday, so MPs may still meet without Jabouri's leadership. Jabouri's decision was taken to "preserve the reputation of parliament" and prevent it from being a place for conflict.

There has been plenty of conflict in parliament over the past week: MPs held an overnight sit-in and threw punches in the chamber, as well as seeking to sack Jabouri. The turmoil began with disagreement over two proposed cabinet line-ups presented by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, but shifted to calls for Jabouri to go. Thousands of Iraqis have staged protests outside the Green Zone in Baghdad, the seat of government, in demonstrations against political corruption. Abadi has sought to replace the cabinet of party-affiliated ministers with a government of technocrats, but has faced significant opposition from powerful political parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. ---

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi named new ministers on Tuesday April 26, 2016, under increasing pressure from demonstrators to implement reforms and reshuffle the government cabinet. New ministers approved by parliament are: Hasan Janabi as Minister for Water, Wafa Mahdawi as Minister for Labour, Alaa Ghani as Minister for Health, Abdulrazaq al-Eisa as Minister for Higher Education, Alaa Dishr as Minister for Electricity and Aqeel Mahdi as Minister for Culture. The remaining ministerial posts to be voted on are: Education, Communications, Foreign, Finance, Justice, Youth, Industry, Planning, Housing, Transport and Oil. The dramatic parliament session has been adjourned until Thursday when parliament will vote to either approve or reject ministers Abadi proposes for these remaining posts.

Hundreds of protesters in Baghdad stormed the parliament building Saturday April 30, 2016, as the Shiite cleric behind the demonstrations, Muqtada al-Sadr, warned he could bring down the Iraqi government. Protesters who had been gathering for a “million-man” march in Baghdad stormed the legislature, smashing glass and furniture inside. Outside the building, other protesters set a vehicle on fire. No MPs were believed to be inside the parliament, as the legislature postponed a session earlier in the afternoon that was supposed to vote on new ministers. Kurdish MPs were rushing to the airport to return to the northern Kurdistan Region. Abadi was expected to present five new ministers to parliament on Saturday, as he reshuffles his government to meet demands to root out corruption, under pressure from Sadr supporters and other Iraqis. But the session was postponed.

Shia Muslim activists who occupied Iraq's parliament on Saturday began to leave Baghdad's government district on Sunday May 1, 2016. Organisers used loudspeakers to call an end to the sit-in in the Green Zone. Earlier, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the arrest of those who had stormed parliament. The demonstrators, mostly supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, were angered by delays in approving a new cabinet.

Iraq's border crossing with Jordan is expected to open in about two weeks, after an almost year-long closure, allowing for a resumption of vital trade and a return of Iraqi refugees we were told Saturday May 21, 2016. Iraq had closed the crossing in July because large areas of the border province of Anbar had fallen to Islamic State extremists. But IS has lost territory in Anbar in recent months, most recently the town of Rutba. The capture of Rutba cleared the way for reopening the Trebil crossing, but security forces need time to clear explosives planted by the extremists.

Funerals have taken place in Baghdad for two people killed when protesters stormed the city's fortified government district, the Green Zone on Friday May 20, 2016. At least 60 people were injured when Iraqi troops drove back thousands of mainly Shia Muslims protesting against corruption and security failures. Soldiers fired real and rubber bullets at the protesters, as well as tear gas. Four people have been killed and 90 injured in the clashes. On Saturday two coffins draped in flags were driven through part of the city, flanked by mourners. ---

The Iraqi Ministry of Justice announced on Monday May 23, 2016, that more than 20 people who were prosecuted for terrorist acts and other crimes and have been executed over the past month.

Iraq's lawmakers are preparing to begin a fragile process of negotiation aimed at cracking the country's month-long political paralysis. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday May 29, 2016, addressed parliament, calling on lawmakers to set aside their differences until the ongoing fight for Fallujah was over. Lawmakers have been deeply divided since Abadi tried to implement government reforms, including replacing a number of ministers with technocrats.

Baghdad has sent an envoy to Ankara to discuss withdrawing Turkish troops from Iraq. The move comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the Turkish troops' presence in Iraq as unacceptable. In December 2015, Turkey deployed around 150 troops and 25 tanks to a base in Iraq's Nineveh province, without Baghdad's permission. Ankara argued that its soldiers were sent to northern Iraq after a threat from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) to Turkish military instructors training anti-terrorist forces in the area. In response, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said that the Turkish troops were acting in violation of the country's sovereignty and demanded the forces withdraw immediately. A week later, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraq is out of question. "Our servicemen went to Iraq as instructors, their mission is limited to training," Erdogan said back in December. "It is out of the question, at present, that Turkey will pull out its military from Iraq."

An Iraqi court has dealt a blow to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's efforts to replace a cabinet dominated by entrenched political parties, invalidating the session that approved new ministers. But it also settled the issue of whether parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi retains his job - a question that had resulted in two rival claimants to the position - by scrapping another session at which lawmakers voted to sack him. The sessions were held during a chaotic month for Iraqi politics, in which MPs failed to approve all but a handful of new ministers proposed by Abadi. The deadlock angered protesters, who eventually stormed the parliament building. With Tuesday June 28, 2016's ruling, the court has effectively turned back the Iraqi political clock to the pre-April status quo: no new ministers have been approved, and Juburi is confirmed in his position.

Thursday June 30, 2016, the Iraqi government has asked Saudi Arabia to stop interfering in its internal affairs in a strong statement a day after the Saudi foreign minister said that the Shiite militia group known as Hashd al-Shaabi must be disbanded. The statement from Baghdad comes a day after Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir said that the Shiite militia was a sectarian group backed by Iran and that it must be disbanded. The Iraqi foreign ministry said that Saudi Arabia tries to address its own regional conflict with other countries by interfering Iraq’s domestic affairs.

Basra Police Friday July 1, 2016, arrested 31 wanted individuals on various criminal charges during a security campaign in different areas of the province. The arrest warrants included a wanted person on charges of terrorism and others on theft and forgery charges. ---

After three months of virtual shutdown, the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad has summoned members for a general session on Tuesday July 12, 2016, for the first time amid lingering divisions over Prime Minister Haidar Abadi’s proposed cabinet. Kurdish MPs will also be present at the general assembly after they left the Iraqi parliament in late April following a sit-in that turned violent. The parliament is due to discuss Abadi’s cabinet members who still hope for an endorsement from an unreceptive parliament with both Kurdish and Sunni groups rejecting the reshuffling of their cabinet ministers. Prime Minister Abadi’s efforts to reshuffle most of his cabinet ministers collapsed as both Kurdish and Sunni factions announced they would not take part in his so called technocratic government. It is unclear how the prime minister will have his government endorsed while both Kurds and Sunnis have declared they will vote against the reshuffling in the parliament.   

A wetland in southeast Iraq, thought to be the biblical Garden of Eden and almost completely drained during Saddam Hussein's rule, has become a UNESCO world heritage site we were told Sunday July 17, 2016. Fed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the marshlands of Mesopotamia are spawning grounds for Gulf fisheries and home to bird species such as the sacred ibis. They also provide a resting spot for thousands of wildfowl migrating between Siberia and Africa. Saddam Hussein, who accused the region's Marsh Arab inhabitants of treachery during the 1980-1988 war with Iran, dammed and drained the marshes in the 1990s to flush out rebels hiding in the reeds. After his overthrow locals wrecked many of the dams to let water rush back in, and foreign environmental agencies helped breathe life back into the marshes. The marshes, which covered 9,000 square kilometres in the 1970s, had shrunk to just 760 sq km by 2002 before regaining some 40 percent of the original area by 2005. Iraq has said it aims to recover a total of 6,000 sq km.

Iraq's state-run Meteorological Department said on Saturday July 23. 2016, that it had registered the hottest day so far this year, with maximum temperatures hitting 53.9 degrees Celsius in the southern city of Basra. Friday's merciless heat in Basra forced the majority of the residents to almost abandon the streets or to swim in the river. Increasing the residents' suffering were chronic electricity outages, caused mainly by the soaring temperatures and the decline in electricity imported from neighbouring Iran. Starting from Saturday, temperatures are expected to hover around 49 degrees Celsius in Basra and continue to decline in the coming days. Temperatures in Baghdad are expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius.

On Tuesday July 26, 2016, we were told that Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers in the Iraqi parliament will most likely reject plans to revise and amend the country’s constitution put forward by Shiite factions in the national assembly. Lawmakers said all Kurdish factions would vote unanimously against the redraft if the petition were put to vote in the parliament. They also expected the Sunni factions to reject the proposition. Amending the constitution now when Iraq is in war would push the country towards greater chaos they said. A group of Shiite MPs petitioned the parliament last week with a proposal regarding the country’s constitution and the possible amendment of its introduction. The Shiite groups want to rewrite the charter’s introduction which states that Iraq is a country based on federal system.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari called on Arab nations to pressure the Turkish government to withdraw its forces inside Iraq, which have been deployed near Mosul to train local forces for the city’s liberation. During the Arab League summit in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott on Monday July 25, 2016, the Iraqi government has called on Turkey to withdraw its forces from northern Iraqi many times but Turkish troops remain. Along with 150 troops, Turkey also deployed as many as 25 tanks to a camp in the Bashiqa area east of Mosul on December 3, calling it a routine rotation to train Iraqis to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS), which captured Iraq's second-largest city in 2014. Iraqi leaders said in early December that hundreds of Turkish troops had arrived without their knowledge or approval, calling it a violation of its sovereignty. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned Turkish authorities on June 29 against entering Mosul, saying such a move could trigger conflict between the two countries. ---

Iraqi parliament endorsed a bill on Tuesday July 26, 2016, that will effectively empower the provincial capitals in the country in their relation to the central government in Baghdad and gives them lawful means to create semi-independent regions with considerable political and administrative powers. The decision is of particular importance for the Sunni population of Iraq who have long sought their own autonomous region similar to the Kurdish regional administration in the north of the country. These are the first steps towards confederation. The new bill will pave the way for many provinces to establish their own autonomous regions. Although primarily the Sunni population in the central and northern parts of the country have shown strong support for an autonomous region, the bill will be hailed even among the Shiites in southern province of Basra. Basra, Iraq’s second largest city is also seen as the country’s financial capital, which by some estimates provides Iraq with 90 percent of its budget.

Iraq's parliament approved a partial Cabinet reshuffle on Monday August 15, 2016, part of a set of reforms proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that has been delayed by entrenched political blocs. The lawmakers endorsed nominees to head five ministries: oil, water resources, higher education, transportation, and housing and construction; the new ministers have been sworn in. The lawmakers rejected a sixth nominee, for the trade portfolio. All the nominees are independent technocrats, specialists, and have experience in the fields they were chosen for. Shortly after taking office in 2014, al-Abadi proposed reforms to combat corruption, cut government spending and merge ministries. He had hoped to replace political appointees with independent technocrats who could improve public services.

Iraq's Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi has been removed from his post after losing a vote of confidence in the Iraqi parliament on Thursday August 25, 2016. Earlier this month defines minister al-Obeidi accused Salim al-Jabouri, parliament speaker, and some MPs of involvement in corruption.

Iraq asked Saudi Arabia on Sunday August 28, 2016, to replace its ambassador in Baghdad after his comments about Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs and the alleged persecution of Sunni Muslims angered local Shi'ite Muslim politicians and militia leaders. The request by Baghdad's Shi'ite-led government underscores the depth of enmity between Sunni and Shi'ite regional powers as sectarian conflicts rage in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Riyadh only reopened its embassy in Baghdad in December after keeping it shut since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Thamer al-Sabhan was the first Saudi ambassador appointed since the reopening, which was seen as heralding closer cooperation in the fight against Islamic State militants who control swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and have claimed bombings in Saudi Arabia but now the presence of Sabhan is an obstacle to the development of relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The Iraqi foreign ministry denied on Monday that a plot to kill the envoy had been uncovered. ---

On Sunday September 11, 2016, we were told that a German team from Munich University have discovered some ancient houses and archaeological remains dating back 5000 years in the Kurdistan Region. The site is located in Kazhaw village, in the Sharazoor plains near Halabja.

On Friday September 16, 2016, an Iraqi MP has asked Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to “call on Turkey officially yet once again to withdraw its forces from Iraq before the start of the operation to liberate Mosul,” warning that the Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi has the right to expel Turkish forces from Iraq “by force.” Awadi said Turkey’s agenda in Nineveh province serves the interests of just one party that is calling for the division of the province into several parts and then linking some of those parts to the Kurdistan Region. She did not however make a clear reference to a specific party. She also accused “al Nujaifis” of serving the interests of Turkey in northern Iraq, in reference to former Iraqi parliament speaker Osama Nujaifi and former Ninevah governor Athel al-Nujaifi.

On Monday September 19, 2016, we were told that only 14 families returned to the Iraqi city of Fallujah three months after it was declared free of the Islamic State group when the Iraqi security forces retook the city in June, which was one of the major cities under the extremist group’s control.

Iraq's parliament sacked Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari on Wednesday September 21, 2016, over corruption allegations, a move that risks further destabilising the major OPEC producer's fragile economy as it struggles with a massive budget deficit. Zebari lost a no-confidence vote by 158 to 77.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Monday October 2, 2016, rejected recent comments by the Turkish president over Ankara's willingness to join in the imminent battle to flush out Islamic State militants from their last major stronghold in Mosul. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry rejected the comments made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the battle to liberate Mosul. Such comments represent a blatant interference in Iraqi internal affairs and a violation of principles in bilateral relations and good neighbourliness.

On Wednesday October 5, 2016, Iraqi security forces burned a 16 thousand square meter field planted with opium poppies belonging to ISIS gangs near Sharqat district in Salahuddin province. ISIS relies on the cultivation of opium poppies to finance part of its operations. Most of those who supervise the cultivation of this plant hold Afghani nationalities.

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari appeared before parliament on Thursday October 6, 2016, on charges of corruption. Two other ministers were impeached since August and a third resigned. Some MPs think Jaafari is not the right person or qualified enough to be the foreign minister.
 
On Thursday October 6, 2016, Iraq has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the presence of Turkish troops on its territory as a dispute with Ankara escalates. Turkey's parliament voted last week to extend the deployment of an estimated 2,000 troops across northern Iraq by a year to combat "terrorist organizations" - a likely reference to Kurdish rebels as well as Islamic State. Iraq condemned the vote, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned Turkey risked triggering a regional war. On Wednesday, Ankara and Baghdad each summoned the other's ambassador in protest at remarks from the other camp.

On Tuesday October 11, 2016, we were told that Nuri al-Maliki is once again positioning himself as Iraq's most powerful man, poised to return as kingmaker in a fight for influence that could decide Iraq's fate as a unified country after the coming battle to recapture Mosul from Islamic State. Two years after he was pressured to leave office by both the United States and Iran for failing to stop Islamic State fighters from sweeping across the country, the former prime minister still leads a powerful Shi'ite parliamentary bloc. In recent weeks his followers have been using their authority in parliament to dismantle the cabinet of his successor, Haidar al-Abadi. They have held corruption hearings, forcing out the government's leading Sunni and Kurdish figures, Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi and Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, who both deny corruption and say they were pushed out to hurt Abadi. Maliki's office denies that he has any plans to return to the premiership, and his allies say he is more likely to try to name an ally as the next prime minister rather than take back the role for himself. ---

Saturday October 22, 2016, ISIS raided a number of neighbourhoods in the city of Mosul, and arrested five former Imams on charges of sedition through conducting suspicious meetings at their houses. ISIS sacked the arrested Imams months ago and replaced them with others who believe in the group’s ideology. The detainees were transferred to an unknown destination amid popular rejection. Last week, popular uprising started to emerge against the ISIS in the city of Mosul, while today a missile was fired targeting ISIS members in Tel al-Ruman area.

Iraq’s parliament on Saturday October 22, 2016, voted to ban the sale, import and production of alcohol, in a surprise move likely to anger some minorities but also to please influential religious parties. Proponents of the ban argue that it is justified by the constitution, which prohibits any law contradicting Islam. But some opponents argue that it also violates the same constitution which guarantees the traditions of religious minorities.

On Monday November 7, 2016, we were told that Kurdish authorities have carried out a wave of attacks, demolishing the homes and driving out hundreds of Arabs from Kirkuk, as apparent revenge for an attack carried out by the armed group ISIS on 21 October. Where are we supposed to go?’: Destruction and forced displacement in Kirkuk, highlights how hundreds of Sunni Arab residents, including many who fled fighting and insecurity in nearby governorates, have been expelled from Kirkuk. Many have been ordered to return to their places of origin or have been confined to camps after being suspected of assisting IS to co-ordinate the attack.

A child fleeing from Mosul died of the cold at the Rajm Slebi checkpoint in northeastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border. The one-year old from Mosul died in the freezing cold weather at the checkpoint we were told Friday November 11, 2016. This is the second time a child has died at the checkpoint since October 30.

The Iraqi parliament has passed a bill recognising the Shia militia fighters, the Popular Mobilisation Forces, as a government entity operating alongside the military. The bill passed on Saturday November 26, 2016, will see the establishment of the Popular Mobilisation Forces Commission, which critics said could only widen sectarian divisions in the war-torn country. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi welcomed the legislation, which was supported by 208 of the parliament's 327 members, saying the newly-formed force "will represent and defend all Iraqis wherever they are." The law places the militias under Abadi's command, while giving the militiamen salaries and pensions that mirror those of the military and the police. The force, numbering more than 100,000, is currently involved in the battle to retake the city of Mosul, fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in the western flank of the city at Tal Afar. The forces have been key in retaking Tal Afar, which lies on a supply line from Mosul to ISIL-held territories in Syria. They have also been reportedly involved in trying to cut off the main road connecting Mosul and Tal Afar, denying ISIL fighters access to more supply.  The passage of the bill is "potentially very significant" in igniting tensions between Shias and Sunnis. 

Saddam Hussein warned the Americans they would be unable to run Iraq after the 2003 war because they did not understand the language, the history, or the "Arab mind". Mr. Nixon, who was a senior analyst with the CIA, has now written a book about his encounter with the man who had been in power in Iraq for more than 20 years. In an article in Time magazine, Mr. Nixon writes: "When I interrogated Saddam, he told me: 'You are going to fail. You are going to find that it is not so easy to govern Iraq.' "When I told him I was curious why he felt that way, he replied: 'You are going to fail in Iraq because you do not know the language, the history, and you do not understand the Arab mind.'"

John Nixon also said that the U.S. misinterpreted Saddam's role in Iraq, and he could have been more useful to provide stability in Iraq and curb extremist movements if he were left in power or kept alive after his capture for a transition period. ---

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday January 7, 2017, that an agreement had been reached with Turkey over an Iraqi demand that Turkish forces withdraw from the Bashiqa camp near Mosul in the north of the country. However, a joint communique issued after Abadi met his Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim in Baghdad did not refer to any such deal, but said both sides stressed that Bashiqa was an Iraqi camp. Turkish forces have been stationed in Bashiqa since before a recent offensive against Islamic State in northern Iraq. Iraqi state television said Turkey had pledged to "respect the sovereignty of Iraq" and that Baghdad and Ankara agreed not to interfere in each other's domestic affairs. ---

On Sunday January 29, 2017, an Iraqi parliamentary panel, the foreign affairs committee, has asked the Baghdad government to “reciprocate” US President Donald Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’ with travel restrictions aimed at American citizens.

On Monday January 30, 2017, the Iraqi parliament has voted to retaliate against the US travel ban on its citizens, calling on the Iraqi government to take reciprocal measures against the US. With a majority of votes, the parliament passed a motion tabled by the foreign affairs committee that set out recommendations to the government. It also called on the United Nations and other international organizations to take a decision regarding the issue.

Iraq Thursday February 2, 2017:

• Iraq is an independent state and is not under the influence of Iran, a government spokesperson said in response to US President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran is taking over Iraq “more and more.”
• Iraq is run through an elected government that represents the will of the nation... Iraq is independent and its sovereignty is respected. Iraq has mutual relations with many international and neighbouring countries, but these relations and interests do not come at the expense of Iraq’s sovereignty and the independence in decision making.
• President Trump claimed that “Iran is rapidly taking over more and more of Iraq even after the U.S. has squandered three trillion dollars there. Obvious long ago!

 

Iraq Thursday February 9, 2017:

• Five oil wells are still burning out of 25 that Islamic State set on fire in Qayyara, south of Mosul.
• State-run North Oil Company crews are working to control the fires torched by the hardline militants to slow down the advance of U.S.-backed Iraqi forces toward Mosul.
• The oil field was one of the main sources of revenue for the group that declared in 2014 a self-styled ”caliphate” in parts of Syria and Iraq.
• Two members of the Islamic State, riding a motorcycle in an agriculture road in Sharqat were killed by an armed attack launched by unidentified gunmen.
• The international coalition aircraft targeted the Islamic State’s Judicial Official, also known as Waleed Sarhan al-Kurdi (Abu Ali al-Kurdi) in the area of al-Zingili, in western Mosul, killing him, along with four of his bodyguards.
• Two suicide bombings have struck the left bank of Mosul killing at least nine people, including an Iraqi army officer, and injuring others.
• The first suicide bomber detonated a suicide belt inside a restaurant in the city’s Zahur district.
• The second explosion was a car bomb that blew up near an Iraqi army position in the city’s Noor neighborhood.
• Two Iraqi army soldiers were killed and two others were injured when a suicide bombing targeted their checkpoint south of Anbar’s city of Fallujah.
• A booby-trapped car driven by a suicide bomber attacked the checkpoint on Fallujah-Ameriyat al-Sumoud road, causing the casualties.

Iraq Saturday February 11, 2017:

• Four protestors were killed, and 320 others were wounded in the demonstrations that took place at Baghdad’s Green Zone.
• The capital, Baghdad, witnessed a peaceful demonstration; there were obvious cooperation between security forces and protestors. Some demonstrators tried to break the peaceful atmosphere and security forces fired tear gas and live bullets, killing some protesters and injuring hundreds.

Iraq Wednesday February 22, 2017:

• Conditions are set for the defeat of Islamic State militants in Iraq as Iraqi government troops successfully push in western Mosul, with senior extremist leaders killed.
• The ISIS-controlled area is “shrinking steadily with each passing day. Conditions have been set for ISIS’s defeat through their significant effort to reduce their command and control, their weapons and their financial resources. ---

Iraq Thursday March 2, 2017:-

• President Donald Trump is set to remove Iraq from the list of seven Muslim-majority countries included in his temporary travel ban. The delay in issuing a new executive order is partly due because Trump is considering adding further countries to the list.
• The old order outlawed citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the U.S. for 90 days, with refugees suspended for 120 days and Syrian refugees barred indefinitely.

Iraq Sunday June 4, 2017:

• One child was killed and another was wounded in southern Iraq when mourners fired salutation shots during a funeral as per the deceased’s will. The nine-year-old child was killed and another 11-year-old was critically wounded by mistake during a funeral of an 80-year-old citizen in Al-Hassan village in Dhi Qar province.
• Violence and armed conflicts left 824 Iraqis dead and wounded during the month of May which excludes security members deaths.

Iraq Wednesday June 7, 2017:

• Iraq’s semi-autonomous and oil-rich Kurdish region will hold a referendum on independence on September 25.
• The vote will be followed by another for a new parliament and president on November 6. The dates were set during a meeting between Barzani and local political parties. The plebiscite would mark the first “step towards a peaceful independence.”
• Setting a date for the referendum may be an attempt to “pressure” the central government to deal with contentious issues between Baghdad and the region, such as the status of disputed cities. The move could also be a way of testing the reactions of neighboring Turkey and Iran, which are both concerned about autonomy aspirations among their own Kurdish minorities.

Iraq Thursday August 10, 2017:

• Iraq is in the grip of a heatwave of such severity that people are being sent home from work for their own safety. Civil servants were told to take the day off Thursday as temperatures hit 122°F (50°C). The cities of Basra and Mosul experienced similar conditions.
• Demand for electricity has soared as people keep air-conditioners running to cope with the heat, but the state energy company is unable to cope and blackouts have added to the misery.
• Temperatures are forecast to rise next week to 124°F (51°C). It said that public showers and water cooling fans had been set up in some areas, but that Iraqis who could afford it were fleeing the country to cooler spots in the region. ---

Iraq Sunday September 24, 2017:

• Iraqi have executed 42 people convicted under the country's terrorism law. The executions were carried out after final court rulings that were endorsed by the head of the state.
• Those executed were convicted in different cases of killing security forces and involvement in terrorist attacks.
• People have voted in a landmark referendum on independence for the Kurdistan region of Iraq; the move has been criticised by foreign powers.
• Polling took place in the three provinces that make up the region, as well as disputed areas claimed by the Kurds and the government in Baghdad. Iraq's prime minister denounced the referendum as "unconstitutional".
• Kurdish leaders said an expected "yes" vote would give them a mandate to start lengthy negotiations on secession. Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East but they have never obtained a permanent nation state.
• In Iraq, where they make up an estimated 15% to 20% of the population of 37 million, Kurds faced decades of repression before acquiring autonomy in 1991.

Iraq Tuesday October 3, 2017:

• Iraqi paramilitary troops killed eleven Islamic State members near the Iraqi borders with Syria.
• The troops repelled an attack by the group at al-Hamadaniya Triangle, which links the city of Ramadi to Syria’s Hassaka. It said eleven militants, including five suicide bombers, were killed.

Iraq Wednesday October 4, 2017:

• Former Iraqi president and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Jalal Talabani has passed away in hospital in Berlin, Germany, aged 83.
• While remaining nominally head of the PUK, Talabani withdrew from public life after suffering a stroke in December 2012. Known affectionately by Kurds as Mam Jalal, meaning uncle, Jalal Hisamadin Talabani was born on November 12, 1933 in the village of Kalkan near Mount Kosrat. He graduated with a law degree from Baghdad University in 1959.
• Political from an early age, he joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in 1947, at age 14. Throughout his life he has been a journalist, Peshmerga, and politician. The PUK said he was “often seen as a unifying elder statesman who could soothe tempers among Iraq’s Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
• In 1975, he left the KDP and established the PUK under the motto: peace, democracy, human rights and self-determination. As head of the PUK, he continued to play a leading role in the Kurdish struggle, attempting negotiations with Saddam Hussein and establishing the Kurdistan Front with Idris Barzani.

Iraq Tuesday October 10, 2017:

• Iraq's Oil Ministry has 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.
• This the second measure that Baghdad has taken over the past two days to isolate the Iraqi Kurdish region. On Monday, Iraq's central government ordered the Kurdish-based cellular network operators to relocate their headquarters Baghdad.
• The pipeline was taken out of service after Islamic State militants swept across much of northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014. Iraq's Kurdish region has been exporting some of its oil directly to Turkey. ---

Iraq Friday November 24, 2017:

• Iraq is to resume paying war reparations to Kuwait at the start of 2018, in UN-endorsed compensation for Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of the emirate. The two countries have agreed during a visit to Kuwait City by President Fuad Masum for Iraq "to resume payment of the five-percent tax on oil sales and to try to settle border disputes".
• Iraq in October 2014 suspended payment of the tax imposed on its oil exports as war reparations by the UN Security Council at the height of an offensive by the Islamic State jihadist group that has now been rolled back. The outstanding amount of $4.6 billion from a total reparations bill of $52.4 billion is to be paid by the end of 2021.
• A US-led international coalition evicted Iraqi troops from Kuwait in February 1991 after a seven-month occupation.

Iraq Tuesday December 12, 2017:

• A police force at the city of Hit (70 km west of Ramadi) arrested five for taking alcoholics in public. Some of those detained admitted to alcoholics dealing.
• Attacks against alcoholics stores have been rampant at Iraq’s religiously conservative regions over the past years.

Iraq Thursday January11, 2018:

• A series of eight earthquakes hit the Iran-Iraq border area and rattled Baghdad, apparent aftershocks of a temblor that struck the mountainous region in November and killed over 530 people. Four people suffered minor injuries in Iran.
• The U.S. Geological Survey said seven of the quakes struck near the Iraqi city of Mandali, 120 kilometers northeast of the Iraqi capital. Mandali is right on the border between the two nations. The eighth hit near Mehran in western Iran, about 90 kilometers southeast of Mandali along the sparsely populated Zagros Mountains that divide Iran and Iraq.
• Six had a magnitude of at least 5, while two registered at magnitude 4. Scientists consider earthquakes of magnitude 5 as moderate.

Iraq Monday January22, 2018:

• The Iraqi parliament set May 12 for elections the winner of which will face the daunting tasks of rebuilding Iraq after a three-year war with Islamic State and a battle against entrenched corruption that is eating away at its oil revenue.
• Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is seeking re-election, buoyed by a surge in popularity for successfully leading the war on the militants, with support from a U.S.-led coalition.
• The May election will decide the prime minister who will lead the country for the next four years, a position reserved to the Shi'ite Arab majority. ---

Iraq Wednesday February 14, 2018:

• Iraq needs $88.2 billion to rebuild parts of the country in the aftermath of the war against ISIS.
• $22.9 billion needed for Iraq in the short term and $65.4 billion over the medium term. The reconstruction and recovery money would go to areas seized by ISIS, including the country's second-largest city of Mosul.
• Seven governorates in northern and eastern Iraq suffered $46 billion in damage. Recovery money would also be needed for the security sector, which requires $14 billion, as well the banking sector, which lost $10 billion in cash assets.

Iraq Thursday March 1, 2018:

• Iraq's parliament called for the government to draw up a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops, including the Americans, from the country.

Iraq Monday May 14, 2018:

• The Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will begin talks to form a government after winning more seats than the prime minister in a national election that has made him an unlikely kingmaker.
• Sadr’s strong showing in Saturday’s election moves him from the fringes of Iraq’s political life to the messy centre stage and appears to give him a strong say on who will lead the country.
• The Shia cleric ran on a nationalist platform and has been avowedly anti-US since he led a militia that played a leading role in the civil war and the fight against the American occupation in the years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
• He has also been a fervent critic of Iran’s role in Iraq, putting him at odds with significant parts of the political establishment.
• Washington’s preferred candidate, the incumbent prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, appears to have come third in the vote, trailing both Sadr and Hadi al-Ameri, the Iranian-backed leader of Shia militia groups who helped the national military defeat Islamic State.

Iraq Wednesday May 30, 2018:

• Authorities have annulled votes cast at more than a thousand polling stations, following allegations of fraud, including those in the Sunni-predominant provinces of Anbar, Saladin and Diyala.
• The decision was taken following the verification of several "red complaints", wherein gross violations affecting the outcome of elections are deemed to have taken place. The electoral commission annulled votes cast at 1,021 of the country's 53,000 ballot boxes.
• Parliamentarians from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Kirkuk planned to lodge an appeal with Iraq's Federal Court against the decision to annul some poll results.

Iraq Wednesday June 6, 2018:

• In response to charges of electoral fraud Iraq's parliament has ordered a full manual recount of the 11 million ballots of the country's recent parliamentary election that resulted in a shock victory for Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
• MPs also sacked a nine-member independent electoral commission that oversaw the process and replaced the body with judges.

Iraq Friday June 8, 2018:

• One woman was killed and 14 people including women and children were wounded when a bomb exploded in the ethnically-mixed Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk.

Iraq Saturday June 9, 2018:

• A fire has been brought under control at Iraq's biggest ballot paper storage depot after calls for an election recount. Votes for the eastern district of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, were being held in the depot.
• Some ballot boxes could have been in a warehouse that burnt down but most were safe. Amid allegations of fraud, the outgoing parliament ordered a recount of about 10 million votes.
• At least two people were killed and 20 were wounded after a bomb went off at a market in the town of Khalis in Diyala province.
• Diyala is a mixed province where both Sunni Arabs and Shi’ite Arabs live. ---

Iraq Tuesday June 12, 2018:

• Nationalist cleric Moqtada Sadr announced a surprise political alliance with pro-Iranian Hadi al-Ameri in a bid to lead Iraq over the next four years. The two blocs won first and second place in the war-scarred country’s May 12 parliamentary election.   
• The move by Sadr, who is staunchly opposed to Iranian involvement in the country, was unexpected by much of the political class as he had suggested unwillingness to work with Ameri and his bloc of pro-Iranian former fighters.   
• But at a joint press conference with Ameri in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Sadr hailed the formation of a true alliance to accelerate the formation of a national government away from any dogmatism.  

Iraq Sunday July 1, 2018:

• A suicide bomber has targeted a storage site in northern Iraq containing ballot boxes from the May parliamentary elections, wounding at least 19 people.
• A car bomb driven by a suicide bomber exploded at the main gate of the warehouse in the city of Kirkuk days before a vote recount. The building was damaged by the blast but the ballot boxes were unaffected.
• Police officers, members of a counterterrorist unit, and civilians were said to be among those wounded. Some reports said one person was also killed.

Iraq Sunday July 15, 2018:

• Two protesters were killed in clashes with Iraqi security forces in Samawa amid growing anger in southern cities over poor public services and widespread corruption.
• The unrest is piling pressure on Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who hopes to serve a second term once politicians form a new government following a May 12 parliamentary election tainted by allegations of fraud.
• Hundreds of people tried to storm a courthouse. Shots were fired. It was not clear who was shooting.
• Earlier, police in oil hub Basra wounded 48 people when they fired into the air to disperse a crowd of hundreds that tried to storm a government building and demonstrated near an oil field. Some 28 members of the security forces were also wounded.
• In a town near the southern city of Amara, police shot into the air to disperse protesters after demonstrators set fire to the municipality building. Thirteen protesters and seven policemen were wounded in the clashes.
• Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has expressed solidarity with protesters, saying they faced an “extreme lack of public services.”

Iraq Monday July 16, 2018:

• A wave of protests that have rocked Iraq entered a second week as the government battles to contain mounting anger over the poor quality of public services, corruption and unemployment as the country is gripped by political paralysis.
• Additional security forces were deployed across Iraq’s nine southern provinces over the weekend and the internet was blocked after the protests escalated with demonstrators attacking government buildings and political offices.
• About 200 protesters gathered at the entrance to the Siba gas field in Basra province, the country’s oil hub. Dozens of men and women also gathered for a protest in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square demanding reform and in solidarity with the demonstrations in the south of the country.
• The unrest over joblessness and water and electricity shortages underlines the fragility of the state of Opec’s second-largest oil producer, 15 years after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein. The protests come two months after Iraqis voted in parliamentary elections and will undermine Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s chances of securing a second term. ---

Iraq Monday August 6, 2018:

• An Iraqi court sentenced a French man and a German woman to life in prison for belonging to the Islamic State jihadist group. Frenchman Lahcen Gueboudj, 58, and a German woman whose name was given only as Nadia were sentenced separately at the Baghdad central criminal court.
• Nadia's mother, a German woman of Moroccan origin, was sentenced to death in January for Isil membership but the sentence was later commuted to life, which in Iraq is equivalent to 20 years. The mother and daughter were arrested in July 2017 in Mosul.

Iraq Sunday August 12, 2018:

-    Two demonstrators were killed and dozens more were wounded in southern Iraq as protests over unemployment and a lack of basic services entered a second week. The protesters were killed in a shooting in the city of Samawah, south of the capital Baghdad.
-    A further 27 people were injured in the incident in front of the governor’s headquarters.
-    In Baghdad hundreds of protesters closed a highway at the entrance to the city’s northwestern Shula neighborhood, chanting “Iran, out out! Baghdad is free!” and ‘The people want to overthrow the regime’.
-    Demonstrations hit several provinces including Basra, despite Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi announcing fresh funds and pledges of investment for the oil-rich but neglected region.

Iraq Sunday August 19, 2018:

• Iraq's Supreme Court has ratified the results of the country's May parliamentary election, setting in motion a 90-day constitutional deadline for the top parties to form a coalition government.
• A nationwide recount of votes showed on August 10 that populist Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr retained his lead, positioning him to play a central role in the government negotiations.
• Many Iraqis, including Kurdish and Sunni Arab groups, had disputed the results of the vote, alleging widespread electoral misconduct.
• In June, a huge fire destroyed a warehouse housing boxes containing ballots from the May 12 vote.

Iraq Tuesday September 4, 2018:

• At least five protesters have been killed and 16 injured on a second day of clashes with security forces in Basra. At least 14 members of the security forces were also hurt as demonstrators threw petrol bombs at government buildings.
• Crowds in the city are angry about the lack of basic services, including drinking water, and jobs. One protester was reportedly killed during similar clashes on Monday.

Iraq Wednesday September 5, 2018:

• Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition as demonstrators took to the streets for a third day in the southern city of Basra. One person died and 21 others were wounded by forces using live rounds.
• At least five people were killed Tuesday in clashes and 68 others injured, including 41 civilians and 27 military personnel. One protester died Monday in clashes with Iraqi authorities.

Iraq Thursday September 6, 2018:

• Iraqi protesters have stormed and set fire to a provincial government building in the southern city of Basra. Several government buildings have been attacked during four days of violent protests that have swept the city and spread to the nearby port of Umm Qasr.
• A curfew imposed by authorities to try and quell demonstrations against poor public services and unemployment that have turned violent did not help. Three protesters were shot dead by security forces.

Iraq Saturday September 8, 2018:

• Basra airport was attacked with rockets after another night of protests against Iraq’s political elite, during which demonstrators set fire to the Iranian consulate and briefly took oilfield workers hostage.
• Iraq’s second city has been rocked by five days of demonstrations, in which government buildings have been ransacked and set alight by protesters angry over political corruption.
• Rockets have struck the headquarters of two Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region; at least 11 people have been killed and 50 others wounded.
• The missiles hit the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in the town of Koya, 300km north of Iraq's capital, Baghdad. ---

Iraq Monday September 24, 2018:

• Two Iraqis were sentenced to death after being convicted earlier of killing 12 civilians in the western Anbar province.
• A criminal court sentenced the pair to death earlier for killing 12 civilians in Anbar’s Al-Jazeera district in what the court described as a “terrorist attack”. A third person was slapped with life behind bars for taking part in a separate attack in Diyala province.
• The defendants now have 30 days in which to appeal the sentences before Iraq’s Federal Court of Cassation.

 

Iraq Saturday November 24, 2018:

• At least six people died in a wave of floods of torrential rain that fell in eastern province of Wasit.
• On Friday, the floods killed up to 11 people, including women and children in villages in Shirqat area, some 280 km north of Baghdad, in addition to sweeping some 3000 homes.
• The floods came after torrential rain in many areas in northern, eastern and southern Iraq which sometimes caused a torrent of water that gushed some towns and villages.

 

Iraq Friday January 5, 2019:

• A fight that caused a fire at a women's shelter in Baghdad killed nine people and wounded 22 others.
• The fire started at the shelter's kitchen after residents got into a fight. The fire quickly spread through the two-story facility in Baghdad's Azamiyah district.
• Two women died from stab wounds and seven in the fire. Twenty-two others were being treated for injuries at two nearby hospitals.

 

Iraq Friday March 22, 2019:

• A ferry has sunk, killing at least 94 people. Most of those who died were women and children who could not swim.
• The ferry, which sank in the Tigris river near Mosul, capsized because it was overloaded with twice as many passengers as it could safely carry.
• The accident happened as scores of people celebrated Nowruz, which marks the Kurdish new year and the start of spring.

 

Iraq Monday June 17, 2019:

• Iraqi activist Hanaa Edwar will soon be discharged from hospital after a traffic accident in Baghdad that raised fears the veteran campaigner for justice and democracy had been targeted by her opponents.
• Ms Edwar was hit by a car after giving a speech last Friday during a protest over the massacre of 1,700 Iraqi soldiers by ISIS at Camp Speicher, where she called for an investigation into the fall of Mosul to the extremist militants.
• She is due to leave Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Baghdad after having undergone an operation for a fracture to her leg.
• She finished her speech and crossed a busy street near Tahrir Square where a car hit her. Officials are investigating the incident but Ms Edwar has refused to file charges against the driver, she said. She didn’t see the car coming as she crossed the road, and the driver took her to the hospital. Ms Edwar even offered to post bail for the driver to get him out of jail, Ms Al Asam said.
• Known as “Iraq’s Mother Teresa” for her fearless dedication to civil rights, the Basra-born activist campaigned against human-rights abuses during the rule of former dictator Saddam Hussein and continues her mission 16 years after he was toppled

 

Iraq Monday July 1, 2019:

• An ancient 3,400-year-old palace has been found in a reservoir after water levels dropped because of a drought. The discovery of the ruins in the Mosul Dam reservoir on the banks of the Tigris River in Iraq has been hailed an “archaeological sensation”.
• The Bronze Age site in the Kurdistan region dates back to a period when the Mitanni Empire controlled vast swathes of the Middle East. Well-preserved wall paintings in bright shades of red and blue were found in the palace which has been excavated by German and Kurdish archaeologists.
• The palace was flooded when the Mosul Dam was built in the mid-1980s. Archaeologists first became aware of the site in 2010 when water levels in the reservoir were low, but this is the first time they have been able to excavate. As water levels rose, the building vanished completely again.
• The massive building, preserved up to a height of seven metres and with walls two metres thick in places, would originally have been an imposing structure. Measuring 1km in length and 500metres across, the ancient site features grand houses, a palace, an extensive road network and a cemetery.
• Excavations revealed wall paintings as well as clay tablets covered with ancient cuneiform writing. One of the tablets indicates the palace site, called Kemune, dates to around 1800 BC.
• "From the texts we hope to gain information on the inner structure of the Mittani Empire, its economic organisation, and the relationship of the Mittani capital with the administrative centres in the neighbouring regions," Dr Puljiz told CNN.
• The palace is understood to have been part of the city of Zakhiku and another larger city to the north may be linked. Dr Puljiz believes the palace was in use for a long period, with two phases of occupation clearly identifiable. ---

Iraq Sunday August 18, 2019:

• According to the data of the Iraqi Justice Ministry that have been reviewed by the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, over 100 people have been executed in Iraq this year. There are 8,022 prisoners in Iraq convicted with execution.
• Iraq has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, and is ranked in the top four along with Iran, Saudi Arabia and China.
• Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government has not made public the number of executions it carried out this year.
• Iraqi authorities handed down hundreds of death sentences to those convicted under counterterrorism legislation and carried out executions without publicizing any official numbers or sharing this information with international actors," Human Rights Watch report read.
• The trials were also rushed and were sometimes based on a single confession or missing victims' testimonies.

Iraq September 1, 2019:

• A palace thousands of years old has emerged from the Mosul Dam in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq after water levels dropped because of drought. The appearance of the ruins on the banks of the Tigris River triggered an archaeological dig, with a joint Kurdish and German team keen on surveying the treasures of the complex, known as Kemune.
• The site of Kemune can be dated to the time of the Mittani Empire, and is estimated to be nearly 3,500 years old. The Mittani Empire is one of the least-researched empires of the Ancient Near East. It spanned from the eastern Mediterranean coast to the east of present-day northern Iraq.
• Archaeologists first discovered Kemune in 2010, when water levels in the reservoir were low, but its recent emergence marked the first time excavation at the site became possible.
• During their survey, the Kurdish-German team found an array of items, including large fired bricks which were used as floor slabs and remains of wall paintings in bright shades of red and blue.
• Now, it is submerged again, with little clarity over when the site may reappear. For the moment, at least, the past has receded from view as the water level in the Mosul Dam rises again.

Iraq Tuesday September 10, 2019:

• At least 31 people have been killed and 100 injured in a stampede during the Shia Muslim religious rituals of Ashura in the holy city of Kerbala. The death toll was expected to rise. At least 10 people were in a critical condition.
• The stampede happened when a walkway collapsed towards the end of the Ashura procession. The collapse caused a panicked rush among worshippers near the gold-domed Imam Hussein shrine.

Iraq Thursday October 3, 2019:

• A curfew is in effect in the Iraqi capital Baghdad after a second day of clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces. The restrictions will remain in place until further notice. Curfews had already been declared in three other cities as protests over lack of jobs, poor services and corruption escalated.
• The violence has left at least seven people dead and hundreds wounded.
• Social media platforms and internet access have been blocked in some areas. The nationwide protests, which appear to lack any organised leadership, are the largest since Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi took office a year ago. Blaming unnamed "rioters" for the unrest, the government vowed to address protesters' concerns.

Iraq Friday October 4, 2019:

• Protesters have defied nationwide curfews in parts of Iraq, taking to the streets in increasing numbers and facing off with security forces in ever more deadly confrontations that had killed at least 44 people.
• As the country was paralyzed by a fourth day of anti-government demonstrations, the country’s top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, issued a stark warning to both sides to end the violence “before it’s too late”.
• A handful of concessions announced on Friday were promptly rejected by many of those out on the teeming streets of the capital, Baghdad.
• In a televised address, the prime minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, acknowledged what he described as “legitimate demands” from the protesters, who have called for widespread reforms, and in some cases the fall of the central.

Iraq Saturday October 5, 2019:

• Iraq's Prime Minister has said the government needs to do more to combat corruption as the death toll in four days of deadly protests rose to 93.
• Thousands have been involved in Iraq's nationwide protests, which are among the largest seen in decades and which were sparked by frustration over alleged government corruption, lack of basic services and growing unemployment.
• In a conciliatory speech broadcast on state television early on Friday, Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi called the demonstrators' demands for work opportunities and comprehensive reforms "righteous," adding that the government needs to exert "greater effort" to combat corruption.
• Abdul-Mahdi said the government would "soon" present a project to offer a basic wage for the poor so that "all Iraqi families can live in dignity." "Everyone should respect the rule of law by which everyone can live in security and stability," he added. ---

Iraq Tuesday October 8, 2019:

- At least 31 people were killed and 100 others were wounded in a stampede during a religious ceremony in the southern province of Karbala. 10 of the injured are in critical condition.
- This happened when a walkway collapse during the Ashura ceremony in Karbala. ---

Iraq Tuesday October 8, 2019:

- At least 31 people were killed and 100 others were wounded in a stampede during a religious ceremony in the southern province of Karbala. 10 of the injured are in critical condition.
- This happened when a walkway collapse during the Ashura ceremony in Karbala.

Iraq, Sunday October 13, 2019:

• At least eight people were killed in new clashes between Iraqi security forces and anti-government protesters, the sixth day of unrest in which the death toll has now passed 100 and more than 6,000 have been wounded.
• The eight were killed in eastern Baghdad after police backed by the armed forces used live rounds. The demonstrators had taken to the streets hours after the government announced reforms to try to ease anger over corruption and unemployment.
• The unrest is the biggest security and political challenge for Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government since it took power a year ago. The clashes have revived fears of a new spiral of violence that could suck in influential militia groups and be exploited by Islamic State.
• Before the latest clashes in the Sadr City residential district of the capital 104 people had been killed, including eight members of the security forces.

 

Iraq Friday October 25, 2019:

• At least 40 people were killed and dozens injured in Baghdad as police fired rubber bullets and teargas canisters in an attempt to disperse a protest on the streets of the Iraqi capital amid unrest sweeping the country.
• Tens of thousands gathered in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad to begin the march to the city’s fortified Green Zone, where government buildings and foreign embassies are located, but were blocked by police on the al-Jumhuriya bridge.
• The demonstrators, protesting against corruption and economic hardship, pushed back but were met with volleys of teargas, some canisters exploding in the air and others whooshing to a white arch in the middle of the crowd.
• Unlike in previous demonstrations the police did not use live ammunition. Medics said two protesters were killed when they were hit by teargas canisters.

 

Iraq Saturday October 26, 2019:

• At least five people have been killed in fresh clashes with security forces as nationwide anti-government protests entered a second day.
• Three of the dead were reportedly hit by tear gas canisters fired by security forces in the capital Baghdad.
• At least two more were killed when protesters tried to storm an official's home in the city of Nasiriya.
• The unrest follows a day of protests that left dozens dead on Friday. Protesters are demanding more jobs, better public services and an end to corruption.
• 12 burnt corpses were extracted in Dewaniya, one day after mass protests against unemployment and corruption in the southern province. The bodies were pulled out of the governor's office and the burnt-down premises of political parties in the province, according to local media.

 

Iraq Monday October 28, 2019:

• At least 67 people have been killed during two days of protest in Iraq, after clashes between demonstrators, security forces and militia groups.
• Hundreds more people were injured in what are the second wave of protests in October.
• The protesters, mainly unemployed young men, are calling for work, better public services and an end to corruption in their country.

 

Iraq Tuesday October 29, 2019:

• Tens of thousands of Iraqis protested in Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square for a fifth day, angered by reports of security forces killing demonstrators in the city of Kerbala and the prime minister’s refusal to call early elections.
• It was the largest gathering in the capital since a second wave of demonstrations against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government and the ruling elite resumed on Friday. A populist cleric who helped install the premier called for his removal.
• Security forces stationed on the nearby Jumhuriya bridge, lobbed tear gas at protesters in Tahrir Square who tried to break through to the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions.

 

Iraq Wednesday November 6, 2019:

• Iraqi security forces shot dead at least 13 protesters in the past 24 hours, abandoning weeks of comparative restraint to unleash live gunfire in a bid to crush demonstrations against the political parties that control the government.
• After eight people were killed during the day on Monday, security forces shot dead at least five others overnight or early on Tuesday, including one killed with live fire at a funeral procession for another who died hours earlier.
• More than 260 Iraqis have been killed in demonstrations since the start of October against a government they see as corrupt and beholden to foreign interests, above all Iran.
• Most of those deaths took place during the first week of the demonstrations, when snipers shot on crowds from Baghdad rooftops. But after the government appeared to have curbed the use of some deadly tactics, the protests swelled rapidly over the past ten days.

 

Iraq Saturday November 9, 2019:

• Hundreds of people have died and tens of thousands have been injured in anti-government protests since October throughout Iraq.
• At least 301 have died and nearly 15,000 injured from the use of force against demonstrators and killings by armed elements.

 

Iraq November 14, 2019:

• A human rights group has accused Iraq's police and members of the military of attacking medical workers for treating demonstrators, as security forces killed at least three more protesters in the capital Baghdad.
• Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that security forces had fired on medical workers, tents, and ambulances with tear gas and live ammunition, punishing them for treating protesters.

 

Iraq Friday November 15, 2019:

• Iraqi protesters draped in their country’s flag have been taking part in demonstrations since October 1 that have left at least 319 people dead and at least 8,000 injured according to the U.N.
• Many of the protesters wear face masks and helmets in the hope that this will protect them from security forces’ use of live bullets, tear gas, stun grenades and sound bombs to disperse the crowds of mostly young protesters. But many have been injured and hundreds of families are left searching for their injured loved ones in hospitals. Activists and physicians have been killed or kidnapped while giving aid to the demonstrators in Baghdad, Iraq’s capital.
• Tens of thousands of demonstrators have marched over the past six weeks and the protests have spread across the country.  The protests has been described as “one of the largest grassroots political mobilizations.” Many Iraqis are frustrated that they are without clean water and electricity, despite the country having large oil reserves. Angered by the lack of jobs and basic public services, many protesters say corruption is to blame; money is being placed in the hands of the few, rather than the many. Violence quickly became part of the equation, as protesters were met with lethal force by security forces.
• Apparently leaderless, the protesters have organized themselves using Whatsapp and Facebook. In response, Iraq’s Ministry of Communications repeatedly disconnected the Internet and blocked social media platforms for periods of time.

 

Iraq Thursday November 2019:

• Seven people were killed when Iraqi security forces shot live fire and tear gas canisters at demonstrators in Baghdad in renewed deadly violence as authorities seek to crush anti-government protests.
• The cause of death was live fire and tear gas canisters aimed directly at the head; least 78 people were wounded in the unrest.

 

Iraq Sunday November 24, 2019:

• Security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protesters in southern Iraq killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens more.
• Anti-government protests have been erupting all across the oil-rich south since October as demonstrators continue to demand an end to corruption and improved services. In Basra seven people were killed in "one of the worst'' days of the protest movement. Four others were killed in Nassiriya province, and one person was killed in both Najaf and Diwanieh provinces.
• The protests have become increasingly violent, with demonstrators burning and destroying properties and security forces using live fire, tear gas and water cannons to gain control.

 

Iraq Thursday November 28, 2019:

• Nearly 40 people have been killed in on one of the bloodiest days since anti-government protests began last month.
• At least 25 people died when security forces opened fire to clear bridges in the southern city of Nasiriya.
• Another four protesters died in Baghdad and 10 more in the city of Najaf, where Iran's consulate was also burnt.
• Iraqis have been taking to the streets to demand more jobs, an end to corruption and better public services.

 

Iraq Friday November 29, 2019:

• Iraq's prime minister has announced that he is resigning in the wake of deadly anti-government protests. Adel Abdul-Mahdi's announcement was broadcast just over a year after he took office.
• It comes a day after more than 40 protesters were killed by Iraqi security forces, and hours after the country's top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called for a change in leadership.

 

Iraq Wednesday December 11, 2019:

• Iraqi protesters are close to achieving their second demand since their movement erupted in October. The “October Revolutionaries”, as they have come to be known, succeeded in attaining their first demand of the resignation of the government and Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
• Based on stances by various political parties and blocs, the popular movement is about to achieve its second demand of dissolving parliament and holding early elections - the first of their kind since 2005.
• Until recently, most of the political forces have defended the idea of replacing Abdul Mahdi with an independent candidate. However, increased pressure from the protests, along with the violent security crackdown, forced them to reconsider their positions and accept early elections.

 

Iraq Thursday December 12, 2019:

• Iraqi security forces arrested five people in connection with lynching a teenager in the capital Baghdad. Angry mob killed the teenager whom they accused of shooting protesters and hung his body by his ankles from a traffic light pole in Baghdad's Wathba Square. Videos circulated on social media showed the mob dragging the body across the street.
• Security forces have arrested five suspects over the killing. A military spokesman said in that the grisly killing took place after the teenager clashed with protesters for refusing to allow them to gather near his home.
• According to Iraq's High Commission for Human Rights, at least 460 Iraqis have been killed and 17,000 have been injured since the protests began October 1. ---

Iraq Friday December 20, 2019:

• The number of victims since the beginning of the protests in October until today has reached 485 dead and 27,000 injured in all Iraqi provinces that witnessed demonstrations and sit-ins.
• The total number of detainees from the demonstrators reached 2,807, 107 of whom are still in detention.
• In addition, up to 48 demonstrators and civil society activists were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen.
• Assassinations and kidnappings have increased recently especially among civil society activists who are participating in the anti-government demonstrations that started more than two months ago.

Iraq Sunday January 5, 2020:

Trump threatens Iraq sanctions if US troops expelled

• Donald Trump has threatened Iraq with sanctions "like they've never seen before, ever", after its parliament voted for US troops to leave the country. Tensions are high following the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a US air strike in Baghdad last week.
• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has issued a call - along with France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel - for restraint. Mr Johnson will meet senior ministers later to discuss the escalating crisis in the Middle East. But he has said he will "not lament" the death of Soleimani, whom he blamed for playing a "leading role" in thousands losing their lives.
• Meanwhile, Iran has said it will not abide by any of the terms of the 2015 deal aimed at limiting its nuclear programme.

Iraq Tuesday January 21, 2020:

• At least 10 people have been killed in the last two days of violent protests across Iraq. Demonstrators were killed in the capital Baghdad, Diyala, Basra and Karbala, in addition to 138 who were wounded.
• The Commission teams have also documented the presence of some demonstrations who have blocked main roads connecting the governorates, burned tires, continued closure of official departments and educational institutions, and the disruption of many public facilities that provide services to citizens.

Iraq Saturday February 1, 2020:

• Iraq’s president stepped in to appoint a new prime minister after the Parliament failed to do so for two months, leaving the country largely rudderless at a time of multiple political crises.
• The premier, Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi, is hardly a new face — he is a former member of Parliament and former minister of communications. But he is not tarnished by the corruption allegations that dog many other Iraqi political figures.
• In his first comments upon accepting the nomination, Mr. Allawi paid homage to the anti-government protesters who have been out on the streets since October and he promised to keep their demands front and center in his political program.

Iraq Sunday February 9, 2020:

• Nearly 550 people have been killed in protest-related violence since unprecedented anti-government demonstrations erupted in Baghdad and southern Iraqi cities in October.
• Seventeen security forces members were among the dead. The remaining were protesters or activists, including 22 who were assassinated. Up to 30,000 people have been wounded during the rallies.
• Iraq’s security forces have used live ammunition, tear gas, smoke bombs and machine-gun fire to disperse rallies.

Iraq Wednesday March 11, 2020:

• Unidentified gunmen assassinated two Iraqi anti-government activists in Maysan province, southern Iraq. The security source identified the names of activists as Abdel-Aaddous Qasim and Karrar Adil, who were killed in Amarah city.
• The security authorities of the city opened an investigation into the incident.
• Since the outbreak of the anti-government protests in Iraq, several activists were subject to killing, torture, and abduction. Some activists accuse Shia armed groups, with close ties to Iran, of being behind these incidents. Yet, these groups deny such accusations.

Iraq Thursday April 9, 2020:

• Iraq's intelligence chief 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.
• The upheaval prolongs a leadership vacuum at the helm of the government amid a severe economic crisis and viral pandemic. In December, caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi resigned under pressure from mass protests.