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☆ Iraqi PM Sudani, Syria's Assad hold talks on security, water in Damascus
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Timour Azhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani review an honor guard in Damascus, Syria July 16, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERSBAGHDAD, July 16 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday in the first such visit by an Iraqi premier since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011. Assad and Sudani discussed securing their shared 600km border from security threats, including Islamic State militants, and agreed to enhance cooperation to reduce drug smuggling, they said during a joint news conference. Sudani said Iraq supported the lifting of sanctions on Syria, put in place and expanded by the U.S. and European countries since 2011. Sudani's visit comes as other countries, including Saudi Arabia, rebuild relations with Damascus after years of tensions.

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, Mohammed Shia Al, Sudani, Farhad Alaaldin, Timour Azhari, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: REUTERS, Iraqi, Islamic State militants, U.S, Islamic, Arab League, Top, European Union, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Iraqi, Damascus, Syria, Syrian, REUTERS BAGHDAD, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Baghdad, Islamic State, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Jordan, United States, United Kingdom, European

* "Sedoi" is the nom de guerre of Andrei Troshev, a senior Wagner commander, according to European Union sanctions documents, French official documents, sources with knowledge of the matter and Russian media reports. * The EU described him as the "executive director (chief of staff) of the Wagner Group" in its 2021 document which also says he was a founding member of the group. "Andrei Troshev is directly involved in the military operations of the Wagner Group in Syria," the EU said. Britain also described him in its Syria sanctions documents as the chief executive of Wagner. Western sanctions documents list his date of birth as April 5, 1953.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Andrei Troshev, Wagner, France's, Dmitry Utkin, Troshev, Putin, Bashar al, of, Guy Faulconbridge, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Wagner Group, France's Treasury, Kommersant, Wagner, St, Red Star, Islamic State, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, EU, Syria, Deir, Britain, Leningrad, Soviet, St Petersburg, Afghanistan, Soviet Union, North Caucasus, SOBR, Russian, of Russia, Palmyra, Utkin

"I was a little hesitant coming as a American, like 'Oh my god my government did really bad things here. Tourists "are messengers who tell these states that Iraq has returned to being a safe country and is not a red line as some say. 'DO NOT TRAVEL'The U.S. and European countries still warn against any travel to Iraq due to security concerns. The U.S. State Department website says: "Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest". Few of the ancient ruins that dot the country have signs describing their significance, nor accredited tour guides.

Persons: Anna Nikolaevna, Jacob Nemec, Imam Ali, Alaa, Marjani, Jacob Nemec's, Nemec, Ahmed Fakak Al, Badrani, Al, General Abdel, Karim Sudani, Ali Hilal, Hilal, Timour Azhari, Maher Nazeh, Ahmed Saeed, Khalid al, Ros Russell Organizations: REUTERS, Islamic, Tourism, Reuters, Foreign, U.S . State Department, Thomson Locations: Russian, American, Najaf, Iraq, Marjani BAGHDAD, Reno , Nevada, Iran, U.S, Baghdad, Europe, United States, British, Babylon, Mosul, West, Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Ali, Canada, Babil, Mousily

The 56-year-old officer, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media because of his reputation for ruthlessness, has not been seen publicly since early Saturday. Fighters from Mr. Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group were on the ground in Syria at the time, and reports indicate that both Wagner and General Surovikin used the civil war for financial gain. Besides leading Russian forces in Syria, General Surovikin was in Chechnya in the early 2000s, according to state news media and his biography on the Russian Defense Ministry’s website. Human Rights Watch said in 2020 that he was among military leaders who might bear “command responsibility” for human rights violations in Syria. He was placed on a European Union sanctions list on Feb. 23, 2022, a day before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Persons: Sergei Surovikin, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Surovikin, Bashar al, Assad, Prigozhin’s Wagner, Wagner, General Surovikin, General Surovikin’s, Aleksei Navalny, Russia’s, Valery Gerasimov, Prigozhin’s, ” Samuel Ramani, “, ”, Ramani, Mikhail Gorbachev Organizations: New York Times, Fighters, Islamic State militants, Russian Army, Russian Defense Ministry, Royal United Services Institute, Russian Defense, Human Rights Watch, Jamestown Foundation, Union Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Syria, Russia, Ukrainian, Kherson, British, Rostov, Chechnya, Washington

☆ Iraqi court sentences police officer to death for murder of government adviser
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BAGHDAD, May 7 (Reuters) - An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced to death a police officer blamed for leading a group that gunned down well-known analyst and government adviser Hisham al-Hashemi three years ago in Baghdad. A Baghdad court issued a death sentence on Sunday against Ahmed Hamdawi under Iraqi counter-terrorism laws, a judicial authority statement said. Media were not allowed access, but a lawyer who attended the court session said Hamdawi did not say anything in the court in response to the judge's ruling. In 2021, Iraqi state television aired a video showing Hamdawi saying he led the group that killed Hashemi. Some Islamic State supporters cheered his death, but no group had claimed the murder.

The seizure was to "thwart the activity" of Islamic State and "impair its ability to further its goals," the NBCTF said on its website. The NBCTF document, which has not been previously reported, did not give any details on the value of the crypto seized, nor how the accounts were connected to Islamic State. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, did not respond to Reuters' calls and emails seeking comment. The U.S. Treasury said in a report last year that Islamic State had received crypto donations it later converted to cash, accessing funds via crypto trading platforms. The owner of the two Islamic State-linked Binance accounts seized by Israel was a 28-year old Palestinian called Osama Abuobayda, the NBCTF document shows.

☆ Up to 1 mln people 'disappeared' in Iraq in last half century - UN
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, April 4 (Reuters) - Up to 1 million people have been "disappeared" in Iraq during a tumultuous last half century spanning the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein, U.S.-led military occupation and the rise of Islamic State militants, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances urged Iraq, which has one of the highest numbers of missing people in the world, to seek victims and punish perpetrators. But that was hampered by the lack of definition of enforced disappearance as a crime in Iraqi law, its report said. "The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances urged Iraq to immediately establish the basis to prevent, eradicate and repair this heinous crime," it said. Up to 290,000 people, including some 100,000 Kurds, were forcibly disappeared by Hussein's "genocidal campaign" in Kurdistan between 1968 and 2003, the U.N. report said.

U.S. forces in both countries combat Islamic State militants, who are also active from North Africa to Afghanistan. MASSIVE COSTSThe costs of U.S. involvement in Iraq and Syria are massive. "It was worth it because the decision was not simply: 'Does Saddam pose a WMD threat in 2003?'" IN THE GULF'Ryan Crocker, who served as U.S. ambassador in Iraq, said the 2003 invasion did not immediately undermine U.S. influence in the Gulf but the 2011 withdrawal helped push Arab states to start hedging their bets. Reporting By Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Two decades after Saddam's fall, Iraqis still haunted by disappearances
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Charlotte Bruneau | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

As exhumations dragged on, more atrocities were committed in sectarian conflict and amid the rise and fall of armed groups, such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants, as well as Shi'ite Muslim militias. Tens of thousands of Iraqis were killed by Saddam's forces during his rule. According to Siddiq, massacres committed by Islamic State militants, who seized much of northern Iraq in 2014 and held it for three violent years, have been prioritised. In Sinjar, where Islamic State committed what U.N. investigators described as genocide against Iraq's Yazidi minority, about 600 victims have been reburied, with some 150 identified. His name was not among the hundreds of victims identified by Siddiq's team, and Mohammed remains in limbo.

☆ Pentagon chief makes unannounced trip to Iraq as 20-year anniversary of invasion nears
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Idrees Ali | Thomson Reuters | National Security Correspondent Focusing On The Pentagon In Washington D.C. Reports On U.S. Military Activity | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Austin, the most senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration to visit Iraq, was the last commanding general of U.S. forces there after the invasion. “I'm here to reaffirm the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership as we move toward a more secure, stable, and sovereign Iraq,” Austin said. The United States is broadly interested in a strategic partnership with the government of Iraq," the senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters. The United States and Iran came close to full-blown conflict in 2020 after Iran's Revolutionary Guards' top commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a drone strike. "I think that Iraqi leaders share our interest in Iraq not becoming a playground for conflict between the United States and Iran," the defense official added.

☆ Four of six accused get lengthy sentences over Vienna jihadist attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VIENNA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A Vienna court on Thursday handed lengthy sentences, including life in prison, to four of six men accused of helping a jihadist prepare a deadly shooting rampage in 2020. While police said the gunman, Kujtim Fejzulai, who held Austrian and North Macedonian nationality, carried out the attack alone, the six defendants were accused of providing help beforehand. Two others received sentences of 20 and 19 years, the court said in a statement. The second defendant sentenced to life was Heydayatollah Z, 28, who lived with the attacker for weeks before the attack. The two defendants with the mildest sentences accepted the ruling, the court said, Of the remaining four, three plan to appeal and the other is considering it, added.

DUBAI/LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Qatar is in talks to acquire a stake from French company TotalEnergies' (TTEF.PA) $27 billion cluster of energy projects in Iraq, three sources told Reuters, as Baghdad hopes to stem efforts by Western energy companies to exit the country. The TotalEnergies deal with Iraq, which will require an initial investment of $10 billion, followed a visit from French President Emmanuel Macron in September 2021. Sources told Reuters last year that disputes over terms had risked scrapping the project. A senior Iraqi oil ministry official said he was not aware of QatarEnergy plans to acquire a stake in the TotalEnergies' project. One of the sources told Reuters Sudani would also meet TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne in a bid to end the deadlock.

☆ Analysis: Iraqi PM walks diplomatic tightrope in crackdown on dollars smuggled to Iran
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Ahmed Rasheed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The New York Federal Reserve introduced tighter controls on international dollar transactions by commercial Iraqi banks in November. "Americans are using the dollar transfer rigid restrictions as warning messages to Prime Minister Sudani to stay tuned with the American interests. The new system has slowed down dollar transactions, said Nabil al-Marsoumi, economics professor at Basra University. Meanwhile the price of consumer goods has increased and the Iraqi currency has taken a beating. The Iraqi prime minister replaced the central bank governor after the slide in the dinar, the state news agency said on Monday.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A long-running dispute on oil revenue-sharing between Iraq's national government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region may be resolved within months with agreement on a hydrocarbons law, Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Tuesday. Agreement on regular budget payments from Baghdad would help authorities in the Kurdish Regional Government resolve payment delays to international oil companies in the region, as well as easing a backlog in salary payments for KRG employees. Asked about the timing for agreement on the hydrocarbon law, Barzani said it should be within months. Under the Iraqi constitution, the KRG is entitled to a portion of the national budget. The standoff has affected the KRG's ability to pay international oil companies (IOCs) operating on its territory and to pay thousands of local employees.

☆ U.S. Steps Up Raids Against Islamic State Militants in Syria
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Gordon Lubold | Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. military on a patrol near the town of Qamishli, Syria, months after an Islamic State official was killed in a raid. WASHINGTON—The Pentagon said it has stepped up raids against Islamic State in Syria, conducting nearly a dozen risky helicopter and ground operations to kill or capture top militant operatives. In December, the military said it had conducted at least 10 operations and raids, according to officials at U.S. Central Command, responsible for U.S. military operations in most of the Middle East. That included three operations Tuesday with the Syrian Democratic Forces, the U.S.’s ally in Syria, that led to the detention of six Islamic State operatives, a spokesman for the command said.

☆ Islamic State Suspected to Be Behind Series of Attacks in Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( David S. Cloud | Ghassan Adnan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

People mount over the coffins of people killed in a militant attack near Baghdad earlier this week. BAGHDAD—Suspected Islamic State militants ambushed a military patrol in northern Iraq late Wednesday, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding three others, Iraqi security officials said, in the latest sign that the group is attempting a violent resurgence. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack near the city of Kirkuk, but the officials said they suspected fighters from Islamic State. Gunmen opened fire on Iraqi troops riding in two military vehicles, which were also targeted by roadside bombs, according to the officials.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

Howitzers fired daily from Turkey have struck Kurdish YPG targets for a week, while warplanes have carried out airstrikes. The escalation comes after a deadly bomb attack in Istanbul two weeks ago that Ankara blamed on the YPG militia. President Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey would launch a land operation when convenient to secure its southern border. Erdogan said back in May that Turkey would soon launch a military operation against the YPG in Syria, but such an operation did not materialise at that time. The defence ministry said on Saturday three Turkish soldiers had been killed in northern Iraq, where the military has been conducting an operation against the PKK since April.

☆ Turkish strikes hit oil installations in northern Syria, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A view shows the aftermath after Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes, in Derik countryside, Syria November 21, 2022. REUTERS/Orhan QeremanAMMAN, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Turkish drones are targeting key oil installations run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria, three local sources said, in air strikes which drew strong condemnation from the United States overnight. Turkey's warplanes began conducting air strikes on Syrian Kurdish YPG militia bases in northern Syria at the weekend, prompting retaliatory strikes along the Syrian border. The Pentagon said the Turkish air strikes threatened the safety of U.S. military personnel and that the escalating situation jeopardized years of progress against Islamic State militants in the area. The United States has roughly 900 soldiers in Syria, mainly working with the SDF in the northeast.

WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Turkish air strikes in northern Syria threatened the safety of U.S. military personnel and the escalating situation jeopardized years of progress against Islamic State militants, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. The public comments represent the strongest condemnation by the United States of NATO-ally Turkey's air operations in recent days against a Kurdish militia in northern Syria to date. "Recent air strikes in Syria directly threatened the safety of U.S. personnel who are working in Syria with local partners to defeat ISIS and maintain custody of more than ten thousand ISIS detainees," the Pentagon's spokesman, Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder, said in a statement. President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey's air operations were only the beginning and it would launch a land operation when convenient after an escalation in retaliatory strikes. This is not the first time Turkey's operations in northern Syria have threatened U.S. personnel.

"We are continuing the air operation and will come down hard on the terrorists from land at the most convenient time for us," Erdogan told his AK Party's lawmakers in a speech in parliament. Meanwhile, the United States has conveyed serious concerns to Turkey, a NATO ally, about the impact of escalation on the goal of fighting Islamic State militants in Syria. Turkey has previously launched military incursions in Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia, regarding it as a wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey, the United States and the European Union designate as a terrorist group. NEARLY 500 TARGETS HITTurkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said the army had hit 471 targets in Syria and Iraq since the weekend in what he said was Turkey's biggest air operation of recent times. It cited him as saying 254 militants had been "neutralised" in the operation, a term generally used to be mean killed.

The comments came as Turkish artillery kept up bombardment of Kurdish bases and other targets near Tal Rifaat and Kobani, two Syrian military sources told Reuters. Turkey said the Syrian Kurdish YPG killed two people in mortar attacks from northern Syria on Monday, following Turkish air operations against the militia at the weekend and a deadly bomb attack in Istanbul a week earlier. The YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said 15 civilians and fighters were killed in Turkish strikes in recent days. Turkey has mounted several major military operations against the YPG and Islamic State militants in northern Syria in recent years. More than 40,000 people have been killed in fighting between the PKK and the Turkish state which began 1984.

"We have been bearing down on terrorists for a few days with our planes, cannons and guns," Erdogan said in a speech in northeastern Turkey. "God willing, we will root out all of them as soon as possible, together with our tanks, our soldiers." Turkey has mounted several major military operations against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and Islamic State militants in northern Syria in recent years. The YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said 15 civilians and fighters were killed in Turkish strikes in recent days. Turkey said its warplanes destroyed 89 targets in Syria and Iraq on Sunday, with 184 militants killed in operations targeting the YPG and PKK on Sunday and Monday.

Ancient rock carvings that are believed to be more than 2,700 years old have been unearthed by a team of archaeologists in Iraq's northern city of Mosul. The marble slabs were found during restoration work on the Mashki Gate, an ancient monument that was partially destroyed by Islamic State militants when they captured the city in 2016. The relief carvings show scenes of war from the rule of Assyrian kings, in the ancient city of Nineveh, the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage said in a statement Wednesday. The gray stone carvings date to the rule of King Sennacherib, in power from 705 to 681 B.C., the statement added. The discovery was made last week by an Iraqi team, alongside American experts from the University of Pennsylvania who are helping to lead the reconstruction effort.

Companies Lafarge Sa FollowHolcim AG FollowNEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - French cement maker Lafarge pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a U.S. charge that it made payments to groups designated as terrorists by the United States, including Islamic State, according to a court hearing. The admission in Brooklyn federal court marked the first time a company has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization. The cement maker previously admitted after an internal investigation that its Syrian subsidiary paid armed groups to help protect staff at the plant. Holcim said that former Lafarge executives involved in the conduct concealed it from Holcim, as well as from external auditors. Rights groups in France in 2017 accused Lafarge of paying 13 million euros ($12.79 million) to armed groups including Islamic State militants to keep operating in Syria between 2011 and 2015.

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