Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Obama says US to 're-assess' options after Netanyahu win
• Islamic State says it killed tourists in Tunisia
• US woman accused of supplying terrorists appears in court
• Islamic State claims responsibility for Tunisia attack
• Obama pledges security cooperation after Tunisia attack
• Iraq has not asked for airstrikes in Tikrit: Pentagon
• Islamic State group claims deadly attack on Tunis museum
• Tunis struggles with anti-terrorism battle plan
• No Iraq request for coalition air support in Tikrit campaign
• Libya FM congratulates rival on battling IS
• Iraq makes $412 mn payment to Kurdistan region: minister
• Army chief warns of IS spread to Europe if Libya gets no aid
• U.S. has flown 2,320 strikes against Islamic State at a cost of $1.83 billion: official
• Ecuador sees 'light at end of tunnel' in Assange case
• U.S., allies conduct air strikes in Syria and Iraq against Islamic State
• Sweden restaurant attack raises concern of gang violence
• French carrier in Gulf lends support to anti-IS mission
• Islamic State suspected of genocide against Yazidis, says UN
• IS likely committing genocide against Yazidi minority in Iraq: UN
• Opportunistic move against Muslim Brotherhood exposes Jordan to risks
• Islamic State claims Tunisia attack
• France displaces Britain as key US military ally
• Mass grave found as UN says IS group suspected of genocide
• ICC should prosecute Islamic State for Iraq genocide, war crimes: U.N.
• US missions in Saudi Arabia extend cancellation of services
• House and Senate Duke It Out Over Defense Spending
• Mitt Romney Exclusive: Former GOP presidential candidate talks Clintons and facing off against Evander Holyfield
• Islamic State militants kill 10 pro-Tripoli fighters in central Libya
• Gunmen storm Tunisian museum, kill 17 foreign tourists
• GOP defense hawks, fiscal conservatives battle over budget
• Today in History
• Exclusive: U.S. likely to delay planned closure of two Afghanistan bases
• Downing of US drone suggests Syria imposing red lines on air war

Obama says US to 're-assess' options after Netanyahu win Posted: 19 Mar 2015 04:30 PM PDT President Barack Obama on Thursday warned Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington will "re-assess" its policies after the prime minister's election win called into question crucial US diplomatic cover for Israel at the UN. Two full days after Netanyahu's shock election victory, the White House said Obama called the Israeli leader to congratulate him -- though the message was decidedly lukewarm. Obama warned that the veteran Israeli leader's last-minute campaign pledge to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state and comments about Israeli Arabs voting in "droves" would force a rethink in Washington.

Islamic State says it killed tourists in Tunisia Posted: 19 Mar 2015 04:29 PM PDT By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia said it would deploy the army to major cities and arrested nine people on Thursday after 20 foreign tourists were shot dead in an attack on a museum which Islamic State militants called "the first drop of the rain". Officials did not confirm the militants' claim of responsibility, but said they had identified two gunmen shot dead by security forces after the shootings, which targeted tourist buses visiting the Bardo museum on Wednesday. The two gunmen were trained at a jihadist camp in Libya, the Tunisian government said. Interior ministry official Rafik Chelli said the two men had been recruited at mosques in Tunisia and traveled to Libya in September.

US woman accused of supplying terrorists appears in court Posted: 19 Mar 2015 04:22 PM PDT ST. LOUIS (AP) — A woman who federal investigators say helped five other Bosnian immigrants funnel money and military supplies to terror groups in Iraq and Syria made her first court appearance Thursday in Missouri after being arrested in Germany.

Islamic State claims responsibility for Tunisia attack Posted: 19 Mar 2015 04:20 PM PDT TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The Islamic State group issued a statement Thursday claiming responsibility for the deadly attack on Tunisia's national museum that killed 23 people, mostly tourists.

Obama pledges security cooperation after Tunisia attack Posted: 19 Mar 2015 04:08 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is pledging close counterterrorism cooperation with Tunisia in the wake of an attack that killed 21 people at a museum in Tunis.

Iraq has not asked for airstrikes in Tikrit: Pentagon Posted: 19 Mar 2015 03:18 PM PDT Iraq has not made a formal request to the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group to provide air support in the country's offensive to retake Tikrit, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday. He spoke after one of the top Iraqi commanders for the offensive on Sunday called for the international coalition to provide air support to help swing the battle for the city. The offensive to push back the Islamic State group (IS) from Tikrit began on March 2, and Iraqi forces have only recently reached the city limits where they have been stalled by bombs and entrenched fighters. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said he wasn't aware that any airstrike requests had come through.

Islamic State group claims deadly attack on Tunis museum Posted: 19 Mar 2015 03:13 PM PDT The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility Thursday for an attack on foreign tourists at Tunisia's national museum that killed 21 people, as the security forces swooped on suspects. Authorities said they had identified the two gunmen killed after their Wednesday's assault, prompting calls for a show of national unity against extremism in the birthplace of the Arab Spring. In an audio message posted online, IS said "two knights from the Islamic State... heavily armed with automatic weapons and grenades, targeted the Bardo Museum" in the capital. The president's office said security forces arrested "four people directly linked to the (terrorist) operation and five suspected of having ties to the cell".

Tunis struggles with anti-terrorism battle plan Posted: 19 Mar 2015 03:07 PM PDT Tunisia has vowed to wage "a merciless war against terrorism" after Wednesday's carnage at its national museum but it has struggled to draw up a strategy to counter the jihadist threat. "We can no longer delude ourselves or delude public opinion," Le Quotidien newspaper said in an editorial, warning that "thousands of terrorists operate in Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Iraq (who were) trained or recruited in our country". The twin challenge compounds that posed by Al-Qaeda-linked militants hiding out in mountains near the Algerian border, who have killed dozens of members of Tunisia's security forces. After each flareup in violence, fingers are pointed at the moderate Islamist movement Ennahda, which was the dominant political force in Tunisia after its 2011 revolution up until a year ago.

No Iraq request for coalition air support in Tikrit campaign Posted: 19 Mar 2015 02:34 PM PDT Iraq has not requested air support from the U.S.-led coalition for its campaign to retake Tikrit from Islamic State insurgents, a senior military official in the coalition said on Thursday, as the assault on the city remained on pause for nearly a week. Some Iraqi officials this week said more air strikes are needed to dislodge the militants, who are holed up in a complex of palaces built when Saddam Hussein was in power and have turned the city into a labyrinth of homemade bombs and booby-traps. A Pentagon spokesman said Iraqi forces essentially had Tikrit encircled but did not appear to have progressed as far in their operation to retake the city as initially suggested in early reporting. The coalition has been conspicuously absent from the campaign, the largest to be undertaken by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militia groups since Islamic State overran a third of the country last year.

Libya FM congratulates rival on battling IS Posted: 19 Mar 2015 02:18 PM PDT Al-Bayda (Libya) (AFP) - The foreign minister of Libya's internationally recognised government congratulated the rival Fajr Libya alliance for having taken on fighters from the Islamic State group in the country. Mohamed al-Dayri was speaking a day before Libya's rival parliaments were to resume UN-sponsored talks in Morocco on forming a national unity government and bringing an end to the violence wracking the oil-rich North African country. He was referring to sporadic combat since Saturday around Sirte, home town of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, who was toppled in a 2011 NATO-backed revolt. Fajr Libya is an alliance of militias including Islamists that has installed a government in Tripoli opposed to the internationally recognised legislature and cabinet based in the eastern city of Tobruk.

Iraq makes $412 mn payment to Kurdistan region: minister Posted: 19 Mar 2015 02:00 PM PDT Baghdad is sending a payment of $412 million to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, a sign that a budget deal between the two sides is still on track, the finance minister said Thursday. "A decision has been taken by the government and the finance ministry to send a payment worth... 490 billion Iraqi dinars ($412 million/389 million euros) to the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) to cover actual expenses for February," Hoshyar Zebari told AFP. The payment includes funding for the Kurdish peshmerga security forces, who are battling the Islamic State group that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last year, Zebari said. Baghdad and Kurdistan had reached a deal under which the three-province region would export 250,000 barrels of oil per day and 300,000 bpd from disputed Kirkuk province, while the federal government would release the region's share of national revenue.

Army chief warns of IS spread to Europe if Libya gets no aid Posted: 19 Mar 2015 01:50 PM PDT AL-MARJ, Libya (AP) — Libya's army chief, Gen. Khalifa Hifter, warned in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that Europe will face infiltration by Islamic State group militants from Libya if the West fails to support his forces with arms and ammunition.

U.S. has flown 2,320 strikes against Islamic State at a cost of $1.83 billion: official Posted: 19 Mar 2015 12:45 PM PDT By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has flown 2,320 air strikes against Islamic State militants since Aug. 8 at a cost of $1.83 billion, hitting thousands of targets including tanks, oil infrastructure and fighting positions, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The strikes by U.S. forces amounted to about 80 percent of the total number carried out by a multinational coalition. In all, the partners have flown 2,893 air strikes, with 1,631 in Iraq and 1,262 in Syria, hitting 5,314 targets. More than 60 countries are in the coalition against Islamic State.

Ecuador sees 'light at end of tunnel' in Assange case Posted: 19 Mar 2015 12:06 PM PDT The surprise offer by Swedish prosecutors to question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador's London embassy over rape allegations offers a clear breakthrough in the deadlocked case, Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said Thursday. Assange took refuge in the London embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden and has been ensconced there ever since. "This allows us to see a light at the end of the tunnel," Patino told reporters in Washington.

U.S., allies conduct air strikes in Syria and Iraq against Islamic State Posted: 19 Mar 2015 11:42 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and coalition forces conducted 12 air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and seven in Syria over the past 24 hours, the U.S. military said on Thursday. (Reporting by Sandra Maler; Editing by Eric Beech)

Sweden restaurant attack raises concern of gang violence Posted: 19 Mar 2015 11:08 AM PDT STOCKHOLM (AP) — A deadly restaurant shooting in Sweden's second-largest city shows the Scandinavian country is not the peaceful oasis that it's sometimes made out to be.

French carrier in Gulf lends support to anti-IS mission Posted: 19 Mar 2015 10:44 AM PDT ABOARD THE CHARLES DE GAULLE (AP) — With an allied American aircraft carrier not far away, Rafale and Super Etendard fighter jets catapult off this nuclear-powered symbol of French naval fortitude to attack Islamic State group positions hundreds of miles northwest in Iraq.

Islamic State suspected of genocide against Yazidis, says UN Posted: 19 Mar 2015 10:19 AM PDT The United Nations said on Thursday that Islamic State militants may have committed genocide against the Yazidi minority in Iraq. It also accuses Iraqi government forces and affiliated militia groups of committing war crimes on the basis of witness testimonies of summary killings and indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Through interviews with more than 100 alleged victims and witnesses, the report paints a horrific picture of the self-styled Islamic State's deadly campaign through northern Iraq.

IS likely committing genocide against Yazidi minority in Iraq: UN Posted: 19 Mar 2015 09:59 AM PDT Islamic State jihadists appear to be committing genocide against the Yazidi minority in Iraq, UN investigators said Thursday, calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice at the International Criminal Court. The report, based on interviews with more than 100 witnesses and survivors of attacks in Iraq between June 2014 and February 2015, especially highlights brutal IS attacks on the Yazidis. IS, which controls a swathe of territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, launched a series of systematic and widespread attacks on the Yazidi minority's heartland in the northern Nineveh province last August. The jihadists consistently separated out men and boys over the age of 14 to be executed, while younger boys were forced to become child solders and women and girls were abducted as the "spoils of war", according to the investigators.

Opportunistic move against Muslim Brotherhood exposes Jordan to risks Posted: 19 Mar 2015 09:23 AM PDT This month Jordan transferred official recognition of the Brotherhood, which has operated in the kingdom for 70 years, to the liberal wing of the movement. The Muslim Brotherhood was the kingdom's largest opposition movement, but operated often as a loyal opposition, at times tempering more radical anti-regime political impulses. By siding with the liberal wing, Jordan runs the risk of pushing thousands of conservative members of the Brotherhood into the arms of more radical jihadist organizations, including the self-described Islamic State that is still drawing throngs of fighters to its cause. The new, watered-down Brotherhood, licensed on March 4, is headed by former senator Abdul Majid Thneibat and comprised of liberal Brotherhood officials with ties to the government, providing Jordan what many officials have desired in private – a Brotherhood answerable to the regime that would not push for widespread reforms.

Islamic State claims Tunisia attack Posted: 19 Mar 2015 09:14 AM PDT By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia said it would deploy the army to major cities and arrested nine people on Thursday after 20 foreign tourists were shot dead at a museum in the capital in an attack claimed by Islamic State. Officials did not confirm the claim, but said they had identified the two militants shot dead by security forces after opening fire on tourist buses visiting the Bardo museum inside Tunisia's heavily guarded parliament compound on Wednesday. The assault -- the most deadly attack involving foreigners in Tunisia since a 2002 suicide bombing in Djerba -- came at a fragile moment for a country just emerging to full democracy after its pioneering popular uprising four years ago. The Islamic State militant group, which has declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria and is active in Tunisia's chaotic neighbour Libya, praised the two attackers in an audio recording in Arabic, calling them "knights of the Islamic State" armed with machineguns and bombs.

France displaces Britain as key US military ally Posted: 19 Mar 2015 08:39 AM PDT Once a source of irritation for the United States, France has nudged aside Britain to become the US military's key European partner. The growing ties between the two militaries were on display this month when France's top military officer, General Pierre de Villiers, hosted his US counterpart, General Martin Dempsey, aboard France's aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.

Mass grave found as UN says IS group suspected of genocide Posted: 19 Mar 2015 07:28 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — More than a dozen bodies were unearthed from a mass grave near the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit on Thursday, as a new U.N. report said Islamic State militants may have committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during their rampage across the country.

ICC should prosecute Islamic State for Iraq genocide, war crimes: U.N. Posted: 19 Mar 2015 06:12 AM PDT By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday Islamic State forces may have committed genocide in trying to wipe out the Yazidi minority in Iraq as well as war crimes against civilians including children. In a report based on interviews with more than 100 alleged victims and witnesses, the U.N. Human Rights Office urged the U.N. Security Council to refer the issue to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute perpetrators, including foreign members of the ultra-radical insurgent group. Iraqi security forces and affiliated militias "may have committed some war crimes" while battling the insurgency, including killings, torture and abductions, the report said. "Clearly international war crimes and crimes against humanity and possibly genocide appear to have been committed during this conflict.

US missions in Saudi Arabia extend cancellation of services Posted: 19 Mar 2015 06:05 AM PDT RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and two other diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia will remain closed for consular services due to security concerns, the embassy said in a statement Thursday.

House and Senate Duke It Out Over Defense Spending Posted: 19 Mar 2015 06:00 AM PDT House and Senate GOP budget leaders remained at odds Wednesday over the best scheme for boosting defense spending to combat the rising threat of ISIS and other terrorist organizations. The Senate strategy would take a little longer to balance the budget than the House approach, but would still provide a startling $5.1 trillion of long-term deficit reduction between 2006 and 2025, compared to $5.5 trillion in the House budget. Roughly 85 percent of those total savings would be extracted from mandatory spending programs like Medicaid and Medicare, with the rest coming from discretionary domestic programs important to low and middle-income Americans.

Mitt Romney Exclusive: Former GOP presidential candidate talks Clintons and facing off against Evander Holyfield Posted: 19 Mar 2015 02:23 AM PDT Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told Yahoo's Global News Anchor Katie Couric in an exclusive interview Wednesday that he decided not to run for president a third time for a simple reason. "It just didn't feel right," Romney said in his first interview since deciding at the end of January not to mount another campaign. "Somehow, it just didn't feel like this was the right time for us to step forward."

Islamic State militants kill 10 pro-Tripoli fighters in central Libya Posted: 19 Mar 2015 12:03 AM PDT By Ahmed Elumami and Goran Tomasevic TRIPOLI/MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Ten fighters loyal to the self-proclaimed government that controls Tripoli were killed by Islamic State militants in central Libya on Wednesday, as the Islamists spread their reach in the divided country. Islamist militants in Libya who have allied themselves to the Islamic State group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria had until recently been mostly active in the east, where the internationally recognised government is now based.

Gunmen storm Tunisian museum, kill 17 foreign tourists Posted: 18 Mar 2015 11:51 PM PDT By Tarek Amara and Mohamed Argoubi TUNIS (Reuters) - Gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed Tunisia's national museum on Wednesday, killing 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians in one of the worst militant attacks in a country that had largely escaped the region's "Arab Spring" turmoil. Five Japanese as well as visitors from Italy, Poland and Spain were among the dead in the noon assault on Bardo museum inside the heavily guarded parliament compound in central Tunis, Prime Minister Habib Essid said. Security forces entered around two hours later, killed two militants and freed the captives, a government spokesman said. Several Islamist militant groups have emerged in Tunisia since the uprising, and authorities estimate about 3,000 Tunisians have also joined fighters in Iraq and Syria -- igniting fears they could return and mount attacks at home.

GOP defense hawks, fiscal conservatives battle over budget Posted: 18 Mar 2015 10:06 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — A battle between GOP defense hawks and fiscal conservatives prompted the GOP chairman of the House Budget Committee late Wednesday to delay a vote on his party's budget blueprint.

Today in History Posted: 18 Mar 2015 09:01 PM PDT Today is Thursday, March 19, the 78th day of 2015. There are 287 days left in the year.

Exclusive: U.S. likely to delay planned closure of two Afghanistan bases Posted: 18 Mar 2015 06:03 PM PDT By Arshad Mohammed, David Rohde and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad are likely to remain open beyond the end of 2015, a senior U.S. official said, as Washington considers slowing its military pull-out from Afghanistan to help the new government fight the Taliban. The anticipated policy reversal reflects the U.S. embrace of Afghanistan's new and more cooperative president, Ashraf Ghani, and a desire to avoid the kind of collapse of local security forces that occurred in Iraq after the U.S. pull-out there. Washington has welcomed greater engagement by China, which has helped create a diplomatic opening for reconciliation.

Downing of US drone suggests Syria imposing red lines on air war Posted: 18 Mar 2015 03:40 PM PDT By Tom Perry and Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) - After allowing the United States to use its air space to bomb Islamic State fighters for six months, the Syrian army appears to have imposed a "red line" by shooting down a U.S. drone over territory of critical importance to Damascus. The U.S. military has said it lost contact with one of its drones over northwest Syria but has not given the cause of the incident over Latakia province - part of the western region of Syria where Damascus has been consolidating state control. Two U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the Predator drone was likely shot down, although the investigation continues. A Syrian army source said the aircraft was shot down over government-held territory in an area free from Islamic State, the jihadist group that has been facing near daily bombardment by U.S.-led warplanes on the other side of the country.

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