By Charles Lister for The Middle East Institute. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. CENTCOM says ISIS is reconstituting in Syria and Iraq, but the reality is even worse In an unusual public statement, United States Armed Forces' Central Command (CENTCOM) […]
By John Lee. The United States Armed Forces' Central Command (CENTCOM) has issued an update on ISIS activity in Iraq and Syria for the first six months of 2024, in which it suggests that ISIS may more than double its attacks compared to 2023. The main points of the report were as follows: 1. Increase […]
By John Lee. The Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq (OSC-I) at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has been working with the Iraqi Ministry of Defense to convert the entire fleet of the Iraqi Army Aviation Command (IqAAC) to U.S.-produced aircraft in order to simplify parts acquisition, maintenance, and training. This quarter, the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) […]
By Jared Szuba for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. No plans for full US withdrawal from Iraq, top general says The United States may be leaving Afghanistan but troops will remain in Iraq for the foreseeable future, the CENTCOM commander […]
By John Lee. The US has announced that it will withdraw more than a third of its troops from Iraq by the end of September. Gen Kenneth McKenzie (pictured) told reporters: "Moving forward, we must continue our D-ISIS work together with our partners in Iraq and Syria. We are continuing to expand on our partner […]
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani received the commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) General Joseph Votel, US Consul-General in the Kurdistan Region Ken Gross and their accompanying delegation. They discussed security and political developments in Iraq and the wider region, highlighted steps towards the formation of the new Iraqi government and the role of the […]
After months of reviewing reports and databases to resolve cases in which coalition airstrikes may have resulted in civilian casualties, U.S. Central Command officials have determined that over the past year, 24 U.S. airstrikes targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant may have killed as many as 64 civilians and injured eight others […]
By Simon Kent. Outgoing US commander Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland has given a press conference on the state of the self declared Islamic State and the coming campaign to retake Mosul from group. At the conference, he noted that "the enemy is in retreat on all fronts.” The General noted that 30,000 airstrikes had hit […]
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. 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 […]
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 […]
