By Robert Tollast. A number of recent reports have suggested the Islamic State is “losing” the fight in Iraq. Does this mean the end of the organization? It's a topic I wrote about at length for Dubai based consultancy The Brecon Group. In the long term of course, the answer is no. ISIL (the Islamic State […]
By Mustafa al Kadhimi for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Iraq Business News. On Dec. 23, Iraq's Cabinet approved and submitted the 2015 federal budget to parliament. This development occurred following months of study to review and reduce the initial budget’s large […]
By John Lee. As long term observers of events in Iraq, the team at Iraq Business News thought we might have seen just about every unexpected story from a nation that continues to surprise. We'd heard of the popularity of the Japanese comic character Hello Kitty in Iraq or the trend among some young Iraqis for playing […]
By John Lee. Dublin registered Dragon Oil has announced a second oil discovery at the Block 9 exploration well, 'Faihaa-1'. This is good news for the consortium who have a 30% stake in the well along with the operator, Kuwait Energy who have a 70% stake in the block, located in the northern part of Basra […]
By John Lee. Members of the so called "Islamic State" have targeted up to 170 men near Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk, AFP reports. The men have been kidnapped in response to the alleged burning of an ISIL flag in two villages outside the city. While ISIL have been known to severely punish dissenters, other reports have […]
By Patrick Schmidt. According to figures from the Iraqi government, at least 15,000 individuals have been killed since the start of the year. Many of those individuals died following the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in June. This year’s figure is a sharp increase from 2013, when only 6,522 people were killed by violence […]
By John Lee. Iraq and Russia are leading the global surge in oil exports despite a highly competitive market. This has maintained low prices not seen since 2009, with a February settlement for Brent Crude at $56.42 a barrel. Bloomberg reported record export data of 10.6 million barrels a day from Russia and 2.9 million bpd […]
By John Lee. The Christmas and the New Year period brought no respite for fighters of the so called "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria, with some 100 strikes targeting the group in their key command and control sites including Raqqa in Syria, and Mosul and Fallujah in Iraq. US Defence officials also reported other […]
By John Lee. A recent announcement from the Iraqi government has stated that Baghdad and Tehran are continuing to negotiate additional plans for military aid and the reformation of a national army. Defense ministers from both nations have already signed a memorandum of understanding regarding this issue, following a visit from Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi to […]
Highlights from December’s London Conference. By Robert Tollast. According to current plans, the Kurdish region of Iraq will be able to export 1 million barrels of oil in the not too distant future--by some accounts by the end of 2015. By 2020 as much as 10 billion cubic metres of gas will be exported from […]
By John Lee. Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari (pictured) has taken a brutally realistic stance on the passing of Iraq's 2015 budget, Reuters reports. Zebari has previously been frank about the challenges Iraq faces and the war economy situation the country is now in. The Finance Minister noted how, "The strategy was to present a real budget - […]
By John Lee. Jordan has long been host to the training of Iraqi forces following the 2003 war, and US led training of Iraqi Special Forces continued there even after the US withdrawal from Iraq in December 2011. Until now however, the Hashemite Kingdom has not directly trained Iraqi infantry. This is about to change […]
