An Iraqi security official said the fourteen missiles caused material damage but reported no casualties; the strike is the seventy-eighth attack on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the beginning of the war in Gaza (CBS)
Iraqi Militia Says It Aims to Drain U.S. Forces With Attacks
Iranian-backed militia Kataeb Hezbollah is among the groups responsible for more than sixty attacks on U.S. troops since mid-October (Reuters)
U.S. Sanctions Members of Iraqi Militia Accused of Attacking Its Military Bases
The six individuals belong to Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia; the United States also reported three attacks on its forces in Iraq and Syria today (AP)
Mohammed al-Halbousi, Iraq’s most powerful Sunni politician and the Speaker of the Council of Representatives since 2018, said the decision violated the constitution and degraded national stability; three government ministers resigned in protest (Al Jazeera)
New Study: Severe Drought in Iraq Caused by Climate Change
A new study found that the severe drought in Iran, Iraq, and Syria over the last three years, the second worst on record, would have been “virtually impossible” in the absence of global warming (NYT)
Pentagon: 38 Attacks Target US Forces in Iraq and Syria
That figure includes six attempted missile and drone attacks by Iran-backed groups in the last two days, according to the Pentagon; the strikes have resulted in injuries to forty-six American military personnel (VOA)
Twenty-Four Attacks on U.S. Forces in Iraq and Syria in Recent Days
A Pentagon spokesperson blamed Iranian-backed militia groups for the attacks and said the United States will “hold Iran responsible for these groups” (VOA)
Drone Attacks on U.S. Bases in Iraq and Syria Injured Two Dozen Soldiers Last Week
U.S. Central Command said the strikes did not damage military equipment and accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of supporting the attacks (NBC)
U.S. forces have reportedly been targeted thirteen times in the past week (VOA)
U.S. Says It Thwarted Drone Attack on Troops in Iraq
Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups said last week they would target U.S. interests with drones if it intervened in the conflict between Israel and Hamas; the attack came hours after an explosion at a hospital in Gaza killed hundreds of Palestinians (Reuters)
UN Highlights “Promising Initiatives” in Iraq
The UN envoy to Iraq said the country’s government has taken “important steps,” including the passing of a federal budget, banking and finance reforms, and social security laws, in the last year, but more steps are needed to address the needs of the population (UN)
Iraqi Militias Threaten Response if U.S. Intervenes in Gaza
Iran-aligned militias, including Kataib Hezbollah and the Badr Organization, which forms a large part of Iraq’s state paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), have joined Yemen’s Houthis in threatening to target U.S. positions with drones and missiles if it directly intervenes (Reuters)
Turkey to Reopen Oil Pipeline from Iraq
After a roughly six-month suspension of the pipeline, Turkey’s Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said operations would restart and bring nearly half a million barrels of oil to the global market every day (Reuters)
Railroad Linking Iraq to Iran To Be Completed in Eighteen Months
The progress on the long-planned project comes as ties between Iran and Iraq continue to improve (Reuters)
Kurdish and Arab Demonstrators Clash in Kirkuk, Iraq
Arab and Turkmen residents in the multi-ethnic city held rival demonstrations over the return of a Kurdish party to Kirkuk, and, according to Human Rights Watch, four protesters died from police gunfire (Al Jazeera;HRW)
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani imposed a curfew and sent security forces to pacify the city (Reuters)
UN: Continued Risk of Islamic State Resurgence
UN experts monitoring sanctions against the self-declared Islamic State said in a new report that the group still commands between five and seven thousand fighters across Iraq and Syria, and that the risk of a resurgence remains (AP)
UN Rights Chief Says Iraq’s Water Crisis Could Affect Region
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said during a visit to Iraq yesterday that the country’s severe water shortages due to climate change and government mismanagement could have significant regional reverberations; he also discussed prison overcrowding and freedom of expression and called on authorities to end the death penalty (AP)
U.S., Iraq Discuss Long-Term Security Cooperation
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Iraqi Minister of Defense Thabit Muhammad al-Abbasi, along with other top officials, met in Washington today and said they plan to expand cooperation from a counter-terrorism focus to a whole-of-government approach (VOA)
UN Human Rights Chief Meets with Iraqi Kurdistan Leadership
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk met with the region’s president and prime minister, as well as top officials in Baghdad, to stress the protection of human rights and environmental awareness; the visit follows allegations by rights groups that the Kurdistan Regional Government targets critics with arbitrary laws (Rudaw)
Iraq and Kuwait Seek to Resolve Border Dispute
The two countries are working on a final agreement to delineate maritime boundaries, which remain a point of contention (VOA)
Iraqi Bank Owners Protest New U.S. Sanctions Amid Currency Drop
Owners of fourteen banks newly sanctioned by Washington under suspicions of money laundering to Iran called on Baghdad to take steps to curb a sharp decline in Iran’s currency against the U.S. dollar (AP)
Protesters Try to Breach Baghdad’s Green Zone
In response to the burning of a copy of the Quran outside the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen, protesters tried to storm the Green Zone, a heavily fortified zone housing government buildings and embassies, to reach the Danish embassy, but security forces pushed them back (AP)
Iraq Expels Sweden’s Ambassador over Quran Burning
Iraq also recalled its representative in Stockholm after protesters stormed and burned parts of the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad (BBC;NYT)
Iraqi Protesters Swarm Swedish Embassy Over Quran Protest Authorization
The demonstrations in Baghdad broke out in response to the Swedish government’s authorization for a protest in Stockholm, during which demonstrators had planned to burn a copy of the Quran; Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said he would cut diplomatic ties with Sweden if the protest moved forward (AP)
United States Issues Temporary Waiver for Iraq to Purchase Iranian Electricity
Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved the 120-day waiver, which provides a workaround for Iraq to pay Iran; the decision will help Iraq avert unpopular power cuts during its hot summer (Reuters)
Iran-Iraq Gas-for-Oil Deal Tests U.S. Sanctions
Iraq’s Prime Minister said Iraq would trade crude oil for Iranian gas to balance recurring payment delays to Iran, but U.S. officials said the deal would likely violate sanctions unless a waiver is issued (Reuters)