Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• IS could come to streets of Britain, warns Cameron
• U.S. says conducts air strikes in Iraq near Arbil and Mosul dam
• US confirms airstrikes near Mosul dam, Arbil
• Islamic fighters kill scores of Yazidi men in Iraq
• US launches airstrikes near Irbil and Mosul Dam
• US military: Fighters, drone aircraft strike militants near Irbil and Mosul Dam in Iraq
• US rethinks giving excess military gear to police
• Kurds fight to retake Iraq's largest dam after 'massacre'
• Islamic State executed 700 people from Syrian tribe: monitoring group
• IS kills hundreds in Syria, threatens rebel bastion: NGO
• IS killed more than 700 Syria tribe members in 2 weeks: NGO
• Roadside bomb kills team repairing key Iraq bridge
• Jihadists closing in on Syrian rebel stronghold
• PKK conflict with Turkey 'coming to an end', says Kurdish leader
• Iraqi Kurdish leader appeals to Germany for weapons
• Germany: 1000s protest Yazidi persecution in Iraq
• From campaign driver to a top aide on Obama break
• Kurds battle to retake Iraq's largest dam: general
• Take a look at a 5,000-year-old game, possibly the oldest known to humans
• Islamic State 'massacres' 80 Yazidis in north Iraq: officials
• Britain to keep up Iraq surveillance flights: defence minister
• Residents near Iraq's Mosul dam, held by Islamic State group, say area being hit by airstrikes
• Jihadists kill dozens in north Iraq 'massacre', officials say
• More Clinton-Obama differences likely to emerge
• WHERE IS THE GOP HEIR APPARENT?
• Iraq Yazidis fear for thousands kidnapped by jihadists
• Ukraine tensions rise again, NATO accuses Russia of 'escalating' conflict

IS could come to streets of Britain, warns Cameron Posted: 16 Aug 2014 04:29 PM PDT Islamic State fighters sweeping across Syria and Iraq are a direct threat to Britain and the country must use all of its "military prowess" to halt their advance, Prime Minister David Cameron said Sunday. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Cameron warned that the West faces a "generational struggle". "If we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain," he said.

U.S. says conducts air strikes in Iraq near Arbil and Mosul dam Posted: 16 Aug 2014 03:52 PM PDT The United States on Saturday conducted air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State fighters near the Kurdish capital of Arbil and the Mosul dam, the U.S. Central Command said. The Mosul dam, Iraq's biggest, fell under control of Islamic State militants earlier this month. After the Islamic State's capture of the northern city of Mosul in June, its swift push to the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan alarmed Baghdad and last week drew the first U.S. air strikes on Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011.

US confirms airstrikes near Mosul dam, Arbil Posted: 16 Aug 2014 03:25 PM PDT The US military confirmed it conducted nine airstrikes Saturday near Arbil and Iraq's largest dam in an effort to help Kurdish forces retake it from violent extremists. US Central Command said fighter jets and drones had destroyed or damaged four armored personnel carriers, seven armed vehicles, two Humvees and an armored vehicle. Kurdish forces attacked the Islamic State (IS) fighters who wrested the Mosul dam from them a week earlier, a general told AFP. Buoyed by the air strikes US President Barack Obama ordered last week, the peshmerga fighters have tried to claw back the ground they lost since the start of August.

Islamic fighters kill scores of Yazidi men in Iraq Posted: 16 Aug 2014 03:23 PM PDT IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Islamic extremists shot scores of Yazidi men to death in Iraq, lining them up in small groups and opening fire with assault rifles before abducting their wives and children, according to an eyewitness, government officials and people who live in the area.

US launches airstrikes near Irbil and Mosul Dam Posted: 16 Aug 2014 03:18 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say a mix of fighter planes and remotely piloted aircraft have attacked Islamic State militants near the Iraqi city of Irbil and the Mosul Dam.

US military: Fighters, drone aircraft strike militants near Irbil and Mosul Dam in Iraq Posted: 16 Aug 2014 03:07 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — US military: Fighters, drone aircraft strike militants near Irbil and Mosul Dam in Iraq.

US rethinks giving excess military gear to police Posted: 16 Aug 2014 02:16 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — After a decade of sending military equipment to civilian police departments across the country, federal officials are reconsidering the idea in light of the violence in Ferguson, Missouri.

Kurds fight to retake Iraq's largest dam after 'massacre' Posted: 16 Aug 2014 01:31 PM PDT Kurdish forces backed by US warplanes battled on Saturday to retake Iraq's largest dam from jihadist fighters, a day after militants carried out a "massacre" of dozens of villagers. Two months of violence have brought Iraq to the brink of breakup, and world powers relieved by the exit of long-time premier Nuri al-Maliki were sending aid to the displaced and arms to the Kurds. Kurdish forces attacked the Islamic State (IS) fighters who wrested the Mosul dam from them a week earlier, a general told AFP. "Kurdish peshmerga, with US air support, have seized control of the eastern side of the dam" complex, Major General Abdulrahman Korini told AFP, saying several jihadists had been killed.

Islamic State executed 700 people from Syrian tribe: monitoring group Posted: 16 Aug 2014 01:06 PM PDT By Oliver Holmes and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - The Islamic State militant group has executed 700 members of a tribe it has been battling in eastern Syria during the past two weeks, the majority of them civilians, a human rights monitoring group and activists said on Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has tracked violence on all sides of the three-year-old conflict, said reliable sources reported beheadings were used to execute many of the al-Sheitaat tribe, which is from Deir al-Zor province. The conflict between Islamic State and the al-Sheitaat tribe, who number about 70,000, flared after the militants took over two oil fields in July. "Some were arrested, judged and killed." Reuters cannot independently verify reports from Syria due to security conditions and reporting restrictions.

IS kills hundreds in Syria, threatens rebel bastion: NGO Posted: 16 Aug 2014 12:35 PM PDT Jihadists have killed over 700 tribal members in eastern Syria, monitors said Saturday, and are battling to seize a northern rebel bastion, sparking an appeal for an Iraq-style Western intervention. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamic State (IS) jihadists have carried out the killings over the past two weeks in oil-rich Deir Ezzor province which the group mostly controls. They were killed in Ghranij, Abu Hamam and Kashkiyeh villages, said the Observatory, which relies on a vast network of activists and medics on the ground for its information. The IS has captured most of Deir Ezzor and declared it to be part of its "caliphate," along with large swathes of territory it has captured across the border in Iraq.

IS killed more than 700 Syria tribe members in 2 weeks: NGO Posted: 16 Aug 2014 12:33 PM PDT Islamic State jihadists have killed more than 700 members of a tribe in eastern Syria in two weeks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday. They were killed in the Ghranij, Abu Hamam and Kashkiyeh villages of the mainly IS-controlled province of Deir Ezzor, said the Observatory, which relies on a vast network of activists and medics on the ground for its information. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said that the fate of 1,800 other members of the tribe was unknown. Fighting between the jihadists and the Sunni Muslim tribe erupted in the oil-rich province after a deal between the two sides collapsed, with the tribe refusing to bow to IS control.

Roadside bomb kills team repairing key Iraq bridge Posted: 16 Aug 2014 12:07 PM PDT A roadside bombing Saturday killed the engineer tasked with repairing a key bridge on the main highway north of Baghdad, which jihadists destroyed last month, army and medical sources said. "Three people were killed and 11 others wounded by a roadside bomb explosion targeting their bus," a senior army officer told AFP. "All of them were technicians from the roads and bridges department in Samarra," he said. They were repairing a bridge just south of Samarra, whose destruction cut a vital supply line for the army, crippling operations farther north.

Jihadists closing in on Syrian rebel stronghold Posted: 16 Aug 2014 12:03 PM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's Western-backed opposition called on Saturday for U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State extremist group as the jihadists captured three northern villages, putting them within striking distance of a mainstream rebel stronghold.

PKK conflict with Turkey 'coming to an end', says Kurdish leader Posted: 16 Aug 2014 11:44 AM PDT The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party's 30-year conflict with Turkey is coming to an end, the group's jailed leader said on Saturday, hailing the start of a new democratic process in the country. The PKK, which for three decades fought a bloody insurgency for self-rule for Turkey's Kurdish minority that cost 40,000 lives, launched its armed struggle on August 15, 1984. "On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of our struggle, I want to state that we are on the verge of historic developments," Ocalan said in a statement quoted by the Firat news agency, which is close to the PKK. He said that the process could become a model for solving conflicts not only in Turkey "but in the entire region".

Iraqi Kurdish leader appeals to Germany for weapons Posted: 16 Aug 2014 09:36 AM PDT The leader of Iraq's Kurds appealed to Germany for weapons to help Kurdish fighters battling militants of the Islamic State, and said foreign powers must find a way to cut off the group's funding. The European Union on Friday gave a green light to EU governments to supply arms and ammunition to the Kurds if it has the consent of the government in Baghdad. Germany has shied away from direct involvement in military conflicts for much of the post-war era and a survey conducted for Bild am Sonntag newspaper indicated that almost three quarters of Germans were against shipping weapons to the Kurds. Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, said the Kurds needed more than the humanitarian aid that Germany began sending on Friday to support people forced to flee their homes by the Sunni militant group's advance.

Germany: 1000s protest Yazidi persecution in Iraq Posted: 16 Aug 2014 09:04 AM PDT BERLIN (AP) — Thousands of people in Germany have protested against the persecution of the Yazidi minority in Iraq.

From campaign driver to a top aide on Obama break Posted: 16 Aug 2014 08:53 AM PDT EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — One of President Barack Obama's top-ranking advisers on his vacation is a former political operative who drove the candidate around Illinois during his Senate campaign a decade ago and then served as personal secretary in the White House.

Kurds battle to retake Iraq's largest dam: general Posted: 16 Aug 2014 08:48 AM PDT Sulaimaniyah (Iraq) (AFP) - Kurdish troops backed by US warplanes launched a bid on Saturday to recapture Mosul dam, Iraq's largest, a senior Kurdish military official said.

Take a look at a 5,000-year-old game, possibly the oldest known to humans Posted: 16 Aug 2014 07:24 AM PDT Discovered in a "a 820- by 492-foot [burial] mound near Siirt in southeast Turkey," the pieces date back to the Bronze Age. "Some depict pigs, dogs and pyramids," Haluk Sağlamtimur of Ege University in İzmir, Turkey, told Discovery News.

Islamic State 'massacres' 80 Yazidis in north Iraq: officials Posted: 16 Aug 2014 06:25 AM PDT Islamic State insurgents "massacred" some 80 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority in a village in the country's north, a Yazidi lawmaker and two Kurdish officials said on Friday. "They arrived in vehicles and they started their killing this afternoon," senior Kurdish official Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters. A push by Islamic State militants through northern Iraq to the border with the Kurdish region has alarmed the Baghdad government, drawn the first U.S. air strikes since the end of American occupation in 2001 and sent tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians fleeing for their lives. Yazidi parliamentarian Mahama Khalil said he had spoken to villagers who had survived the attack.

Britain to keep up Iraq surveillance flights: defence minister Posted: 16 Aug 2014 06:12 AM PDT Britain is to keep up its surveillance flights over northern Iraq to try to stop more minority groups coming under jihadist attack, Defence Minister Michael Fallon said on Saturday. Fallon was speaking on a visit to Cyprus from which Britain has been making its aid and surveillance flights over Iraq out of its sovereign air base at Akrotiri on the south coast.

Residents near Iraq's Mosul dam, held by Islamic State group, say area being hit by airstrikes Posted: 16 Aug 2014 03:07 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Residents near Iraq's Mosul dam, held by Islamic State group, say area being hit by airstrikes.

Jihadists kill dozens in north Iraq 'massacre', officials say Posted: 16 Aug 2014 02:04 AM PDT Jihadists carried out a "massacre" in the northern Iraqi village of Kocho, killing dozens of people, most of them members of the Yazidi religious minority, officials said on Saturday. Jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group are carrying out attacks against minorities in Iraq's Nineveh province, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee. "We have information from multiple sources, in the region and through intelligence, that (on Friday) afternoon, a convoy of (IS) armed men entered this village," senior Iraqi official Hoshyar Zebari told AFP. Harim Kamal Agha, a senior official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party in Dohuk province, which borders Nineveh, put the death toll at 81 and said the militants had taken women to prisons they control.

More Clinton-Obama differences likely to emerge Posted: 16 Aug 2014 12:06 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton's split with President Barack Obama over a foreign policy "organizing principle" isn't likely to be the last time differences emerge between the two. How she handles those breaks could be among her biggest challenges to a successful run for president in 2016.

WHERE IS THE GOP HEIR APPARENT? Posted: 15 Aug 2014 10:01 PM PDT For more than two generations, the Republican presidential nominating process has had an immutable internal logic to it: The next guy in line gets the nomination. It's certainly how Barack Obama's two opponents, Sen. John McCain and former Gov. Mitt Romney, were nominated. But just as the Republican Party is going through one of its periodic struggles for identity -- earlier such battles were fought in 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1980 and 1992 -- the party finds itself without a "next guy." The only political figure with possible claims to the title is Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 vice presidential nominee.

Iraq Yazidis fear for thousands kidnapped by jihadists Posted: 15 Aug 2014 09:38 PM PDT In a dusty, ill-equipped camp in northern Iraq, Yazidis fleeing a jihadist offensive say members of their families -- men, women and even babies -- have been abducted by militants. The mass kidnappings by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group targeted those who either refused or simply could not flee a string of villages around Mount Sinjar, one of the minority's main ancestral homes in northern Iraq. The refugees say the women and children are being held in IS-controlled prisons in Nineveh province, where a sweeping jihadist-led offensive was launched in June, and that many of the men are feared to have been executed. Other Yazidis, just as distraught, gave similar accounts.

Ukraine tensions rise again, NATO accuses Russia of 'escalating' conflict Posted: 15 Aug 2014 05:04 PM PDT Hostilities in eastern Ukraine appeared to slip closer to the full-blown confrontation between Russia and the West that both sides say they want to avoid, as NATO accused Russia of "escalating" the conflict and Ukraine claimed to have destroyed Russian armored vehicles that crossed into its territory. The heightened tensions arise with no meaningful diplomatic contacts under way either between the warring Ukrainian sides or between Russia and the West, and they provided an example of the kind of provocation or misstep that regional experts have warned for months could lead to a broader conflict. Ukrainian officials said on Friday that their forces had "destroyed" part of a "significant" column of Russian military vehicles that had crossed under cover of darkness into eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian security forces are battling pro-Russia separatists. The Russian Defense Ministry denied Ukraine's claims, but NATO decried the incursion as "further evidence that Russia is doing the very opposite of what it's saying."

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