Iraq government issues arrest warrant for Kurdish PUK official Rebwar Talabani

An arrest warrant for Kurdish political leader Rebwar Talabani has been issued by the central Iraqi government. Talabani is a high-ranking member and authority figure in the Patriotic union of Kurdistan (PUK) political party. The arrest warrant was issued because Rebwar Talabani was responsible for the organization of the Kurdistan independence referendum that ended catastrophically for […]

Iran Foreign Minister: The World Must Stand Up to US Bullying

Iran’s Foreign Minister said that the world needs to stand up to the bullying and bellicose behavior of the United States as he attempts to save a nuclear deal after Washington’s withdrawal last month. In a letter from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to his counterparts, he asked “the remaining signatories and other trade […]

United Nations begins investigation of Islamic State war crimes in Iraq

The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has launched an investigation into the war crimes of the Islamic State. The lead investigator will be Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, a British barrister (type of lawyer) born in Edinburgh who has a vast amount of experience in related fields. Khan will act as a special adviser as well as the investigation teams head […]

Robin Sage Begins June 9th, Time For the SF Students to Step Up

The Special Forces rite of passage is about to begin for the next class of SF candidates. The final training in Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) for prospective SF soldiers is the Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise “Robin Sage”, which we went over in detail in an earlier post, that you can read here: The prospective […]

Iraqi military conducts successful raid against ISIS sleeper cell in Mosul

This week the Iraqi Security Forces launched a major anti-terror operation in the city of Mosul, located in northern Iraq. The operation was largely successful with the ISF capturing a total of 22 Islamic State militants. They also recovered large caches of explosives used to construct improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Since the collapse of the […]

Convicted terrorists attempt a prison escape in Kurdistan

Yesterday an attempted prison break in a Duhok — in a prison that contained convicted terrorists — led to seven inmates being killed and several others injured. The deaths and injuries occurred when the would-be escapees set fire to their cell block. Zirka prison houses around 1,500 convicted terrorists, most of which were members of the […]

Peshmerga to receive $290 million from the US in 2019

The 2019 U.S. defense budget was approved on Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives, $290 million of which will be allocated to Kurdistan’s Peshmerga military forces — under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The U.S. budget for Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) is $560 out of $850 million, the rest will be allocated to […]

Kurdish political parties demand Iraq do away with electronic voting

After a long and heated debate between various political parties throughout Kurdistan, the election commission has decided they will not be using the electronic voting machines for during the next election; which is in September. All votes will be counted manually again due to widespread criticism and accusations of fraudulent voting practices. The electoral body of […]

Kurdish political parties meet with Iranian ambassador in Iraq

Iranian Ambassador Iraj Masjedi and a delegation of Kurdish politicians met in Baghdad this week to discuss future plans for the new government with Iraqi parliamentary representatives. A group of Kurdistan Diplomatic Party (KDP) officials lead by Secretary General Fazil Mirani met Ambassador Masjedi to ensure that the formation of the newly elected government will not […]

Prime Minister of Iraq proposes assembling new Kurdish military unit to secure Kirkuk

A lot of speculation, hearsay, and high hopes have been put towards the reintegration of Kurdish Peshmerga military forces into providing security in Kirkuk alongside Iraqi forces. Now Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will be make good on his promise during elections, that a solution would be found regarding Kirkuk and the desire to see an […]