Gunmen robbed the crews of four ships anchored off Iraq's southern oil hub of Basra last week, in Iraqi regional waters patrolled by the U.S. Navy, a Navy official said on Sunday. The attackers targeted the Antigua-flagged Arminia, North Korea's Crystal Wave, Syria's Sana Star and the American ship Sagamore last Sunday and took personal […]
National Overview The reporting period saw a significant rise in the number of recorded incidents in Baghdad, as Al Qaeda in Iraq and Al Qaeda in Iraq Associated Movements seek to re-establish their grip on the City. An attack on an Iraqi Police check point that resulted in an Al Qaeda in Iraq flag being […]
National Overview On 2 August President Obama affirmed that the U.S. combat troops would leave Iraq at the end of the month, though he noted that a reduced U.S. presence of 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq under a less military guise. These troops will make up a transitional force until the final U.S. withdrawal […]
National Overview The total number of hostile incidents reported nationally was 117, an increase of 9 from the previous reporting period. The number of incidents in the south central region increased again, the third consecutive rise. Elsewhere the number of incidents was within the normally expected levels; however the lethality of the attacks increased in […]
VSE Corporation (NASDAQ GS: VSEC) reported on Monday that the Global Division of its International Group has been awarded a $10 million delivery order to provide material and technical support for the Iraqi Navy at Umm Qasr, Iraq. The scope of work includes outfitting a new Ship Repair Facility with the industrial equipment required to […]
National Overview Nationally recorded incident levels stayed at 108 this week, a level consistent with the most reporting periods throughout the year. There was little variation in week on week incident numbers for each of the regions. The north central and Baghdad regions continued to account for the majority of hostile incidents. The north central […]
National Overview Nationally recorded incident levels saw an increase from 85 to 108 in the reporting period. The main reason for the increase was Sunni insurgent targeting of Shia pilgrims en route to the Moussa Kadhim shrine in Baghdad. The north central and Baghdad regions continued to account for the majority of hostile incidents. Baghdad […]
AK News quotes a spokesman of the American military in Iraq as saying that they will supply Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to the Iraqi Air Force. "There are discussions between Baghdad and Washington to buy F-16 jets to support the Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi air force," Gen. Stephen Lanza said. "My country is […]
National Overview It is estimated that 150 key figures including politicians, civil servants, tribal chiefs, police officers, Sunni clerics and members of the Sahwa militia (Awakening Council) have been assassinated throughout Iraq since the election on 07 March. This is a notably high incidence of targeted killings and highlights the current period of political instability. […]
A new survey of senior businesspeople by the Economist Intelligence Unit finds that investor perceptions of Iraq are slowly improving, despite the country’s many problems. Preliminary results from our survey of 300 executives – all of whom have direct input into their company’s decisions on doing business in the Middle East – show that the […]
The Iraqi Navy is on track to assume full command of protecting Iraq's vital offshore platforms within the next two years, outgoing US Navy 5th Fleet commander, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said Monday. 'We are working very closely with the Iraqi Navy and within two years we will be ready to turn over the entire […]
Further to our report yesterday on the attack on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan Pipeline, Israel National News reports that oil started to flow again on Monday. A bomb, reportedly planted by Kurdish resistance fighters, had temporarily halted pumping on the Kirkuk to Ceyhan pipeline at the weekend. The bombing by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) added a […]
