Yahoo! News: Iraq

---

• AJC Honors Yazidi Leader Vian Dakhil with Moral Courage Award
• Islamic State kills dozens of its own in hunt for spies
• NPR journalist David Gilkey, translator killed on assignment
• US journalist David Gilkey, translator killed in Afghanistan: NPR
• American journalist, translator killed in Afghanistan
• US-backed fighters close in on IS Syria bastion
• Iraqi forces find mass grave near Fallujah
• Why Sanders’ Supporters Might Not Switch Their Votes
• Suspected militants attack Kazakh guard base, kill six
• Iraq will probe abuses in Fallujah op: spokesman
• Top Syrian Kurdish commander killed in Raqqa campaign
• Iraqi forces secure southern edge of IS-held Fallujah
• Iraqi civilians drown fleeing Falluja as city nearly encircled
• The ‘Story’ of the Iran Deal Is Coming Back to Bite the Democrats
• Militias may move in to Fallujah if fight drags on
• Ali remembered in Muslim world as champ, voice of change
• U.S., allies conduct 23 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military
• Turkey's military says it has killed 27 Kurdish rebels
• Turkish warplanes target Kurdish militants, at least 27 killed: army
• Iran rejects terror charges in U.S. report
• Iran says US ally Saudi the real 'terrorism sponsor'
• Saudi Arabia expands its anti-Iran strategy beyond the Middle East
• Libyan brigades capture air base from Islamic State south of Sirte: spokesman
• In Mongolia, Kerry seeks closer ties with democracy 'oasis'
• Today in History
• Sanders predicts Democratic convention will be contested
• Syrian army presses offensive against Islamic State
• Poor pitches hurting Australia's World Cup hopes: Postecoglou
• Soccer-Poor pitches hurting Australia's World Cup hopes - Postecoglou

AJC Honors Yazidi Leader Vian Dakhil with Moral Courage Award Posted: 05 Jun 2016 04:48 PM PDT WASHINGTON, June 5, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC honored Vian Dakhil, the only Yazidi member of Iraq's Parliament, with its Moral Courage Award. "Vian Dakhil is a beacon of inspiration for all who fight against the evil of genocide," said Cori Berger, chair of AJC's Women's Leadership Board, who presented the award at the opening session of this year's AJC Global Forum.  While thousands of Yazidis have been killed, said Berger, "tens of thousands more survived, thanks in large measure to the relentless efforts of individuals like Vian Dakhil. Dakhil's moving address to the Iraqi Parliament in August 2014, which went viral on You Tube, raised global awareness of the tragic plight of the Yazidis.

Islamic State kills dozens of its own in hunt for spies Posted: 05 Jun 2016 03:57 PM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — In March, a senior commander with the Islamic State group was driving through northern Syria on orders to lead militants in the fighting there when a drone blasted his vehicle to oblivion.

NPR journalist David Gilkey, translator killed on assignment Posted: 05 Jun 2016 03:42 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — David Gilkey, a veteran news photographer and video editor for National Public Radio, and an Afghan translator, Zabihullah Tamanna, were killed while on assignment in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, a network spokeswoman said.

US journalist David Gilkey, translator killed in Afghanistan: NPR Posted: 05 Jun 2016 03:18 PM PDT American journalist David Gilkey and his Afghan translator were killed Sunday while traveling with an Afghan army unit that came under fire in southern Helmand province, National Public Radio announced. The translator was identified as Zabihullah Tamanna. Two other journalists traveling with Gilkey, named as reporter Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva, were unharmed.

American journalist, translator killed in Afghanistan Posted: 05 Jun 2016 03:02 PM PDT By Zainullah Stanekzai and Josh Smith LASHKAR GAH/KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A veteran American photojournalist and a translator working for NPR were killed while accompanying Afghan troops in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, NPR and military officials said. NPR's David Gilkey and Afghan translator Zabihullah Tamanna were in an Afghan army Humvee traveling between the provincial capital of Helmand province, Lashkar Gah, and Marjah, when their vehicle was struck by an 82mm rocket during a Taliban ambush, Shakil Ahmad Tasal, a spokesman for the Afghan army's 205th Atal Corps told Reuters.

US-backed fighters close in on IS Syria bastion Posted: 05 Jun 2016 12:59 PM PDT US-backed fighters advanced Sunday to within five kilometres (three miles) of the Islamic State group's stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, threatening a crucial jihadist supply line. The assault by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) adds to the pressure on IS as it faces another offensive by Russian-backed regime troops in its bastion province of Raqa and in Iraq. Supported by air strikes by the US-led coalition, the SDF alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias has made steady gains since launching the operation against Manbij last week.

Iraqi forces find mass grave near Fallujah Posted: 05 Jun 2016 12:54 PM PDT Iraqi forces discovered a mass grave on Sunday after retaking an area from the Islamic State group near Fallujah, where the jihadists are using thousands of civilians as human shields. Growing numbers of families reaching camps south of Fallujah told horrific accounts of how IS shot at them as they fled, but there was still no escape for the tens of thousands believed trapped in the city centre. In Saqlawiya, northwest of Fallujah, Iraqi forces found a burial site thought to contain the bodies of around 400 people, most of them soldiers executed by IS in 2014 and 2015.

Why Sanders’ Supporters Might Not Switch Their Votes Posted: 05 Jun 2016 12:45 PM PDT Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed to wrap up the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination by late Tuesday or early Wednesday -- regardless of whether she wins in California. "We're going to go all the way to the finish line," Clinton said hopefully to CNN's Jake Tapper in an interview aired by CNN on Sunday morning.

Suspected militants attack Kazakh guard base, kill six Posted: 05 Jun 2016 11:26 AM PDT By Raushan Nurshayeva and Olzhas Auyezov ASTANA (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants killed six people at a national guard base and two stores selling firearms in the Kazakh industrial city of Aktobe on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said. Four of the attackers were killed and seven detained by police in a counter-terrorist operation, ministry spokesman Almas Sadubayev said. Sadubayev said police suspected the attackers were "followers of radical, non-traditional religious movements", a phrase used in Kazakhstan, a mostly Muslim nation, to describe Islamist militants.

Iraq will probe abuses in Fallujah op: spokesman Posted: 05 Jun 2016 11:01 AM PDT The Iraqi government will investigate allegations of abuses by the security forces in the course of the operation to retake the jihadist-held city of Fallujah, a spokesman said on Sunday. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered the creation of a human rights committee to examine "any violation to the instructions on the protection of civilians", Saad al-Hadithi said in a televised briefing. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, has issued guidelines intended as a form of code of conduct for forces fighting the Islamic State group and aimed at curbing abuses.

Top Syrian Kurdish commander killed in Raqqa campaign Posted: 05 Jun 2016 10:53 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — A top Syrian Kurdish commander died Sunday, several days after sustaining injuries during a U.S.-backed campaign to unseat the Islamic State group from its de-facto Syrian capital, Raqqa.

Iraqi forces secure southern edge of IS-held Fallujah Posted: 05 Jun 2016 09:50 AM PDT NAYMIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi forces secured the southern edge of the Islamic State group stronghold of Fallujah on Sunday, two weeks after the launch of an operation to recapture the city, the Iraqi special forces commander overseeing the operation said.

Iraqi civilians drown fleeing Falluja as city nearly encircled Posted: 05 Jun 2016 09:10 AM PDT By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A boat carrying fleeing civilians across a river from the Islamic State stronghold of Falluja sank on Saturday, killing at least four people, as pro-Baghdad forces said they had the city almost completely encircled. Two children, their mother and a man drowned crossing the 300-metre (1,000-feet) wide Euphrates, one the few escape routes left for civilians hoping to leave the besieged town as the war against the militants intensifies. "I've seen with my own eyes my family disappear under the water," said Abu Tabarak, who watched from the Islamic State-held side of the river as the boat sank with his wife, son and daughter aboard.

The ‘Story’ of the Iran Deal Is Coming Back to Bite the Democrats Posted: 05 Jun 2016 08:06 AM PDT The Obama administration's efforts to manage the narrative about the nuclear agreement with Tehran keep boomeranging and are now on the verge of becoming a full-blown PR disaster that is reigniting the controversial deal as a campaign issue. First came the furor after a New York Times Magazine profile of deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes that called him "the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Potus himself." The story suggested that Rhodes and the administration, using sympathetic journalists and social media, had largely "manufactured" the tale of how the Iran deal came about. In addition, by promoting the notion that there was a split in the regime and that the administration was engaging with the moderates, the president was able to sidestep what would have been a "divisive but clarifying debate" about the deal, the story said.

Militias may move in to Fallujah if fight drags on Posted: 05 Jun 2016 07:00 AM PDT An Iraqi paramilitary organisation dominated by Tehran-backed militias is willing to send forces into Fallujah if efforts to retake the city are too slow, its top commander said on Sunday. Iraqi forces launched a vast offensive on May 22-23 against Fallujah, which lies only 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad and is one of the Islamic State group's main bastions. The Hashed al-Shaabi militias have since the start of the operation confined their action to Fallujah's outskirts and left elite federal forces to conduct breaching operations.

Ali remembered in Muslim world as champ, voice of change Posted: 05 Jun 2016 06:26 AM PDT CAIRO (AP) — Of all Muhammad Ali's travels, his 1964 trip to Egypt was perhaps the most symbolic, bringing him face to face with President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had punched above his own weight as a champion of Third World struggles.

U.S., allies conduct 23 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military Posted: 05 Jun 2016 05:26 AM PDT The United States and its allies conducted a total of 23 military strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq on Saturday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement on Sunday. Thirteen of the strikes occurred in Syria through the use of bomber, attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft, the coalition said. Another 10 strikes were carried out in Iraq using rocket artillery and bomber, ground attack, attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft.

Turkey's military says it has killed 27 Kurdish rebels Posted: 05 Jun 2016 05:05 AM PDT ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's military says its forces have killed 27 Kurdish rebels in Hakkari province near the Turkish border with Iraq and Iran.

Turkish warplanes target Kurdish militants, at least 27 killed: army Posted: 05 Jun 2016 04:08 AM PDT Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey and the army killed 27 fighters near its borders with Iraq and Iran, the armed forces said on Sunday. Conflict in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast has been at its most intense level in two decades since a two-year-old ceasefire by the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) collapsed last July. Air strikes on Saturday destroyed gun positions and shelters and caves used by PKK fighters in the Gara area of northern Iraq and the countryside of Lice district in Diyarbakir province, the military statement said.

Iran rejects terror charges in U.S. report Posted: 05 Jun 2016 04:04 AM PDT Iran rejected terrorism charges raised against it in an annual U.S. State Department report, Iranian media outlets reported on Sunday, saying the Islamic Republic merely supported nations fighting for freedom. "The legitimate struggle of nations which are occupied ... are not examples of terrorism, and such charges in the American report are rejected," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari, quoted by state news agency IRNA. As in previous years, the report cited Iran as the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism, saying Tehran supported conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and was implicated in violent Shi'ite opposition raids in Bahrain.

Iran says US ally Saudi the real 'terrorism sponsor' Posted: 05 Jun 2016 03:31 AM PDT Tehran on Sunday dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism charging that it was US allies including Riyadh that were the real culprits. The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia. Washington "turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told the official IRNA news agency.

Saudi Arabia expands its anti-Iran strategy beyond the Middle East Posted: 05 Jun 2016 01:30 AM PDT By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Under King Salman, Saudi Arabia is expanding its confrontation with Iran well beyond the Middle East, no longer relying heavily on Western allies to smother Tehran's ambitions outside the Arab world. Since Salman came to power early last year, and Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers, Riyadh has adjusted its strategy for countering the efforts of its Shi'ite Muslim rival to build influence in Africa, Asia and even Latin America. Most notably, the Sunni power has used Muslim networks to push states into cutting off contacts with Iran, including by creating an Islamic Coalition against terrorism without inviting Tehran to join.

Libyan brigades capture air base from Islamic State south of Sirte: spokesman Posted: 05 Jun 2016 12:39 AM PDT Brigades aligned with Libya's U.N.-backed government said on Saturday they had captured Ghardabiya air base from Islamic State to the south of the militant group's stronghold of Sirte. Spokesman Mohamed al-Gasri said the capture of the base, about 20 km (12 miles) from the centre of Sirte, was strategically significant since it cut off supply routes for Islamic State and "trapped them further" within the city. Three fighters from the government-backed brigades were killed and around five wounded in Saturday's fighting, he said.

In Mongolia, Kerry seeks closer ties with democracy 'oasis' Posted: 05 Jun 2016 12:01 AM PDT ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Cultivating closer ties in this land of Genghis Khan lore and traditional yurts, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday tried his hand at archery, sampled curdled cheese and watched ancient wrestling, all while hailing Mongolia as a modern "oasis of democracy" in its neighborhood.

Today in History Posted: 04 Jun 2016 09:01 PM PDT Today in History

Sanders predicts Democratic convention will be contested Posted: 04 Jun 2016 08:49 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nearing the end of the primary season, a defiant Bernie Sanders predicted Saturday that the Democratic presidential process would lead to a contested summer convention against Hillary Clinton, pushing back against the likelihood that the former secretary of state will soon declare victory.

Syrian army presses offensive against Islamic State Posted: 04 Jun 2016 06:28 PM PDT The offensive is the third big assault on the self-proclaimed caliphate in recent days after Iraqi forces attempted to storm Falluja in central Iraq and a Syrian militia advanced with U.S. support towards Manbij in the north near the Turkish border. The offensives are some of the most aggressive campaigns against Islamic State since it declared its aim to rule over all Muslims from parts of Iraq and Syria two years ago. Friday's assault saw the army reach the edge of Syria's Raqqa province after heavy Russian air strikes hit Islamic State-held territory in eastern areas of neighboring Hama province.

Poor pitches hurting Australia's World Cup hopes: Postecoglou Posted: 04 Jun 2016 06:16 PM PDT Substandard Australian soccer pitches are "cheating" local fans and could derail the country's World Cup ambitions, according to Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou. Postecoglou and his players lamented the playing surface at Sydney's Olympic Stadium on Saturday night after Australia defeated Greece 1-0 in a friendly courtesy of a late Mathew Leckie strike. Greece-born Postecoglou said he felt "embarrassed" about the conditions.

Soccer-Poor pitches hurting Australia's World Cup hopes - Postecoglou Posted: 04 Jun 2016 06:14 PM PDT Substandard Australian soccer pitches are "cheating" local fans and could derail the country's World Cup ambitions, according to Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou. Postecoglou and his players lamented the playing surface at Sydney's Olympic Stadium on Saturday night after Australia defeated Greece 1-0 in a friendly courtesy of a late Mathew Leckie strike. Greece-born Postecoglou said he felt "embarrassed" about the conditions.

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