Iraq

Blackwater guards, from left, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough were pardoned by President Trump this week. The former government contractors were convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more a dozen Iraqi civilians de

Shock And Dismay After Trump Pardons Blackwater Guards Who Killed 14 Iraqi Civilians

8:14pm December 23, 2020

by Laurel Wamsley

"We were surprised that the American president issued a decision to pardon these criminals, murderers and thugs," says an Iraqi man who was shot in the 2007 massacre at Baghdad's Nisour Square.

Iraqi security forces stand guard in front the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Jan. 1. Over the weekend, eight small rockets launched by Iranian forces specifically targeted the International Zone in Baghdad, also called the "Green Zone," according to Secretar

U.S. Embassy In Baghdad Hit In Rocket Attack

10:14am December 21, 2020

by Jaclyn Diaz

The attack killed one Iraqi civilian and caused damage to the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad as well as surrounding residential areas. No embassy personnel were hurt.

Nofa Khudeda (left) and a neighbor in the village of Tel Qasab on the day Khudeda and her husband returned after six years in a camp for displaced Yazidis. Khudeda and her husband, Ali Edo, repaired and renovated the house, which had been looted by ISIS f

World News

With No Options, Displaced Iraqi Yazidis Return To Homes Destroyed In ISIS Fight

5:42pm December 03, 2020

by Jane Arraf

Thousands of Yazidis who were in displacement camps in northern Iraq's Kurdistan Region have returned to Sinjar. "It's a beautiful feeling to be home," says a Yazidi woman who recently arrived.

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Iraqi workers and international investigators excavate a mass grave known as "the mother's grave" in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq in October. The grave in the village of Solagh is believed to hold more than 80 bodies of women ISIS considered too old

World News

'Nothing Left In The World Except These Bones': Yazidis Search For Mothers' Remains

2:03pm December 02, 2020

by Jane Arraf

Investigators have discovered 17 mass graves containing bodies of some of the 3,000 Yazidis killed by ISIS. For survivors, a grave with remains of older and pregnant women prompts a special anguish.

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Kamo Zandinan says goodbye in the Mosul orphanage to a 10-year-old girl she believes is her daughter Sonya, taken from her by ISIS six years ago. The girl was rescued by police in March from an Arab family to whom she was not related. Zandinan is waiting

World News

A Yazidi Woman Searches For Her Lost Daughter, Kidnapped By ISIS 6 Years Ago

4:08pm November 24, 2020

by Jane Arraf

ISIS fighters tore Kamo Zandinan's 4-year-old daughter Sonya from her arms in 2014. Zandinan, now a refugee in Canada, recently returned to Iraq to meet the 10-year-old girl she believes is Sonya.

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A U.S. soldier stands at a spot struck by Iranian missiles in January at Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq's Anbar province. The attack was in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. The U.S. is drawing down 2,500 troop

White House Orders Thousands Of U.S. Troops Withdrawn From Afghanistan And Iraq

7:45pm November 16, 2020

by Dustin Jones

The American troop presence will decline in Afghanistan from 4,500 to 2,500, and in Iraq from 3,000 to 2,500. Senior military leaders reportedly oppose the move.

Khaled Jamal Abdullah after running away from home to pledge allegiance to ISIS and join the militant group as a fighter. He had just turned 16.

Iraqi Family Identifies Their Son As ISIS Teen At Center Of Navy War Crimes Trial

12:25am October 30, 2020

by Jane Arraf

The name of the young ISIS fighter was not revealed in U.S. court proceedings, and the records are sealed. NPR has identified the fighter with the help of Iraqi officials and the teenager's family.

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Kuwait state television announced Tuesday that the country's ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, pictured last year at the 40th Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Saudi Arabia, has died.

World News

Kuwait's Emir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Dies At 91

2:40pm September 29, 2020

by Jane Arraf

Sheikh Sabah spent four decades as foreign minister before becoming emir in 2006. He was known as a master diplomat who tried to mediate disputes in the volatile Gulf region.

Comedian, writer and veterans advocate Jon Stewart speaks at a press conference on "The Presumptive Benefits for War Fighters Exposed to Burn Pits and Other Toxins Act of 2020" at the House Triangle in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

National

Jon Stewart Uses His Celebrity To Bring Attention To Vets Exposed To Burn Pits

4:00pm September 16, 2020

by Quil Lawrence

The comedian and activist is helping to launch a new campaign to fight for war veterans who say they are sick because of exposure to burn pits and other toxins in Afghanistan and Iraq.

U.S. troops participated in a March handover to the Iraqi army in Kirkuk, Iraq. The U.S. plans to draw down its troop numbers in the country this month.

U.S. Says It Will Cut Number Of Troops In Iraq By Nearly Half This Month

11:49am September 09, 2020

by Merrit Kennedy

Gen. Frank McKenzie, who is responsible for U.S. forces in the Middle East, says the U.S. presence will drop from 5,200 to 3,000 troops in a move he says shows confidence in Iraqi army.