Top US General Meets Abadi
By John Lee. Fox News have reported that the former commander of US forces in Iraq, General Lloyd Austin (pictured, far right) has met with Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad. The two men were discussing the changing nature of US-Iraq security cooperation in the face of the ongoing offensive of the Islamic State of Iraq […]
Can China Do More For Iraq?
By John Lee. China expert Simone Van Nieuwenhuizen has written an opinion piece for The Diplomat, a foreign affairs journal that covers events in Asia. She argues that it would be in China's interests to do more for Iraq. In the piece, Van Niewenhuizen notes that not only has China been threatened by the Islamic State of […]
Seven European States Now Arming Kurds
By John Lee. The Pentagon--home to the US Department of Defence--has announced that there are now a total of 7 countries arming Kurdish forces in Iraq. A spokesman said those nations were Britain, Canada, Albania, Croatia, Denmark, Italy and France. Germany may soon follow. In a sign of the sudden onset of the crisis, a […]
Australia Considers Air Strikes
By John Lee. Australia is currently weighing up options to use aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF, insignia pictured) to bomb targets of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). If authorized, RAAF aircraft could also target ISIL in Syria, but a spokesperson for Australia's Department of Defence noted this was not […]
Weekly Security Update, 19 - 25 August 2014
By Anne-Laure Barbosa at Constellis Consulting Amidst continuing violence across northern and central Iraq, particularly where Peshmerga, ISF or Shia volunteers defend new borders with IS militants, the shooting of over 60 Sunni worshippers by suspected Shia militiamen in Diyala is a reminder of the extreme sectarian tensions which provide the backdrop to the current headlines […]
KRG Announce Security Sector Reform
By Patrick Schmidt. Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani has announced coming reforms for the Kurdish security forces, most famous for the Peshmerga. The reforms would bring all units under a single unified command. In the past, the Minister of the Peshmerga did not have control over all troops, and the force was in some cases […]
Abadi: Govt. Formation Talks "Positive".
By John Lee. Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi has issued a statement saying that government formation is going well and that on the security front, all militias loyal to the government must come under government control. The remarks are another sign of the PM's departure from the governing style of Nouri-al-Maliki, who originally appeared tough on […]
NATO Secretary General Makes Iraq Statement
By John Lee. The NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has recently remarked that countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are ready to give Iraq further assistance if it is requested and supported by NATO member states. Some NATO countries have already taken their own steps in Iraq, choosing variously to intervene on […]
UK Announces Security Envoy
By Patrick Schmidt. The British government announced Sunday the dispatch of an official special military envoy to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). General Sir Simon Mayall will assume the title of “Government Security Envoy.” “He will travel to Iraq next week to meet with political leaders in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil […]
Iraq Oil Exports Up for July
By Patrick Schmidt. According to a statement released by the Ministry of Oil, Iraq exported 75.7 million barrels of oil in July. This figure means that an average of 2.5 million barrels were exported per day and would mark a five percent increase in exports since July 2013. Iraq earned $7.74 billion worth of revenue […]
City Master Planning in Iraq
By John Lee. The Guardian has recently run a feature on Garsdale Design, a family business based in Yorkshire, England, who have been working on projects in Iraq since 2007. The business is led by father and son team Eliot and Derrick, who have used cutting edge 3d modelling software to make plans for cities in […]
Peshmerga Advance Against ISIL
By John Lee. The BBC's Jim Muir has reported from the front lines at Bakarta in the Kurdish region of Iraq, where Kurdish Peshmerga troops have retaken villages lost to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Interestingly, Muir reports from a hill on the front lines that the Kurds seized from ISIL, […]