Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Top military aide removed from job, under investigation
• Sinjar battle could give momentum to Obama's Islamic State strategy
• California Congressman Farr to retire after 20-plus years
• The Fight Against ISIS Has New Price Tag: $5 Billion and Counting
• Amid offensive, Iraqi Kurds cut Islamic State supply line
• Kurds expect to enter and clear Sinjar soon
• Iraq Kurds block key IS supply line in battle for Sinjar
• Kerry: chances for Syria diplomacy depend on military balance
• US-Backed Kurdish Offensive Pushes to Retake Sinjar From ISIS
• US military advisers helping Kurdish Iraq offensive
• Kurdish forces expect to enter and clear Sinjar soon
• Twin suicide attack hits Beirut's Shiite suburb, killing 3
• ISIS Claims Deadly Dual Beirut Bombings
• Nations face tough question: Who are Syria's terrorists?
• Syria army scores key victories ahead of Vienna talks
• Russia accuses US of hijacking preparations for Syria talks
• Memorial service set for 1st US soldier killed in IS fight
• Police swoop on European 'jihadist network' with IS links
• Military service held for dog killed in Wyoming
• European swoop seizes 15 Islamists police say planning attacks
• Medal of Honor recipient: On his worst day, 'he managed to summon the best'
• Obama awards Medal of Honor to US Army captain
• Deadly clashes in north Iraq close main road to Baghdad: sources
• A look at the Iraqi town of Sinjar and why it's important
• Clashes between Iraqi Kurd, Shiite fighters kill seven
• Obama awards Medal of Honor to Army captain
• IRAQ SINJAR
• Iraqi migrants at Czech detention camp go on hunger strike
• Fighting ISIS: Why the battle for Sinjar City matters
• Groundbreaking United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Report Reveals Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing Perpetrated Against Religious Minorities in Northern Iraq; Yezidis Targeted for Genocide
• Pentagon spending divides GOP deficit, defense hawks
• US deploys 6 F-15E fighter jets in Turkey to attack IS
• Fallout from Syria looms large as G20 leaders meet on global economy
• The Pentagon's $766 Million Afghan 'Slush Fund' Comes Under Scrutiny
• Afghan official claims splinter Taliban group leader killed
• U.S. advisors aid Kurdish offensive in Iraq but away from fighting
• European terror-recruiting cell linked to IS broken up
• Kurdish forces start clearing Sinjar, penetrate Islamic state supply route: coalition
• Islamic State committed genocide in Iraq against Yazidis: report
• Kurdistan's new exodus

Top military aide removed from job, under investigation Posted: 12 Nov 2015 04:57 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Ash Carter suddenly fired his top military aide Thursday citing allegations of misconduct, and referred the matter to the department's inspector general.

Sinjar battle could give momentum to Obama's Islamic State strategy Posted: 12 Nov 2015 04:48 PM PST By Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.-backed drive by Iraqi Kurds to wrest the northern town of Sinjar and a slice of strategic highway from Islamic State could give new momentum to the Obama administration's strategy to defeat the extremist group, U.S. officials and analysts said on Thursday. The long-awaited Sinjar offensive is one of several signs, the officials argued, that U.S. President Barack Obama's much-criticized, slow-burn strategy against Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria is starting to produce results. It coincides with a renewed push by Washington to find a diplomatic solution to the Syrian civil war, which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday would hinge partly on perceptions of which military forces were gaining the upper hand.

California Congressman Farr to retire after 20-plus years Posted: 12 Nov 2015 03:30 PM PST FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Sam Farr of California will retire at the end of his term in 2017, ending a career in Congress spanning nearly a quarter-century, he announced Thursday.

The Fight Against ISIS Has New Price Tag: $5 Billion and Counting Posted: 12 Nov 2015 02:56 PM PST The war against ISIS has now cost the United States more than $5 billion, according to the latest Defense Department figures. As of Oct. 31, the price tag for 450 days of war was $5.012 billion, with an average cost of $11.1 million per day, the Pentagon said. As of November 3, the U.S. and its coalition partners have executed 7,871 airstrikes, according to a separate Pentagon fact sheet.

Amid offensive, Iraqi Kurds cut Islamic State supply line Posted: 12 Nov 2015 02:27 PM PST SINJAR, Iraq (AP) — Supported by U.S.-led airstrikes, Kurdish Iraqi troops on Thursday seized part of a highway that is used as a vital supply line by the Islamic State group, a key initial step in a major offensive to retake the strategic town of Sinjar from the militants.

Kurds expect to enter and clear Sinjar soon Posted: 12 Nov 2015 02:19 PM PST By Isabel Coles NEAR SINJAR TOWN, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish forces who have launched an offensive to retake Sinjar from Islamic State militants expect to enter and clear the northern Iraqi town soon, the Kurdistan regional security council said on Thursday. More than 150 square km (58 square miles) have been seized from the ultrahardline Sunni group and dozens of bodies of its fighters were left behind in a retreat from parts of Sinjar, it added. Backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes, Kurdish peshmerga fighters reached Sinjar from the east and west, the council said.

Iraq Kurds block key IS supply line in battle for Sinjar Posted: 12 Nov 2015 02:14 PM PST Iraqi Kurdish forces backed by US-led air strikes blocked a key Islamic State group supply line with Syria Thursday as they fought to retake the town of Sinjar from the jihadists. A permanent cut in the supply line would hamper IS's ability to move fighters and supplies between northern Iraq and Syria, where the jihadists hold significant territory and have declared a "caliphate". Retaking Sinjar -- where IS carried out a brutal campaign of killings, enslavement and rape against the Yazidi minority, members of which are now battling for the town -- would also be an important symbolic victory.

Kerry: chances for Syria diplomacy depend on military balance Posted: 12 Nov 2015 02:07 PM PST By David Brunnstrom and Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged nations gathering for Syria peace talks to show flexibility and said the chances of a diplomatic solution hinged in part on the military balance. Speaking before he headed to the Vienna talks, which he said would include officials from Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Europe, Kerry defended diplomatic efforts to end the civil war even as he acknowledged a solution was not near. "I cannot say this afternoon that we are on the threshold of a comprehensive agreement," Kerry told a Washington think tank.

US-Backed Kurdish Offensive Pushes to Retake Sinjar From ISIS Posted: 12 Nov 2015 01:45 PM PST Hours after it began, a large Kurdish offensive has retaken from ISIS a section of a key highway in northwestern Iraq that has served as a main supply route between ISIS forces in Syria and Iraq. More than 7,500 Kurdish fighters began their assault on the ISIS held town of Sinjar early this morning after U.S. aircraft conducted two dozen airstrikes on ISIS targets in support of the operation. A statement released by the Kurdish Regional Security Council claimed that Peshmerga fighters had captured Highway 47, a strategic road near the town of Sinjar that is a main supply route between the ISIS de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria and the Iraqi city of Mosul.

US military advisers helping Kurdish Iraq offensive Posted: 12 Nov 2015 01:35 PM PST US troops advising Kurdish forces on their offensive in northern Iraq are close enough to the front to identify Islamic State group targets and call in air strikes, the Pentagon said Thursday. The Kurdish regional government's peshmerga are fighting to recapture the Iraqi town of Sinjar from the IS jihadists, and have already cut one of the group's key supply lines back to its Syrian strongholds. My understanding is there are coalition advisers from other countries, as well," spokesman Peter Cook said.

Kurdish forces expect to enter and clear Sinjar soon Posted: 12 Nov 2015 01:34 PM PST NEAR SINJAR TOWN, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish forces who have launched an offensive to retake Sinjar from Islamic State militants expect to enter and clear the northern Iraqi town soon, the Kurdistan regional security council said on Thursday. More than 150 square km have been seized from Islamic State and dozens of the group's fighters were left behind in a retreat from some parts of the town, said the council. Reuters could not independently confirm this account. (Reporting by Isabel Coles; Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Twin suicide attack hits Beirut's Shiite suburb, killing 3 Posted: 12 Nov 2015 01:30 PM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese officials and state media say a twin suicide attack has struck a Shiite suburb in southern Beirut, killing at least three people.

ISIS Claims Deadly Dual Beirut Bombings Posted: 12 Nov 2015 01:20 PM PST The terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility for dual bombings in Beirut today that claimed at least 37 lives.In statements circulated on Twitter and through the Telegram messaging app, ISIS said it detonated a motorcycle bomb in the Lebanese capital and then, after witnesses rushed to the scene, a suicide bomber unleashed another deadly blast on the crowd.An official with the Lebanese Red Cross told a state media organization that the blasts killed 37 people and wounded 180 others, according to The Associated Press. ...

Nations face tough question: Who are Syria's terrorists? Posted: 12 Nov 2015 12:47 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — One nation's terrorist may be another's freedom fighter.

Syria army scores key victories ahead of Vienna talks Posted: 12 Nov 2015 12:34 PM PST Syria's army scored its second important victory in two days with backing from Russian air power on Thursday, as the groundwork was being laid for crucial international talks this weekend in Vienna. State television announced the capture of Al-Hader, a former opposition bastion near the key Aleppo-Damascus highway, just 48 hours after regime forces broke a siege by the Islamic State group of the Kweyris air base in the east of Aleppo province. Bolstered by the launch of Russian air strikes in Syria in late September, President Bashar al-Assad's forces have launched a series of offensives to regain ground lost in the country's civil war.

Russia accuses US of hijacking preparations for Syria talks Posted: 12 Nov 2015 12:34 PM PST VIENNA (AP) — Russia accused the United States on Thursday of hijacking preparatory talks for a weekend meeting of nearly 20 nations focused on ending the Syrian war. The charge was denied by U.S. officials, who expressed surprise that Moscow did not show up.

Memorial service set for 1st US soldier killed in IS fight Posted: 12 Nov 2015 12:15 PM PST MULDROW, Okla. (AP) — A memorial service has been set for the first American soldier to die in combat against the Islamic State group in Iraq.

Police swoop on European 'jihadist network' with IS links Posted: 12 Nov 2015 12:06 PM PST Police on Thursday announced a swoop on a European jihadist network that was allegedly planning to kidnap diplomats and carry out attacks to try to spring its leader out of detention in Norway. Seventeen arrest warrants were issued and 13 people were detained in Italy, Britain and Norway, according to Eurojust, the EU's Judicial Cooperation Unit. The other wanted suspects were believed to be fighting in Iraq or Syria for the Islamic State (IS) group, according to Italian police, who lead the operation.

Military service held for dog killed in Wyoming Posted: 12 Nov 2015 11:52 AM PST POWELL, Wyo. (AP) — A former military dog was remembered as loyal and brave as it was buried with honors after it was shot and killed by a bicyclist who said the animal had attacked him.

European swoop seizes 15 Islamists police say planning attacks Posted: 12 Nov 2015 11:34 AM PST By Massimiliano Di Giorgio ROME (Reuters) - Police in six European countries arrested at least 15 suspected members of a militant Islamist group that was planning attacks in Norway and the Middle East, Italian authorities said on Thursday. Police in Oslo said there had never been a "concrete or acute threat" against any Norwegian citizens or interests. Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said preventative measures had worked, but no country was immune.

Medal of Honor recipient: On his worst day, 'he managed to summon the best' Posted: 12 Nov 2015 11:22 AM PST "What made him a good runner also made him a good soldier," President Obama said as he related this story in a White House ceremony Tuesday honoring Captain Groberg with the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest commendation for valor. Groberg, who earned his US citizenship after his parents immigrated to the US from France when he was a child, choked back tears as he became the 10th living service member to earn the award in Iraq or Afghanistan. The actions that earned him the medal took place three years ago in Afghanistan's Kunar Province, widely regarded as among the most violent in the country, with its craggy mountain passes and the restive Pech River Valley, where fiercely independent residents haven't taken kindly to US military presence.

Obama awards Medal of Honor to US Army captain Posted: 12 Nov 2015 11:05 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — A French-born U.S. Army captain who shoved a suicide bomber to the ground and away from his security detail became the nation's newest Medal of Honor recipient Thursday as President Barack Obama credited his actions with preventing a greater catastrophe from occurring.

Deadly clashes in north Iraq close main road to Baghdad: sources Posted: 12 Nov 2015 11:00 AM PST Clashes between Kurdish and Shi'ite Arab paramilitary forces turned a northern Iraqi district into a battlefield on Thursday and cut a strategic road linking Baghdad to the northern oil city of Kirkuk, security sources and local officials said. The violence in and around Tuz Khurmatu, about 175 km (110 miles) north of the capital, left at least 16 people dead, including five civilians, security and medical sources said. The Kurdish and Shi'ite fighters have been uncomfortable allies against Islamic State since driving the militants out of towns and villages in the area last year with the support of U.S.-led airstrikes.

A look at the Iraqi town of Sinjar and why it's important Posted: 12 Nov 2015 10:56 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Kurdish Iraqi fighters launched a long-awaited offensive to retake the strategic town of Sinjar from the Islamic State group and in the first hours of the battle Thursday seized control of one the extremist group's key supply lines into the town.

Clashes between Iraqi Kurd, Shiite fighters kill seven Posted: 12 Nov 2015 10:41 AM PST Clashes between Iraqi Kurdish and Shiite fighters north of Baghdad killed seven people Thursday, an official said, illustrating major fault lines between ostensible allies against the Islamic State jihadist group. The fighting killed seven people and wounded 22, including civilians as well as combatants, said Shallal Abdul Baban, the local official responsible for the area. The violence began at a checkpoint near the town of Tuz Khurmatu and then spread inside it, and led to the closure of the main road linking Baghdad with the autonomous Kurdish region.

Obama awards Medal of Honor to Army captain Posted: 12 Nov 2015 10:39 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — An Army captain who shoved a suicide bomber to the ground and away from his security detail became the nation's newest Medal of Honor recipient Thursday as President Barack Obama credited his actions with preventing a greater catastrophe from occurring.

IRAQ SINJAR Posted: 12 Nov 2015 09:48 AM PST UPDATES WITH DEVELOPMENTS: Map locates Sinjar in Iraq.; 2c x 4 inches; 96.3 mm x 101 mm;

Iraqi migrants at Czech detention camp go on hunger strike Posted: 12 Nov 2015 08:25 AM PST Iraqis at a Czech detention centre for migrants have begun a hunger strike amid fears of being sent back home, police and a local priest said Thursday. "The first 20 men started on Tuesday morning," and by mid-Thursday the number had grown to 60, said Mikulas Vymetal, an evangelical priest helping the migrants. Protesters Razad Fazal and Yasin Beelhaadj vowed in a Thursday statement to continue their hunger strike, asking to be set free.

Fighting ISIS: Why the battle for Sinjar City matters Posted: 12 Nov 2015 08:15 AM PST Kurdish forces backed by US-led airstrikes launched a ground offensive Thursday to recapture the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar from ISIS, aka the Islamic State. The Kurdish peshmerga captured a strategic highway in the early hours of the offensive with the help of thousands of lightly armed Yazidis. Sinjar became an early symbol of Islamic State brutality when thousands of Yazidis, a small religious sect, were murdered, raped, and enslaved there last year.

Groundbreaking United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Report Reveals Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing Perpetrated Against Religious Minorities in Northern Iraq; Yezidis Targeted for Genocide Posted: 12 Nov 2015 07:32 AM PST WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) perpetrated crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing against religious minority communities across northern Iraq between June and August 2014. As part of its deliberate campaign of terror, IS singled out Yezidi populations for genocide and continues to perpetrate genocide against Yezidis trapped under IS control, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Pentagon spending divides GOP deficit, defense hawks Posted: 12 Nov 2015 07:29 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidates agree that Islamic extremists are running rampant, the Mideast is on fire and Russia, China and Iran are flexing their muscles, yet they are far from reaching consensus on how much is enough when it comes to spending on defense.

US deploys 6 F-15E fighter jets in Turkey to attack IS Posted: 12 Nov 2015 07:11 AM PST ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The U.S. military says it has deployed six more fighter jets at Incirlik air base in southern Turkey for operations against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

Fallout from Syria looms large as G20 leaders meet on global economy Posted: 12 Nov 2015 06:43 AM PST By Nick Tattersall and Matt Spetalnick ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Syria's war, migration and the fight against terrorism will force their way onto the agenda when world leaders meet this weekend in Turkey, a country straddling Europe and the Middle East and struggling with the fallout from all three. Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies (G20), including the United States, China, Japan, Russia, Canada, Australia and Brazil, are to meet on Sunday and Monday in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya primarily to discuss global economic issues.

The Pentagon's $766 Million Afghan 'Slush Fund' Comes Under Scrutiny Posted: 12 Nov 2015 06:00 AM PST Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and other lawmakers are outraged over recent revelations that the Pentagon squandered $43 million on a natural gas filling station in war-torn Afghanistan that no one is willing to explain or justify. The shockingly expensive and marginally useful compressed gas station was built in 2011 as part of an initiative by the Defense Department's Task Force for Stability and Business Operations (TFBSO), which was established in 2006 to bring a capitalist economy to Iraq and later Afghanistan. Investigators said that the gas station should have cost $500,000 at most to build, and questioned whether there was any market for natural gas to run automobiles and trucks in the country.

Afghan official claims splinter Taliban group leader killed Posted: 12 Nov 2015 05:48 AM PST KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — A senior figure of a breakaway Taliban faction has been killed in battle between rival insurgent groups in southeastern Afghanistan, an Afghan police official said Thursday.

U.S. advisors aid Kurdish offensive in Iraq but away from fighting Posted: 12 Nov 2015 05:33 AM PST U.S. military advisors are with Kurdish commanders near Sinjar mountain but are positioned well back from the fighting amid a Kurdish offensive on Thursday to retake the Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State militants, a U.S. military spokesman said. U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren told Reuters some U.S. advisors were also on Sinjar mountain working with the Kurdish peshmerga forces to advise and assist with the development of targets for air strikes. The U.S. military estimated that some 60 to 70 Islamic State fighters had been killed in U.S.-led coalition airstrikes so far on Thursday, said Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition effort against Islamic State.

European terror-recruiting cell linked to IS broken up Posted: 12 Nov 2015 05:17 AM PST ROME (AP) — European law enforcement authorities announced Thursday they had broken up a Norway-based Iraqi Kurdish recruitment ring that radicalized prospects via the Internet and sent them to fight in Iraq and Syria alongside the Islamic State group. Thirteen people were arrested in Italy, Britain and Norway.

Kurdish forces start clearing Sinjar, penetrate Islamic state supply route: coalition Posted: 12 Nov 2015 04:28 AM PST NEAR SINJAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish peshmerga forces have started clearing parts of the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and have established positions along an Islamic State supply route between Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, the group's main bastions, said the U.S.-led coalition. "The ground assault began in the early morning hours of Nov. 12, when peshmerga units successfully established blocking positions along Highway 47 and began clearing Sinjar," it said. "The peshmerga will continue operations to re-establish government control over key portions of the areas. ...

Islamic State committed genocide in Iraq against Yazidis: report Posted: 12 Nov 2015 04:24 AM PST Islamic State militants committed genocide against Iraq's Yazidis in the north of the country and carried out crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes against other minorities, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum said on Thursday. "We believe Islamic State has been and is perpetrating genocide against the Yazidi people," the report said. "Islamic State's stated intent and patterns of violence against Shia Shabak and Shia Turkmen also raise concerns about the commission and risk of genocide against these groups." The United Nations said in March that Islamic State may have committed genocide in trying to wipe out the Yazidi minority and urged the U.N. Security Council to refer the issue to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.

Kurdistan's new exodus Posted: 12 Nov 2015 03:40 AM PST By Isabel Coles ZAKHO, Iraq (Reuters) - Around 30 of the migrants who died in a truck in Austria in August were Iraqi Kurds, some of them from Zakho, an ancient city on the border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey. In the 1990s, Zakho was the center of a haven set up by British and American military forces to protect the Kurds from attack by then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. When Saddam's regime was toppled in 2003, Kurds flooded home hoping to build a new life – and possibly a new country.

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