Gunmen held crucial territory on Baghdad's doorstep Saturday despite tribesmen and police retaking militant-held areas west of the capital, as the UN Security Council backed Iraq's efforts against Al-Qaeda-linked extremists.
The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, facing a rebel backlash in Syria and challenging the government in Iraq, has vowed to continue the fight on two fronts.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu discussed bilateral relations and regional issues including Syria and Iraq with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif late Jan. 4 in Istanbul.
The Iraqi army shelled Falluja on Saturday in an effort to clear out al Qaeda-linked fighters amid dueling claims by the terror group and government forces about just who was in control of the flashpoint city in the Anbar province.
The images of recent days have an eerie familiarity, as if the horrors of the past decade were being played back: masked gunmen recapturing the Iraqi cities of Falluja and Ramadi, where so many American soldiers died fighting them. Car bombs exploding amid the elegance of downtown Beirut. The charnel house of Syria’s worsening civil war.
Syrian rebels in opposition-held areas engaged in fierce battles with Al-Qaeda-linked elements Friday in what activists say is growing resistance to the jihadists' brutal grip in many places.
Two years after US troops departed, Iraqi security forces are struggling to curb violence that has reached a level not seen since 2008, near the height of America's military presence.
Kurdish regional administration PM Nechirvan Barzani said the energy deals they signed with Turkey are the start of a new Iraq and there is no need for fear.
Tehran, YJC. The Political Consultant to the Leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq says after dimming relations between Iraq and Turkey, Iranian companies have found better footage.
The United States vowed Wednesday to help Iraq combat terror groups as mounting attacks claimed more lives ahead of talks between Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Barack Obama.
Kurdish fighters in Syria seized a crossing on the eastern border with Iraq from jihadist rebel forces during fierce clashes at dawn on Saturday, a monitoring group said.