Iraq

U.S.-Backed Forces On The Verge Of Pushing ISIS Out Of Raqqa

5:01pm October 17, 2017

by Ruth Sherlock

U.S.-backed forces are close to finishing the battle to push ISIS from its de facto capital, Raqqa. Doing so will leave little territory remaining for the so-called Islamic State that once ruled a large swatch of Iraq and Syria. It also leave the city in ruins and with an uncertain future.

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No Clear End Game For U.S. Military In Iraq And Syria

5:01pm October 17, 2017

by Tom Bowman

The U.S. is training and equipping both sides in the Iraq-Kurdistan stand-off along with Syrian opposition forces in the battle against ISIS and the Assad regime. It has created a tangled web with no clear end game.

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World News

Iraqi Forces Now Control Kurdish City Of Kirkuk And Its Oil Fields

8:11am October 17, 2017

Iraqi troops seized Kirkuk from the nation's Kurdish minority Monday, following a recent vote for independence. Rachel Martin talks to Vahil Ali, the communications director for the Kurdish president.

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World News

Confrontation Over Kirkuk In Iraq Reignited After Kurdish Independence Vote

4:44pm October 16, 2017

Iraqi troops have wrested control of Kirkuk from the Kurds, who have held it for the last three years. NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with New York Times reporter David Zucchino about the situation on the ground in Iraq.

Iraqi forces use heavy equipment to damage a poster of Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani on the southern outskirts of Kirkuk, as Baghdad seeks to take control of the city from the Kurds.

World News

Iraqi Troops Enter Kirkuk, Seeking To Take Oil-Rich Area Back From Kurds

3:07pm October 16, 2017

by Bill Chappell

Kurdish media outlets quoted the Peshmerga General Command as calling the attack "a flagrant declaration of war against the nation of Kurdistan."

News Brief: GOP Relations, Iraqi Forces Launch Kirkuk Operation

8:13am October 16, 2017

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Trump meet for lunch on Monday for a chance to work out their differences. And in Iraq, two key U.S. allies are fighting each other.

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World News

Iraqi Forces Invade Kurdish City Of Kirkuk After Independence Vote

8:13am October 16, 2017

Iraqi forces have launched an operation to take Kurdish-held oil fields and a military base near Kirkuk. Rachel Martin speaks with reporter Fazel Hawramy in Iraq.

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A teacher greets students on the first day of elementary school in Mosul, where regular classes have started for the first time since ISIS took over the northern Iraqi city three years ago. Hundreds of schools were damaged or destroyed in the fighting to

After 3 Years Under ISIS, Mosul's Children Go Back To School

1:45pm October 09, 2017

by Jane Arraf

Children are returning to school after missing years of classes when ISIS controlled the city. Iraqi forces retook Mosul over the summer. "We want you to succeed," a principal tells schoolchildren.

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World News

School Year Opens In Mosul After ISIS Forced Out Of Iraqi City

8:19am October 09, 2017

by Jane Arraf

Most residents had kept their kids home for three years as schools were run by the militants. Then some kids started catching up on classes as ISIS was forced from neighborhoods in the spring.

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Jalal Talabani, shown here in 2003 in Istanbul, died Tuesday in Germany at age 83.

World News

As Kurdish Leader And Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani Brought People Together

10:06pm October 03, 2017

by Jane Arraf

As Iraq's president, Talabani was considered a unifying force who could get feuding political leaders to talk to each other. His death came days after Iraqi Kurds voted for independence.