[Published here on January 15, 2020]
Ain al-Asad Air Base (Iraq) (AFP) – Moments after volleys of Iranian missiles began to batter Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase, US soldiers at the desert facility lost contact with their ultra-powerful — and expensive — eyes in the sky.
[Published here on January 14, 2020]
Waves of ballistic missiles, soldiers hunkered down in bunkers for hours, intense shock waves — a top US commander said he reacted to Iran’s unprecedented attack against an Iraqi base with “disbelief”.
[Published here on January 14, 2020]
Ain al-Asad Air Base (Iraq) (AFP) – A timeline of last week’s Iranian missile attack against the Ain Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, as seen through the eyes of some of the 1,500 US soldiers deployed there.
[Published here on January 13, 2020]
Baghdad (AFP) – Iraqi officials fear economic “collapse” if Washington imposes threatened sanctions, including blocking access to a US-based account where Baghdad keeps oil revenues that feed 90 percent of the national budget.
[Published here on January 9, 2020]
Baghdad (AFP) – Arch-foes Tehran and Washington may be temporarily calling it even after Iranian missiles targeted US forces in Iraq, but analysts predict violent instability will keep blighting Baghdad.
[Published here on January 7, 2020]
Iraq’s caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi contended Tuesday that he received signed copies of a letter the US had said was only an unsigned draft describing steps America’s military would take to leave Iraq.
Here is AFP’s look at what shape a withdrawal could take.
[Published here January 2, 2020]
Baghdad (AFP) – The US embassy siege by pro-Iran protesters in Baghdad lasted just over a day, but analysts warn it could have lasting implications for Iraq’s complex security sector and diplomatic ties.
I spoke to BBC Newshour on January 1 about the latest developments outside the US embassy, where a mob of Iraqi supporters of the Hashed al-Shaabi military force burned American flags, broke through a security office and scribbled pro-Iran messages on the embassy’s outer walls before camping out for the night.
Give it a listen here.
I spoke to Aaron Stein at the Foreign Policy Research Institute about the roots, trajectory and challenges of Iraq’s swelling protest movement. Have a listen here.
[Published here on December 15, 2019]
Baghdad (AFP) – At 16, Maram is as old as the political system she and fellow Iraqi youth are railing against. But the spunky teen has her own way of protesting: inking tattoos.
MAYA GEBEILY 