Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Iraqis seek political solution to avert army attack on Falluja
• A nervous calm grips Fallujah, but clashes nearby
• 500 reported killed in rebel infighting in Syria
• Venezuelans pay last respects to slain actress
• The myth of Iraq's squandered stability
• Al Qaeda group fights back against Syria rebel assault
• Iraq’s Crisis: Can the Sunni Awakening Rise Again?
• Tribes, police seize parts of Iraq city from militants
• Baker Hughes: Iraq protest hurt 4Q earnings
• Potential 2016 U.S. presidential contenders shadow 2014 elections
• 'Nearly 500 killed' in Syria rebel-jihadist fighting
• Bewildered Falluja residents flee feared Iraq army assault
• Israeli youths help Syrians fight winter chills
• Activists: Nearly 500 dead in Syria rebel clashes
• Iraqi troops clash with al-Qaida militants in west
• Official: Iraqi troops, militants clash in west
• Assad's forces kill dozens of rebels in Homs city
• Jihadists advance on Syria's Raqa: activists
• The Enemy of Our Enemy
• For Indonesian jihadists, Syrian civil war beckons
• As fighting grips Iraq, Republicans reopen old war wounds

Iraqis seek political solution to avert army attack on Falluja Posted: 10 Jan 2014 04:29 PM PST By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The prospect of an imminent Iraqi army assault on Falluja receded on Friday as negotiators tried to work out a deal under which al Qaeda militants who seized the city 10 days ago would give way to Sunni Muslim tribal leaders. Militants of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is also fighting in neighboring Syria, took control of Falluja and parts of nearby Ramadi on January 1 with the help of sympathetic armed tribesmen. At least 60 civilians, militants and tribal fighters have been killed in the two cities since the trouble erupted, 43 of them in Ramadi and 17 in Falluja, health officials in Anbar province said. The militants' incursion was a major challenge to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government, which is battling a growing ISIL presence in Sunni-dominated Anbar.

A nervous calm grips Fallujah, but clashes nearby Posted: 10 Jan 2014 03:04 PM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Residents started to trickle back to the besieged city of Fallujah on Friday as militants and government forces both appear to be preparing for a long standoff. Al-Qaida-linked fighters and tribal gunmen are camped on the outskirts of the city, with Iraqi army and police stationed nearby.

500 reported killed in rebel infighting in Syria Posted: 10 Jan 2014 02:23 PM PST BEIRUT (AP) — With nearly 500 people reported killed in a week of rebel infighting, many Syrians barricaded themselves in their homes Friday, while others emerged from mosques angrily accusing an al-Qaida-linked group of hijacking their revolution.

Venezuelans pay last respects to slain actress Posted: 10 Jan 2014 01:59 PM PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Hundreds of Venezuelans paid their final respects Friday to a popular actress whose slaying in front of her 5-year-old daughter has reignited debate about the nation's rampant crime.

The myth of Iraq's squandered stability Posted: 10 Jan 2014 01:47 PM PST In March of that year, Gen. Petraeus said that despite a lack of progress on national reconciliation, he was hopeful that Iraqi leaders would "exploit the opportunities that we and our Iraqi counterparts have fought so hard to provide them." A key to his strategy was the Sahwa, or Awakening, a militia movement that drew its strength from Sunni Arab tribes who were sick of Al Qaeda's local affiliate and wanted to carve out of peaceful future in a new Iraq.  Instead, the political course that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his allies charted in 2008 has, more than anything, led to the state of near open-insurrection across the Sunni Arab dominated Anbar Province today.  This is the key to unpicking Iraq's challenges today - and assertions from politicians like Sen. Lindsey Graham or Sen. John McCain that all would be different if President Barack Obama had managed to keep a residual force of 12,000 or so US troops in the country is highly speculative, at best. In the summer of 2008, reporter Sam Dagher covered the US handover of a supposedly pacified Anbar Province to Iraqi security control for the Monitor.

Al Qaeda group fights back against Syria rebel assault Posted: 10 Jan 2014 01:02 PM PST By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked jihadists struck back against rival rebels in eastern and northern Syria on Friday after a week of internecine fighting among opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in which 500 people have been killed, a monitoring group said. With less than two weeks to go before what is hoped will be the first peace talks between the opposition and Assad's government, disparate opposition groups met for the first time in the Spanish city of Cordoba. They agreed to work together but did not agree who, if any of them, should attend the peace talks. In rebel-held areas, other groups have turned against the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which aims to construct an Islamist caliphate straddling the border separating Syria and Iraq.

Iraq’s Crisis: Can the Sunni Awakening Rise Again? Posted: 10 Jan 2014 12:31 PM PST For nearly a week, media reports from Iraq were eerily similar to those half a decade ago: fierce clashes had erupted between Iraqi troops and al-Qaeda insurgents in Anbar province. A wide expanse of farmland and desert that extends from the western Baghdad suburbs to the Syrian border, Anbar was the scene of some of the most brutal fighting of the Iraq War, where more than 1,300 American troops lost their lives and nearly ten thousand more Iraqis. The news that hit many American veterans the hardest was that fighters affiliated with al-Qaeda had taken control of Fallujah, Anbar's second-largest city, where the U.S. fought two large, bloody battles in the spring and fall of 2004. "At the moment, there is no presence of the Iraqi state in Fallujah," a local journalist, who was not named for safety reasons, told the Washington Post. "The police and the army have abandoned the city, al-Qaeda has taken down all the Iraqi flags and burned them, and it has raised its own flag on all the buildings."

Tribes, police seize parts of Iraq city from militants Posted: 10 Jan 2014 11:13 AM PST Ramadi (Iraq) (AFP) - Tribesmen and police retook two areas of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi from militants Friday, but gunmen still held other parts of the city and controlled another one on Baghdad's doorstep. The United Nations and NGOs have said that civilians lack access to essential supplies such as food and fuel as a result of a government blockade, while Human Rights Watch has condemned rights abuses by all sides during the crisis. Washington, meanwhile, has piled pressure on Baghdad to focus on political reconciliation, in addition to ongoing military operations, in a bid to resolve the standoff, which comes just months before general elections.

Baker Hughes: Iraq protest hurt 4Q earnings Posted: 10 Jan 2014 09:52 AM PST Oilfield services company Baker Hughes said Friday that its fourth-quarter earnings were hurt by a protest in Iraq. The company's operations were suspended in Iraq in November due to a protest but resumed ...

Potential 2016 U.S. presidential contenders shadow 2014 elections Posted: 10 Jan 2014 09:50 AM PST By Gabriel Debenedetti WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The elections that will decide who controls the U.S. Congress and most state governorships are 10 months away, but they already are becoming an early test of the political muscle of several potential contenders for the White House in 2016. No one has officially announced that they are seeking election in 2016 to be Democratic President Barack Obama's successor. But the race for the White House effectively will begin right after the 2014 election ballots are counted on November 4, so this year's elections could help build momentum - and a team of allies - for anyone considering a run for president. With that scenario as a backdrop, potential contenders for the Republican presidential nomination such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have begun getting involved in 2014 congressional and governor's races.

'Nearly 500 killed' in Syria rebel-jihadist fighting Posted: 10 Jan 2014 08:29 AM PST Nearly 500 people, among them at least 85 civilians, have been killed in a week of fighting pitting Syrian rebels against jihadists in the north of the strife-torn country, a monitoring group said Friday. The fighting raged as Western governments that back the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad prepared to intensify pressure on the opposition to participate in peace talks with the regime planned for later this month. A new front opened last Friday in Syria's nearly three-year-old war, when powerful massive rebel groups combined to attack bases and checkpoints of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). "We have documented the killing of 482 people in the fighting -- 85 civilians, 240 members of the rebel brigades and 157 members of ISIL," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Bewildered Falluja residents flee feared Iraq army assault Posted: 10 Jan 2014 07:01 AM PST By Isabel Coles ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqis fleeing from Falluja question whether the masked gunmen who overran their city 10 days ago are really al Qaeda-linked militants as the government says, but fear their presence will draw a ferocious response from the army regardless. At a motel in Iraq's Kurdish north, Falluja residents said they were stunned by the speed of the takeover of the city in Sunni-dominated Anbar province, predicting a tough fight if the Shi'ite-led government orders troops to retake it. Al Qaeda-linked militants, who are also fighting in neighboring Syria, have been regaining ground over the past year in Anbar, which they seized in 2006-07 before being forced out by local tribal militia and occupying U.S. troops. Some witnesses say some of the gunmen initially raised black al Qaeda flags over police stations they captured in Falluja and appealed to local citizens for support over mosque loudspeakers during Friday prayers a week ago.

Israeli youths help Syrians fight winter chills Posted: 10 Jan 2014 06:38 AM PST After an unusually severe winter storm moved through the Middle East last month, leading to the death of 27 Syrian children, Israeli youths decided to step in. Gal Lusky of Israel Flying Aid, a veteran humanitarian worker who helped organize the campaign, says it's the most inspiring effort she's been a part of. "I did some work in Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan – this is the most moving [work] I ever did," says Ms. Lusky, who coordinated the campaign, dubbed Operation Human Warmth, with the youth group Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed and the affiliated social movement Dror Israel.  "For me, knowing that those kids in a year or so might be holding weapons against those Syrians that today they send help to – it's not a common reaction." But even some young Israeli soldiers who found out about the campaign asked if they could join.

Activists: Nearly 500 dead in Syria rebel clashes Posted: 10 Jan 2014 06:03 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Rebel-on-rebel fighting between an al-Qaida-linked group and an array of more moderate and ultraconservative Islamists has killed nearly 500 people over the past week in northern Syria, an activist group said Friday, in the most serious bout of violence among opponents of President Bashar Assad since the civil war began.

Iraqi troops clash with al-Qaida militants in west Posted: 10 Jan 2014 05:16 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Fierce clashes erupted Friday between Iraqi special forces and al-Qaida-linked militants in a village in the embattled western Anbar province, officials said.

Official: Iraqi troops, militants clash in west Posted: 10 Jan 2014 04:38 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — An official says fierce clashes have erupted between Iraqi special forces and al-Qaida-linked militants in a village in western Anbar province.

Assad's forces kill dozens of rebels in Homs city Posted: 10 Jan 2014 02:31 AM PST Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed dozens of rebel fighters who tried to break an army siege of the central city of Homs, state media and a monitoring group said. SANA news agency quoted a military source as saying army units "confronted armed terrorist groups" trying to get into the Khaldiya neighborhood north of the besieged rebel area in the Old City in the heart of Homs this week. Thirty-seven rebels were killed by the army, SANA said, without giving a figure for losses among Assad's forces. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 45 rebels were surrounded and killed as they left the old city on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Jihadists advance on Syria's Raqa: activists Posted: 10 Jan 2014 01:47 AM PST Jihadists have made advances on rebel fighters in the battle for Raqa, in northern Syria, but are on the back foot in parts of Aleppo and Idlib, activists said Friday. "In Idlib and Aleppo provinces, the (rebel) Free Syrian Army is advancing, but in Raqa the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is winning because its supply routes (to Iraq) are open there," said Alaaeddine, an Aleppo-based activist. "In Idlib there are practically no ISIL bases left, as is the case in Aleppo city and the west of the province" on the border with Turkey, he told AFP via the Internet. But in Raqa, which came under ISIL's control soon after President Bashar al-Assad's regime lost control of the provincial capital, "ISIL seized the Mashlab district and an Al-Nusra Front base" on Thursday night, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Enemy of Our Enemy Posted: 10 Jan 2014 12:00 AM PST In the wars she has fought, America has often allied with regimes that represented the antithesis of the cause for which we were fighting. In World War I, Woodrow Wilson said we were fighting to "make the world safe for democracy." Yet our foremost allies were five avaricious empires: the British, French, Italian, Japanese and Russian. In World War II, the ally who did most of the fighting against Hitler was Josef Stalin. In America's wars, cold and hot, the enemy of our enemy has often been our ally, if not our friend.

For Indonesian jihadists, Syrian civil war beckons Posted: 09 Jan 2014 10:03 PM PST JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The young Indonesian was raised in an extremist household and graduated from a boarding school notorious for teaching generations of terrorists. So it was perhaps no surprise that when Muhammad Fakhri Ihsani left to study in Pakistan, the lure of jihad proved inescapable.

As fighting grips Iraq, Republicans reopen old war wounds Posted: 09 Jan 2014 06:19 PM PST Republicans reignited a political feud over Iraq, charging that advances by Al-Qaeda-linked forces proved President Barack Obama had squandered American blood in a rush to leave the country. The accusations by prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill coincided with a furor over a new book by former defense secretary Robert Gates that contained blunt criticisms of the president over both the Iraq and Afghan wars. Renewed skirmishes over Iraq were notable, because by most accounts, Obama has won the US political struggle over the conflict, which he built a political career on opposing. Republican House Speaker John Boehner, perhaps trying to capitalize on the White House discomfort over the Gates allegations, took on the president directly over Iraq in his weekly news conference.

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