Iraqi forces

IS poses threat to Iraq one month after 'liberation'

Baghdad - Emirates voice

Barely a month after Baghdad declared victory over the Islamic State group, the jihadists could still recapture areas of Iraq, especially near the border with Syria, experts and officials say. Ali al-Bayati, a commander of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary units which fought alongside Iraqi security forces in a gruelling battle against the group, said the Nimrud area of northern Iraq could "fallRead more

More than half of Iraq's displaced have returned home

BAGHDAD - Emiratesvoice

More than half of Iraqis displaced by conflict to other parts of the country have returned to their homes, the UN migration agency said on Thursday. At the end of December, more than 3.2 million displaced Iraqis had gone home while 2.6 millions still lived away, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. Iraqi forces have regained large swathes ofRead more

Iraq launches operation to clear last IS holdouts from desert

Baghdad - Emirates Voice

Iraqi forces announced the launch of a major operation on Thursday to flush remaining Islamic State group fighters out of the western desert near the border with Syria. "The Iraqi army, the federal police and the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation paramilitary units) this morning began clearing the Al-Jazeera region straddling Salaheddin, Nineveh and Anbar provinces," the head of Joint OperationsRead more

Iraq launches operation to clear last IS holdouts from desert

Baghdad - AFP

Huge bombing hit a market in Tuz Khurmatu region in Salahuddin

Salahuddin - Najla Al Taee

Nineteen people were killed and 70 others were injured in a car bomb blast in Tuz Khurmatu region in Salahuddin province on Tuesday, according to a medical source. A booby-trapped vehicle exploded near an overcrowded market at the Military District in Salahuddin province, a medical source told Al-Ghad Press on Tuesday, adding that the number of casualties is expected to rise.Read more

Iraq forces retake last town in country held by IS

Baghdad - Emirates Voice

Iraqi forces said they retook the last town in the country still held by the Islamic State group near the border with Syria on Friday in a lightning offensive. Government troops and paramilitary units "liberated the whole of Rawa and raised the Iraqi flag on all of its official buildings," General Abdelamir Yarallah of the Joint Operations Command said inRead more

Iraqi forces launch artillery attack preparing to storm Anbar

Kirkuk - Najla Al Taee

Iraqi forces launched an offensive on Saturday to capture Rawa, the last remaining town under ISIS control, leaving the extremist organization’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” on the verge of complete defeat. Two Iraqi infantry divisions and tribal forces are participating in the offensive to recapture Rawa and its surrounding areas along the border with Syria, the Joint Operations Command said in aRead more

Iraqis say life under IS was an open-air prison

Al-Qaim - Emirates voice

They emerge timidly from houses to survey the debris-strewn streets of their town. As Iraqi forces hunt down diehard jihadists, Al-Qaim residents recall three years of hell in "open-air prison". "At last we'll be able to sleep easily without worrying about air raids or being arrested," says a smiling clearly relieved Qassem Derbi. "We're no longer afraid of going toRead more