UN: Northern Iraq a Major Emergency
By John Lee. The United Nations have declared the highest level of emergency in northern Iraq, estimating that over a million people have been displaced in the aftermath of the June offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Nicolay Mladenov, head of UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission: Iraq) has said that in […]
TAQA Adjusts Iraq Strategy
By John Lee. In an effort to improve cash flow, the Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA) have ended acquisition plans for some projects in Iraq and India.Security does not appear to have been a factor in the company's decision regarding an Iraq based project. However, the company are taking some precautions with ongoing oil […]
Maliki Pledges Peaceful Fight to Retain PM Title
By John Lee. It's something many academics and Maliki observers have long feared: that if cornered, Maliki would use loyalist Iraqi forces, in particular the Iraqi Special Operations Forces, to hold onto power. Instead, The Wall Street Journal have reported that Maliki has pledged to pursue his fight to retain the top spot through the courts, […]
Yazidi Evacuation Suspended
By Patrick Schmidt. Following the arrival of additional American military advisors to Iraq yesterday, the Defense Department reported that some of those troops had traveled to Sinjar Mountain. After almost a week of airstrikes by American aircraft and a simultaneous offensive by Kurdish security forces, thousands Yazidis who were trapped on the mountain can now […]
ISIL Controls Vital Agricultural Resources
By Patrick Schmidt. While the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) conquest of oil fields and major dams has garnered the attention of the international community, the seizure of some of Iraq’s most valuable farmland has not received the same amount of attention. ISIL has large portions of Iraq’s top five most productive […]
Germany Pledges "Non-Lethal Aid" to Iraqi Army
By John Lee. Following on from France's move to rapidly supply Kurdish Peshmerga led forces with arms and equipment, Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence has pledged "non lethal aid" to the Iraqi army. Typically, non-lethal aid is sent when a matter is politically sensitive, or if a government has reservations about supplying one side in […]
CNPC: New Maysan Pipeline Complete
By John Lee. China's CNPC has announced the completion of a 272 kilometre crude oil pipeline which connects Halfaya and Burzugan [Bazargan] oilfields in southern Iraq to the Al-Faw port. Incredibly, CNPC have remarked that the pipeline is passing through 30km of areas that were once minefields during the Iran-Iraq war. Today, southern Iraq is […]
France to arm Kurdish Forces
By John Lee. The New York Times has reported that French President Francois Hollande has endorsed the appointment of Haider al-Abadi as Iraq's new PM, and with Baghdad's approval France is now ready to send arms to Kurdish forces. The move comes after the Kurdish President Massoud Barzani remarked that the Peshmerga were not sufficiently […]
ISIL Oil Riches?
By Patrick Schmidt. In addition to current energy holdings in Syria, the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds seven different oil fields in Iraq. This past month the militants seized Ain Zalah and Batma oil fields. They had previously gained control of Najma, Qayara, Himreen, Ajeel and Balad oil fields. The […]
TWI and Safar Help Refugees
TWI (Theodor Wille Intertrade) and Safar personnel recently delivered critical food supplies to support the increasing number of refugees fleeing the violence in Iraq. Due to the deteriorating security situation in the region, over 50,000 refugees have been forced to flee areas of Northern Iraq in search of safety. The company said its local team […]
Kurds Call to Recognize Yazidi Genocide
By Patrick Schmidt. The Independent Human Rights Committee of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have made public their attempts to get the international community to recognize the crimes committed against Yazidi minorities. The spokesman of Independent Human Rights Committee, Mohammed Gomashini, noted: “Our committee started to attempt recognition of IS crimes against Kurdish Yazidi people […]
US Deploys More Advisors to Iraq
By Patrick Schmidt. Defence secretary Chuck Hagel has announced that additional military advisors are being deployed to Iraq. On Tuesday, an additional 130 American military advisers arrived in the country. The staff are tasked with accessing the ongoing humanitarian crisis taking place in the north of the country. This announcement comes almost a week after […]