Yahoo! News: Iraq

---

• Official: At least 100 hostages dead in Paris theater
• Dozens killed in attacks in Paris, Hollande declares emergency
• At least 39 killed in Paris 'terror' attacks
• Strike on 'Jihadi John' unfolded quickly, but hunt took months
• At least 60 dead in Paris shootings, hostages held: French media
• Kurdish forces recapture militant-held towns in Iraq, Syria
• Carson acknowledges no Chinese troops in Syria
• SINJAR
• Rights group says migrants face beatings, abuse in Bulgaria
• U.S. to provide $115 million in aid to Syrian, Iraqi refugees
• Military: US 'reasonably certain' Jihadi John is dead
• IS driven from key position near Iraq: US-backed coalition
• US confident 'Jihadi John' killed in drone strike
• With ISIS Making Millions, U.S. Boosts Its Attacks on Oil Fields
• Iraq Kurd chief announces 'liberation' of Sinjar from IS
• Kerry begins meetings in Vienna ahead of Syria talks
• Nobel laureate De Klerk warns Europe on 'uncontrolled' immigration
• Over 250 coalition strikes backed Sinjar op in Iraq: spokesman
• Debate cast guide: Live from Des Moines, it's Saturday night
• Lebanon mourns 44 killed in Beirut bombings
• Carson defends China-Syria comments as White House rejects claims
• US has 'contained' Islamic State group, Obama says
• Wounded toll at 25,000 a month in Syria, medicines lacking, cholera feared: WHO
• The Latest: Merkel still not prepared to set refugee limit
• Austria to build fence on Slovenia border in new blow to Schengen pact
• 'Jihadi John' horrified public, emboldened extremists
• Kurdish forces seize Iraq's Sinjar town from Islamic State
• Kerry offers support to struggling Tunisia
• U.S.-backed Syrian alliance seizes town near Iraqi border
• IS suicide blast, roadside bomb hit Baghdad Shiites, kill 26
• Iraqi military says begins clearing Islamic State from Ramadi
• The Wheels Are (Finally) Coming Off the Trump Campaign
• U.N. urges Greece to boost aid at Lesbos island 'epicenter' of migrant crisis
• 14 killed in clashes in southeast Turkey
• Large Study Sums Up Health Issues for New Child Refugees to U.S
• Three soldiers, 11 Kurdish militants killed in southeast Turkey
• Migrants, Islamic State shoulder aside G-20 economic agenda
• U.S. leads 26 strikes against Islamic State militants
• Goal is to shrink Islamic State operations: Obama
• History of the Islamic State group as 'Jihadi John' targeted

Official: At least 100 hostages dead in Paris theater Posted: 13 Nov 2015 04:39 PM PST At least 100 people died in a popular Paris concert hall where attackers seized hostages Friday, an official said, one of at least six terror attacks that unfolded across the city in the deadliest violence Paris has seen since World War II. French President Francois Hollande declared a state of emergency and announced that he was closing the country's borders. The violence spread fear through the city and exceeded the horrors of the Charlie Hebdo carnage just 10 months ago.

Dozens killed in attacks in Paris, Hollande declares emergency Posted: 13 Nov 2015 04:14 PM PST By Ingrid Melander and Marine Pennetier PARIS (Reuters) - Gunmen and bombers attacked busy restaurants, bars and a concert hall at locations around Paris on Friday, killing dozens of people in what a shaken President Francois Hollande described as an unprecedented terrorist attack. Police sources said at least 40 people were killed and 60 wounded in up to five attacks in the Paris region. The apparently coordinated gun and bomb assault came as the country, a founder member of the U.S.-led coalition waging air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, was on high alert for terrorist attacks ahead of a global climate conference due to open later this month.

At least 39 killed in Paris 'terror' attacks Posted: 13 Nov 2015 04:08 PM PST At least 39 people were killed in an "unprecedented" series of bombings and shootings across Paris on Friday. Police said at least 15 people were killed at the Bataclan concert hall in central Paris, only some 200 metres (yards) from the former offices of Charlie Hebdo which were attacked by jihadists in January. Hostages were taken and at around 2335 GMT, police stormed the venue accompanied by a series of explosions.

Strike on 'Jihadi John' unfolded quickly, but hunt took months Posted: 13 Nov 2015 02:57 PM PST By Phil Stewart and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.-British missile strike believed to have killed "Jihadi John" came together at lightning speed, but was months in preparation. Shortly before midnight Thursday, two U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones and one British MQ-9 cruised above Raqqa, the Syrian heart of the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate that stretches deep into Iraq, U.S. officials said. One, they were convinced, was Mohammed Emwazi, the British computer programming graduate who catapulted to infamy in August 2014 when he presented the beheading of American journalist James Foley, the first of several grisly videos in which he presided over the decapitations of foreign hostages.

At least 60 dead in Paris shootings, hostages held: French media Posted: 13 Nov 2015 02:56 PM PST France was rocked by multiple, near simultaneous attacks on entertainment sites around Paris on Friday evening and French media said at least 60 people were killed and hostages were being held in a concert hall in the capital. The apparently coordinated gun and bomb attacks came as the country, a founder member of the U.S.-led coalition waging air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, was on high alert for terrorist attacks ahead of a global climate conference that opens later this month. At least two explosions were heard near the Stade de France national stadium where a France-Germany friendly soccer match was being played, attended by President Francois Hollande.

Kurdish forces recapture militant-held towns in Iraq, Syria Posted: 13 Nov 2015 02:12 PM PST SINJAR, Iraq (AP) — Dealing a double blow Friday to the Islamic State group, Iraqi Kurdish forces pushed into the strategic town of Sinjar in northern Iraq, and a coalition of Arab, Christian and Kurdish rebel factions recaptured another town from the militants across the border in Syria.

Carson acknowledges no Chinese troops in Syria Posted: 13 Nov 2015 01:53 PM PST GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Days after asserting that China is involved in the fight in Syria — and after freshly offering to prove it with his own intelligence — Republican presidential contender Ben Carson acknowledged Friday that there are no Chinese troops in that conflict.

SINJAR Posted: 13 Nov 2015 01:48 PM PST Map locates Sinjar in Iraq; 2c x 4 inches; 96.3 mm x 101 mm;

Rights group says migrants face beatings, abuse in Bulgaria Posted: 13 Nov 2015 12:44 PM PST By Aleksandar Vasovic and Angel Krasimirov BELGRADE/SOFIA (Reuters) - Migrants coming through Bulgaria have faced beatings, threats and other abuses by police, a rights group reported on Friday, though the country's own refugee agency said it had received no such complaints. Refugees from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq reported extortion, robbery, violence, threats of deportation and police dog attacks, according to a survey by the Belgrade Center for Human Rights that was funded by Oxfam. Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumiana Bachvarova said she would check the statements outlined in the report and expressed hope the Balkan country would be able to disprove them.

U.S. to provide $115 million in aid to Syrian, Iraqi refugees Posted: 13 Nov 2015 12:43 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday that the Defense Department will provide $155 million in humanitarian aid to refugees displaced by the crises in Syria and Iraq. The Defense Department will not deliver the aid directly to Syria, but will distribute supplies such as electric generators and blankets through the United Nations. (Reporting by Julia Edwards and Roberta Rampton)

Military: US 'reasonably certain' Jihadi John is dead Posted: 13 Nov 2015 12:41 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is "reasonably certain" its drone strike in Syria killed the masked Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John," who appeared in several videos depicting the beheadings of Western hostages.

IS driven from key position near Iraq: US-backed coalition Posted: 13 Nov 2015 12:31 PM PST The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces coalition of Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters said Friday it had ejected the Islamic State group from a key position on the border with Iraq. "The Syrian Democratic Forces took control on Thursday of the village of Al-Hol on the IS supply route for arms and equipment from Iraq," SDF spokesman Colonel Talal Ali Sello told AFP.

US confident 'Jihadi John' killed in drone strike Posted: 13 Nov 2015 12:23 PM PST The US military said Friday it was "reasonably certain" that the Islamic State executioner "Jihadi John" was killed in a drone strike in Syria, but relatives of the British militant's victims said his death brought them little comfort. Mohammed Emwazi, whose masked figure appeared in a string of graphic videos showing the beheading of Western hostages, was targeted in a combined British-US operation Thursday in Raqa, the de facto IS capital in war-torn Syria. In a briefing webcast from Baghdad to Pentagon reporters, Colonel Steve Warren said it would take time for formal confirmation that the Hellfire missile drone strike killed the notorious 27-year-old militant.

With ISIS Making Millions, U.S. Boosts Its Attacks on Oil Fields Posted: 13 Nov 2015 12:11 PM PST Well over a year after the U.S. began launching airstrikes against Islamic State forces, jihadists still control large swaths of territory inside Iraq and Syria that include massive oil fields. The U.S. Treasury estimates ISIS takes in about $500 million in illegal oil revenue annually. The United States and its allies have been hitting oil fields since the beginning of anti-ISIS military operations, but recently recalibrated how they target such facilities, inflicting significant damage on the group's ability to fund itself, Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Friday during a press briefing.

Iraq Kurd chief announces 'liberation' of Sinjar from IS Posted: 13 Nov 2015 11:54 AM PST Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani announced the "liberation" of the town of Sinjar from the Islamic State group on Friday, the latest in a series of setbacks for the jihadists. The operation was led by the autonomous Kurdish region's peshmerga forces but also involved fighters from the Yazidi minority, which IS targeted in a brutal campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape. It cut a key supply line linking jihadist-held areas in Iraq with those in Syria.

Kerry begins meetings in Vienna ahead of Syria talks Posted: 13 Nov 2015 11:16 AM PST VIENNA (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry kicked off meetings in Vienna on Friday ahead of a critical new round of international diplomatic talks on the crisis in Syria.

Nobel laureate De Klerk warns Europe on 'uncontrolled' immigration Posted: 13 Nov 2015 11:05 AM PST Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former South African leader F. W. de Klerk warned Friday that "uncontrolled" immigration could harm European states, pointing to a wave of xenophobic attacks that hit his country this year. Speaking in Barcelona at an annual gathering of Nobel laureates, the man credited for ending apartheid in South Africa together with Nelson Mandela said allowing too many jobless people to come at once could pose a risk. "When I say this, I'm talking about experience in South Africa.

Over 250 coalition strikes backed Sinjar op in Iraq: spokesman Posted: 13 Nov 2015 11:01 AM PST US-led coalition aircraft carried out more than 250 strikes in support of an operation by Iraqi Kurdish forces to retake Sinjar from the Islamic State group, a spokesman said Friday. "In Sinjar, the coalition has conducted over 250 air strikes" in support of the operation there, Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the international operation against IS, told a news conference. The operation to retake the northern town of Sinjar was led by the autonomous Kurdish region's peshmerga forces, and also involved fighters from the Yazidi minority, which IS had brutally targeted in the area.

Debate cast guide: Live from Des Moines, it's Saturday night Posted: 13 Nov 2015 10:55 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democrats' debate lineup is down to a tidy trio, now that two other presidential candidates have quit the race.

Lebanon mourns 44 killed in Beirut bombings Posted: 13 Nov 2015 10:37 AM PST Lebanon on Friday mourned 44 people killed in a Hezbollah bastion in south Beirut in a twin bombing claimed by the Islamic State group, the bloodiest such attack in years. The Red Cross said at least 239 people were wounded, several in critical condition, in the blasts that hit a busy shopping street in Burj al-Barajneh, a neighbourhood where the Shiite Hezbollah movement allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is popular. The attack harked back to a campaign against Hezbollah between 2013 and 2014, ostensibly in revenge for its military support of regime forces in neighbouring Syria's civil war.

Carson defends China-Syria comments as White House rejects claims Posted: 13 Nov 2015 10:21 AM PST Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Friday stood by his contention that China is involved in the Syrian conflict, vowing to release evidence soon even as the White House dismissed his claims. At the Republican televised debate on Tuesday, the retired neurosurgeon was asked about the crisis in Syria and U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to send special forces to the country, which is mired in a nearly five-year-long civil war as well as battles with Islamic State militants. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there," responded Carson, who is at the front of the pack of candidates seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

US has 'contained' Islamic State group, Obama says Posted: 13 Nov 2015 10:11 AM PST The United States has halted the course of the Islamic State group, President Barack Obama said in remarks broadcast Friday, calling for a stepped up drive to "completely decapitate" the militants' operations. The ABC News interview was recorded Thursday at the White House, hours after the start of a major operation by Iraqi Kurdish forces, backed by US-led strikes, to drive IS out of the northern town of Sinjar. "I don't think they're gaining strength," said Obama.

Wounded toll at 25,000 a month in Syria, medicines lacking, cholera feared: WHO Posted: 13 Nov 2015 10:10 AM PST By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - About 25,000 people are wounded each month in escalating warfare in Syria and it getting harder to deliver medical supplies for civilians trapped in areas held by Islamic State insurgents, the World Health Organization said on Friday. On top of that, there were concerns that deadly cholera could spread into Syria from Iraq.

The Latest: Merkel still not prepared to set refugee limit Posted: 13 Nov 2015 10:10 AM PST BERLIN (AP) — The latest news as hundreds of thousands make their way across Europe in search of safety and a better life. All times local.

Austria to build fence on Slovenia border in new blow to Schengen pact Posted: 13 Nov 2015 10:05 AM PST Austria announced Friday it would erect a metal fence along its border with Slovenia, in a new blow to the's cherished open-border accord. The 3.7-kilometre (2.3-mile) barrier, due to be completed in less than six weeks, will be the first fence between two members of the passport-free zone, as Europe grapples with a record influx of migrants. Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner insisted the "fence conforms to the Schengen accord", adding it was part of temporary measures aimed at "channelling" the human flow.

'Jihadi John' horrified public, emboldened extremists Posted: 13 Nov 2015 09:59 AM PST DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Islamic State group militant known as "Jihadi John," who was targeted in a U.S. drone strike, horrified the world with his brutal beheadings of hostages. But his videos, with sneering taunts of the West, served as a recruiting tool for those drawn to the dark, bloody world of extremism.

Kurdish forces seize Iraq's Sinjar town from Islamic State Posted: 13 Nov 2015 09:48 AM PST By Isabel Coles NEAR SINJAR TOWN (Reuters) - Kurdish forces backed by U.S. air strikes seized the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State on Friday, a Reuters witness said, in one of the most significant counter-attacks since the militants swept through the north last year. "ISIL defeated and on the run," the Kurdistan regional security council said in a tweet, using an acronym for Islamic State. It said Kurdish peshmerga forces, which led the operation, had secured Sinjar's wheat silo, cement factory, hospital and several other public buildings.

Kerry offers support to struggling Tunisia Posted: 13 Nov 2015 09:04 AM PST TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday pledged expanded economic and security support for Tunisia to help it cement democratic gains made since its revolution heralded the dawn of the 2011 Arab Spring.

U.S.-backed Syrian alliance seizes town near Iraqi border Posted: 13 Nov 2015 08:39 AM PST A U.S.-backed Syrian rebel alliance on Friday captured the town of al Houl in Hasaka province, which had been held by Islamic State militants, a spokesman for the Kurdish fighters, part of the grouping, said. It was the first significant advance against IS by the Democratic Forces of Syria, which was formed last month. Redur Xelil, who is in the town, close to the Iraqi border, told Reuters Islamic State fighters had fled.

IS suicide blast, roadside bomb hit Baghdad Shiites, kill 26 Posted: 13 Nov 2015 08:26 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a suicide blast and a roadside bombing that targeted Shiites in Baghdad on Friday, killing a total of 26 people and wounding dozens.

Iraqi military says begins clearing Islamic State from Ramadi Posted: 13 Nov 2015 07:48 AM PST By Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's military said on Friday its forces had advanced on three fronts to begin clearing Islamic State militants from the western city of Ramadi, but police and government officials said progress was extremely slow. The announcement by the joint operations command came as Kurdish forces declared victory over Islamic State in the northern town of Sinjar, which could help build momentum in pushing back the hardline Sunni militants elsewhere. Iraqi forces appeared better positioned than ever this week to launch an offensive on Ramadi, 100 km (60 km) west of Baghdad, now that months-long efforts to cut off supply lines to the city are having an effect.

The Wheels Are (Finally) Coming Off the Trump Campaign Posted: 13 Nov 2015 07:45 AM PST It took longer than almost anybody expected, but on Thursday night, it looked as though the wheels were finally starting to come off Donald Trump's run for the presidency. It's too early to write his political obituary just yet – he's shown remarkable resilience in the face of ridicule and disdain – but even Trump will have trouble recovering from a day in which he repeatedly compared his chief rival to a "child molester" and invited attendees at a campaign event to bring a knife up on stage and try to stab him. Trump has been aggressively attacking retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has pulled even with him in national opinion polls of Republican primary voters.

U.N. urges Greece to boost aid at Lesbos island 'epicenter' of migrant crisis Posted: 13 Nov 2015 07:00 AM PST By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations urged financially strapped Greece on Friday to expand reception centers before winter sets in for refugees and migrants who continue to pour onto the island of Lesbos at a rate of 3,300 every day. More than half of the 660,000 migrants who have reached Greece this year crossed a narrow sea channel from Turkey to Lesbos, whose capacity to care for cold and hungry families has been overwhelmed, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said. "Right now about 12,000 refugees and migrants are on the island and reception capacity is 2,800, so naturally that is going to create tensions between the refugees, with the police and the local community," Diane Goodman, head of UNHCR operations for the emergency, told a Geneva news briefing.

14 killed in clashes in southeast Turkey Posted: 13 Nov 2015 06:34 AM PST ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Officials say 14 people have in clashes between Kurdish rebels and Turkish security forces days before a G-20 summit in Turkey.

Large Study Sums Up Health Issues for New Child Refugees to U.S Posted: 13 Nov 2015 06:00 AM PST PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For refugee children newly arrived in the U.S., hepatitis B, tuberculosis, parasitic worms, high blood lead levels and anemia are among the top public health concerns covered by screening programs. In one of this nation's largest-ever epidemiological studies of refugee children, public health researchers describe the health profiles of children arriving here in the past decade as their families fled persecution. Researchers from the PolicyLab at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have created the first multi-state, large-scale data set for refugee children who arrived in the U.S. between 2006 and 2012.

Three soldiers, 11 Kurdish militants killed in southeast Turkey Posted: 13 Nov 2015 05:52 AM PST By Seyhmus Cakan SILVAN, Turkey (Reuters) - Three Turkish soldiers were killed on Friday in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country, the latest casualties in a tide of violence engulfing the region since the breakdown of a ceasefire between security forces and militants in July. A third was killed and three more wounded in clashes in the Ercis district of Van province during a dawn operation by security forces acting on a tip-off that militants were holed up in a house, the military said on its website. Authorities also said security forces had killed 11 militants of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Thursday in clashes in the towns of Cizre and Silopi, near Turkey's borders with Syria and Iraq.

Migrants, Islamic State shoulder aside G-20 economic agenda Posted: 13 Nov 2015 05:40 AM PST Leaders from the world's largest industrial and emerging economies won't exactly ignore GDP when they meet Sunday and Monday, but the migration and terrorism have overshadowed the usual G-20 economic agenda at its gathering in Turkey — a country at the crossroads for both Islamic extremists and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war in their homelands.

U.S. leads 26 strikes against Islamic State militants Posted: 13 Nov 2015 05:34 AM PST The United States and its allies staged 26 strikes against Islamic State on Thursday, including one in the Syrian city of Raqqa that hit one of the militant group's tactical units, the U.S. military said in a statement. The Combined Joint Task Force gave no other details about the strike in Raqqa, an Islamic State stronghold in northeast Syria. U.S. officials have said an air strike there had targeted and likely killed the British Islamic State leader known as "Jihadi John," who has appeared in videos depicting the killings of British and American hostages.

Goal is to shrink Islamic State operations: Obama Posted: 13 Nov 2015 05:15 AM PST U.S. President Barack Obama said he was focusing on shrinking and constraining Islamic State in Syria and Iraq but acknowledged that problems with the militant group would continue until the Middle East stabilizes. "Our goal has to be militarily constraining ISIL's capabilities, cutting off their supply lines, cutting off their financing," Obama, using an acronym for the group, told ABC News in portions of an interview that aired on Friday. Obama's comments were taped on Thursday, just as the United States helped back up a Kurdish offensive against the militants in northern Iraq while also targeting a British Islamic State leader known as "Jihadi John." The full interview is scheduled to air on Sunday.

History of the Islamic State group as 'Jihadi John' targeted Posted: 13 Nov 2015 05:11 AM PST DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. officials said a drone strike targeted Islamic State fighter "Jihadi John," known for taking part in beheading videos, though it's unclear whether the strike killed him. The development came as Kurdish forces were pushing toward insurgent-held Sinjar in Iraq on Friday.

You are subscribed to email updates from Iraq News Headlines - Yahoo! News. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States