Iraq

World News

Islamic State Beheads British Aid Worker, Makes New Threat

1:50pm October 04, 2014

by Kelly McEvers

A fourth westerner has been beheaded by the terrorist group calling itself the Islamic State. We explore how a former British cab driver named Alan Henning become their latest victim.

Queue Listen Now

Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani, seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, on Friday.

World News

Kurds In Syria Warn Of Massacre If ISIS Seizes Border Town

1:58pm October 03, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Islamic State militants have stepped up attacks on Kobani, which lies along the Turkey-Syria border and has been encircled by the extremists for weeks.

Displaced demonstrators from the minority Yazidi sect demonstrate outside the United Nations offices in Irbil, Iraq, on Aug. 4 in support of those held captive by the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

World News

ISIS Captives Tell Of Rapes And Beatings, Plead For Help

8:57am October 03, 2014

by Leila Fadel

Activists say militants are holding hundreds, perhaps thousands of Yazidi women in northern Iraq. The women make contact through secret phones; some men have been killed or beaten trying to save them.

Queue Listen Now

Islamic State flags on the Mullah Abdullah bridge in southern Kirkuk earlier this week. A U.N. report says the extremist group has perpetrated possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

World News

U.N. Report Details Possible War Crimes By Islamic State Militants

10:27am October 02, 2014

by Scott Neuman

The High Commissioner for Human Rights says mass executions, forcing women and girls into sex slavery and the use of child soldiers may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

World News

ISIS Threat Draws Northern Iraq Closer Together

6:14pm October 01, 2014

Rachel Martin talks to Najmaldin Karim, governor of the Kirkuk provnce of Iraq. He talks about what's changed in the political and security situation in Iraq in the last few months.

Queue Listen Now

World News

ISIS Militants Reportedly Behead Kurds In Northern Syria

12:34pm October 01, 2014

by Scott Neuman

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Islamic State militants killed the seven men and three women near the besieged Kurdish town of Kobani.

University of California President Janet Napolitano.

Napolitano: ISIS Was One Of Many Similar Threats We Were Tracking

1:04pm September 30, 2014

by Carlos Watson

The former homeland security secretary and Arizona governor also talks about security improvements since the Sept. 11 attacks and the frustrations and potential solutions to the immigration debate.

National

Obama: U.S. Underestimated ISIS, Overestimated Iraqi Army

7:55pm September 28, 2014

by Camila Domonoske

In an interview with 60 Minutes the president, citing the director of national intelligence, acknowledged that U.S. intelligence overestimated the ability of the Iraqi army to fight the group.

For Missions Over Hostile Syria, Air Force Unwrapped Its Newest Jet

7:03pm September 28, 2014

Available since 2005, the $90 million F-22 fighter was simply more machine than the military had needed - until there were worries about whether Bashar Assad's air defenses would stand down.

Queue Listen Now

The Uncertain Nature Of Obama's Arab Coalition

3:21pm September 28, 2014

A coalition of Arab countries has joined in the U.S. fight against the Islamic State. NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks to Abderrahim Foukara of Al Jazeera about how effective the coalition can be.

Queue Listen Now