Kirkuk

Kurds Panic over Fuel Shortages as Coronavirus Closes Iranian Border

The appearance of the Wuhan coronavirus in Iran is causing a great deal of anxiety in the region and producing some immediate negative effects as trade across Iran’s borders shuts down. The Kurdistan Region experienced a bout of petrol panic on Monday as rumors of an impending fuel shortage spread, even though the authorities said there has been no significant supply disruption to date.

A man prepares to pay at the gas pump at a service station on June 3, 2014 in Shahinshahr,

Islamic State Targets Infrastructure in Post-Kurdish Northern Iraq

The Islamic State has begun exacerbating concerns about the availability of electricity in Iraq by targeting power plants and other key infrastructure for destruction. Baghdad announced on Sunday that unspecified “terrorist groups,” which observing media identify as the Islamic State, blew up a power plant in Kirkuk.

Iraqi forces and members of the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation units) advance next

Iran Supreme Leader to Iraqi PM: Don’t Trust America

TEL AVIV – In its ongoing attempt to drive the U.S. and Iraq apart, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iraq’s U.S.-backed prime minister on Thursday that America was not to be trusted and he should not depend on it when fighting the Islamic State, Reuters reported quoting Iran’s state TV.

The Associated Press

Kurdish Outlet: Shiite Militias Beheading Peshmerga in Kirkuk

The Kurdish Rudaw news service reported Wednesday on abusive and offensive behavior by the Iran-backed Shiite militia forces occupying Kirkuk, accused the U.S. military of turning a blind eye to the Iranian invasion, and, most disturbingly, accused Shiite fighters of beheading captured Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers.

Iraqi soldiers remove a Kurdish flag from a checkpoint in Bashiqa, Iraq, Wednesday, Oct. 1

State Department: U.S. Not Supporting Iraq or Kurds in Ongoing Dispute

State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert gave an update Tuesday on the difficult situation in which American diplomats find themselves in Iraq as two of their putative allies settle into an armed face-off that threatens to escalate into yet another chapter in the country’s 14-year civil war.

Iraqi Kurdish protesters wave flags of their autonomous Kurdistan region during a demonstr

Fleeing Iraqi Invasion, Thousands Flee Kirkuk into Kurdish Territory

Advancing Iraqi troops, backed by Iran-allied Shiite militias, are reportedly coercing “thousands” of residents to abandon the Kurdish-held multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, a testament to the ongoing altercations triggered by Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence referendum last month.

Iraqi security forces and Popular Mobilization Forces patrol in Tuz Khormato, that was eva

Kurdish Official Forbidden to Speak Kurdish at Kirkuk Press Conference

The freshly-appointed interim governor of Kirkuk, Rakan Ali al-Jabouri, held a press conference on his first full day in office Tuesday, at which Kurdish police chief Omar Khatab was asked to speak. Khatab was also rather forcefully asked not to speak in Kurdish on three different occasions, even when responding to questions asked in that language by a Kurdish reporter.

Iraqi security forces and volunteers celebrate in front of Governorate Council Building in