Prime Minister Dr. Haider Al-Abadi received in his office on Sunday a delegation from the Korean company Hanwha which is implementing the Bismaya residential project. The delegation gave a presentation on progress reached on the ground for the project, where the first three thousand residential units to best standards have been completed in full, with […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi PM Haider al Abadi recently met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss high level strategic projects for both countries to cooperate on. The major discussions focused on a plan for Iraq's State Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) and Chinese state run refiner Sinopec to coordinate the shipment, refining and marketing of […]
By Simon Kent. There is growing speculation over a planned energy initiative between Iraq and China, with both Iraqi PM Haider al Abadi and oil minister Adel Abdul Mahdi travelling to China for "deep discussions" on the proposal. According to The Wall Street Journal, Unipec, the trading branch of Chinese state refiner Sinopec, will be working with […]
By Simon Kent. It was the victory of the so called "Islamic State," also known as Daesh, that shocked the world. Ramadi, capital of Anbar province and home to half a million Sunnis, fell to ISIS over the spring despite repeated proclamations from the Obama administration that the war against the terrorists was going well. […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi forces in Anbar province's capital city of Ramadi are close to victory, several publications report. According to The Wall St. Journal, Iraqi sources on the ground say that US air strikes were critical in the latest advances and most of the city's districts are now once again under government control. At this point, […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi Shi'a paramilitary group Kata'ib Hezbollah, or "Hezbollah Brigades" have threatened Turkish troops and Turkish interests in Iraq over the recent deployment of the Turkish army in Kurdish areas. Due to the location of Turkish troops however, the militant group is currently unable to target the Turkish army. Last week it was […]
By Simon Kent. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said that, if requested the Iraqi army can benefit from US ground attack helicopters and embedded military advisers in the final stages of the fight for Ramadi. The Iraqi army have recently made significant advances into the center of the town, (pictured above) which is the capital […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi faces new political pressure over the payment of salaries for the 100,000 strong Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Shaabi, as they are known in Iraq. The Hashd al-Shaabi were formed last summer after a call from the holy figure Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, to defend […]
By Simon Kent. In a striking admission of the policy of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami (pictured) has described the outcome of the political deadlock with Baghdad, which has led to secret oil exports by the KRG. Quoted in Reuters, Hawrami says that following former PM Nouri-al Maliki's blocking of the KRG […]
By Simon Kent. A recent piece about Basra in The Economist made an interesting point about Iraqi politics today, noting that while in Basra the provincial council suffers deep political divisions, the nearby province of Maysan has a spirit of cooperation under the much lauded, long time governor Ali Dawai Lazem. PM Abadi (pictured) seems to share this […]
This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Nobody On Team al-Abadi: Iraqi PM Under Attack, Can't Please Anyone, So How Can He Save the Country? Nobody in Iraqi politics appears to like Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi much […]
By John Lee. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, has angrily rejected a report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleging abuses by militias in Tikrit. In a statement, Abadi claims that "HRW has relied on unverified video recordings and telephone calls reporting acts of robbery, looting and destruction, and recorded them as local eyewitness testimony, […]
