September 6th, 20230In breach of 2021 agreements between the United States and Iraq that saw the U.S. military officially transition to an “advisory role” instead of one of combat, American forces are storing offensive military weapons at Ain al-Asad base.
A senior Iraqi military official wanting to remain unnamed told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that he...
September 4th, 20230According to an Iraqi political faction, the U.S. government’s refusal to leave regions of Syria and plundering the country’s oil resources are part of American efforts to fund and support terrorist groups.
A member of the Iraqi parliament’s Fatah Alliance, A’ed al-Helali, made the statements while being interviewed by the...
August 18th, 20231According to local reports, U.S. military forces stationed at an airbase in the Anbar province in western Iraq plan to seal off the border running hundreds of kilometers between Iraq and Syria.
The pro-Syrian government al-Watan daily newspaper cited an unnamed Syrian security source, reporting that U.S. troops are planning to close...
July 21st, 20230BAGHDAD - According to an Iraqi government spokesman, Iraq has expelled the Swedish ambassador and is withdrawing its envoy from Stockholm for permitting the desecration of the Holy Qur’an.
Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani’s office released a statement Thursday saying the prime minister “instructed the Swedish ambassador...
July 21st, 20230DAMASCUS — Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani traveled to Damascus on Sunday to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The trip marks the first time an Iraqi premier has visited Syria since 2011.
The discussion covered various topics, including mitigating the drought’s impact on both countries, enhancing...
March 10th, 20230Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to resume ties after years of hostility which had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.
The deal was announced after four days of previously undisclosed talks in Beijing between top security officials from the two rival...
January 7th, 20230U.S. Rep. Elissa Blair Slotkin (D- Holly) recently returned from a nine-day trip to the Middle East over Thanksgiving. The Congressional Delegation of House Veterans Affairs Committee members visited Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Lebanon. Slotkin had to miss the Lebanon portion of the trip due to President Biden’s visit to Bay City,...
October 31st, 20220U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called "Deal of the Century" was meant to represent a finality of sorts, an event reminiscent of Francis Fukuyama’s premature declaration of the ‘End of History’ and the uncontested supremacy of western capitalism. In effect, it was a declaration that ‘we’ – the U.S., Israel and a few allies...
October 14th, 20220On Thursday Iraq’s parliament elected Kurdish politician Abdul Latif Rashid as president, who immediately named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani prime minister-designate, ending a year of deadlock after a national election last October.
The presidency, traditionally occupied by a Kurd, is a largely ceremonial position, but the vote for...
September 15th, 20220ANAHEIM, CA — After years of lobbying by advocates, Anaheim finally designated its Arab American enclave as "Little Arabia" on Tuesday.
In a statement, Anaheim's spokeswoman told CNN the city plans to follow up the designation with in-depth research.
"The Little Arabia designation recognizes an area of our city we've always...
May 28th, 20220BAGHDAD – Iraq's parliament approved a law on Thursday that will ban normalizing relations with Israel, at a time when several Arab countries have established formal ties.
The Iraqi parliament has been unable to convene on any other issue, including electing a new president and forming its own government, prolonging a political...
May 27th, 20220An Iraqi asylum seeker living in Ohio was arrested and charged by federal authorities for aiding and abetting a failed plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush.
According to authorities, Shihab Ahmed Shihab, 52, told an FBI informant in November that he wanted to target Bush because he was “responsible for killing many...
March 6th, 20220WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. said on Tuesday it has reopened a refugee program for Iraqis that was placed on hold for more than a year during an investigation into fraud.
Officials will resume processing applications that were suspended during the probe and accepting new petitions for resettlement as part of the Iraqi "Direct Access"...
February 23rd, 20220BEIRUT — Lebanese security forces have foiled plans by militants linked to ISIS to carry out three suicide attacks in Beirut's southern suburbs, the interior minister said on Wednesday.
The plans for the attacks involved rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire as well as suicide vests rigged with explosives that would have killed...
February 3rd, 20220WASHINGTON, D.C. — The leader of ISIS died when he blew himself and family members up during a U.S. military raid in Syria, President Biden said on Thursday, dealing a blow to the jihadist group's efforts to reorganize as a guerrilla force after losing large swathes of territory.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi had led ISIS...
November 30th, 20210BAGHDAD — Iraq released final results on Tuesday from last month's general election, confirming populist Shi'a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement's victory as the biggest bloc, with 73 seats in the fractious 329-seat house.
The Taqaddum Party, which draws support from minority Sunni Muslims, won 37 seats. Former Prime Minister...
October 22nd, 20210— Iqbal Jassat is an acclaimed writer, analyst and commentator and one of the founding members of Media Review Network. This article, edited for style, also appears in the Palestine Chronicle
Will Colin Powell be remembered as America’s hero or as a war criminal?
Since his death a few days ago, there appears to be a rush to...
October 11th, 20210Shi'a Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's party was the biggest winner in an Iraqi election on Monday, increasing the number of seats he holds in parliament, according to initial results, officials and a spokesperson for the Sadrist Movement.
Former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki looked set to have the next largest win among Shi'a...
October 3rd, 20210The political division in Palestinian society is deep-rooted and must not be reduced to convenient claims about the “Hamas-Fatah split”, elections, the Oslo accords and subsequent disagreements. The division is linked to events that preceded all of these, and not even the death or incapacitation of the octogenarian Mahmoud Abbas will...
September 10th, 20210— This article by Abdul El-Sayed originally appeared in the newsletter The Incision. It has been edited for style. Subscribe to The Incision here: incision.substack.com
Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on that fateful day. We...
July 30th, 20210DETROIT — Famous for gazing over eyeglasses worn on the end of his nose, Carl Levin seemed at ease wherever he went, whether attending a college football game back home in Michigan or taking on a multibillion-dollar corporation before cameras on Capitol Hill.
Michigan's longest-serving U.S. senator had a slightly rumpled,...
July 2nd, 20210At 2:40 p.m. on September 11, 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld issued orders to one of his underlings. Among Rumsfeld’s thoughts:
Best info fast.
Good enough
judge whether good enough
hit SH @ same time
not only UBL
And:
Near term target needs –
– go massive – sweep it all up
– Things related &...
June 25th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. authorities pursuing a sweeping fraud investigation suspect some 4,000 Iraqis of filing fraudulent applications for resettlement in the U.S. as refugees, and they are re-examining cases involving more than 104,000 others, according to State Department reports reviewed by Reuters.
More than 500 Iraqis already...
March 21st, 20210A much anticipated American foreign policy move under the Biden administration on how to counter China’s unhindered economic growth and political ambitions came in the form of a virtual summit on March 12, linking, aside from the United States, India, Australia and Japan.
Although the so-called “Quad” revealed nothing new in...
March 10th, 20210“That’s certainly our goal and our intention.” This was the non-committal answer given by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when, on February 12, she was asked by a reporter whether the new Joe Biden administration intends to shut down the notorious Guantánamo Bay Prison by the end of the president’s first term in...
March 3rd, 20210BAGHDAD — At least 10 rockets landed on Wednesday at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base that hosts U.S., coalition and Iraqi forces, the Iraqi military said, two days before Pope Francis is due to visit the country.
Wednesday's attack is the second rocket attack in Iraq this month. The attack caused no significant losses, Iraqi’s...
February 26th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, President Biden ordered U.S. military airstrikes in eastern Syria, on the border with Iraq, against facilities belonging to what the Pentagon described as "Iran-backed militia", in a calibrated response to recent rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq.
The strikes appeared to be limited in scope,...
February 4th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, President Biden said he seeks to raise the annual refugee cap to 125,000, an increase that will take place in the beginning of October.
Biden made the announcement during a speech at the U.S. State Department.
Biden also said he would approve an executive order that would restore the U.S. refugee...
