Yahoo! News: Iraq

---

• Guard convicted in killing ordered freed amid guilt doubts
• The global impact of the battle of Fallujah
• US Democrats end marathon gun control sit-in
• Morocco arrests 10 suspected Islamist militants, including Algerian
• Prosecutors call wannabe Islamic State fighter a flight risk
• US-backed forces enter key IS bastion in north Syria
• Iraqi forces focus on militants in north and west Fallujah
• US military leaders discuss extra troops in Iraq: official
• Iraq forces flushing IS out of last Fallujah pocket
• Experts say South Africa suffers intelligence gaps
• Libyan government bombs Islamic State positions in Sirte
• With Rubio in, others step out of Florida's Senate race
• Offensives against Islamic State could displace 2.3 million Iraqis: U.N.
• ‘We Can’t Understand That Kind of Hate’
• Turkey says inappropriate for lawmakers to visit air base, in row with Germany
• U.S. transfers Guantanamo detainee to Montenegro
• Southeast Asian Islamic State unit being formed in southern Philippines: officials
• A Tale of Two Rallies
• Erdogan suggests UK-style referendum on Turkey EU bid
• Yesterday's U.S. Ambassador on Today's Middle East Turmoil
• Pope risks Turkey's ire with Armenia trip
• Citing doubts, LA prosecutors want to free convicted killer
• Idaho prosecutor denies Syrian refugees gang-raped girl

Guard convicted in killing ordered freed amid guilt doubts Posted: 23 Jun 2016 03:29 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge on Thursday ordered the release of a former security guard after prosecutors said new evidence cast doubt on his conviction for killing a college student 16 years ago in California.

The global impact of the battle of Fallujah Posted: 23 Jun 2016 02:48 PM PDT The global campaign to defeat Islamic State and end its influence over lone-wolf terrorists depends to a large degree on a grand moral reckoning inside Iraq. Can the country's majority Shiite Muslims ever treat Sunnis as equal citizens rather them drive them to rely on IS for protection? A possible answer to that question came with the recent retaking of the city of Fallujah from the militant group by Iraqi forces.

US Democrats end marathon gun control sit-in Posted: 23 Jun 2016 02:42 PM PDT Democratic lawmakers pushing for tougher US gun control laws after the Orlando nightclub massacre ended a stunning 24-hour sit-in at Congress on Thursday. American people are with us and people around the world are with us," sit-in leader John Lewis, a longtime congressman and veteran of the civil rights movement who marched with Martin Luther King, told reporters. Dozens of Democrats disrupted the chamber's proceedings after Republican House speaker Paul Ryan refused to allow votes on two bills demanded by Democrats.

Morocco arrests 10 suspected Islamist militants, including Algerian Posted: 23 Jun 2016 02:24 PM PDT Morocco said on Thursday that it had dismantled a suspected militant cell inspired by the radical group Islamic State and that it had arrested 10 men who were planning attacks in the North African kingdom. This was the latest in a series of radical Islamist groups that Morocco has said it has broken up. The group includes an Algerian national living in Morocco illegally, according to the statement carried by state news agency MAP said.

Prosecutors call wannabe Islamic State fighter a flight risk Posted: 23 Jun 2016 02:08 PM PDT INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An 18-year-old Indiana man accused of trying to travel overseas to join the Islamic State militant group should remain held until trial because he's a flight risk and poses a potential threat to the public, federal prosecutors argued in a court filing.

US-backed forces enter key IS bastion in north Syria Posted: 23 Jun 2016 12:29 PM PDT US-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters advanced Thursday into the Islamic State jihadist group's bastion of Manbij in northern Syria, sparking fierce street fighting as they push to take the city. Backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition bombing IS in Syria and Iraq, fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance entered Manbij from the south, a monitoring group said. The advance marked a major breakthrough in the battle for Manbij, once a key link on the supply route between the Turkish border and IS's de facto Syrian capital of Raqa.

Iraqi forces focus on militants in north and west Fallujah Posted: 23 Jun 2016 11:56 AM PDT FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi commanders are preparing to dislodge Islamic State group fighters from pockets of territory in Fallujah's northern and western neighborhoods where the militants have dug in after largely fleeing their positions in the city center last week.

US military leaders discuss extra troops in Iraq: official Posted: 23 Jun 2016 11:04 AM PDT US military leaders are weighing whether to request additional coalition troops to help local forces fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq, but no decisions have been made, a military official said Thursday. The comments from Chalmers, who is deputy commander for support in the US-led coalition against the IS group in Iraq and Syria, followed a Washington Post story saying generals want to ask President Barack Obama for additional troops and equipment to help consolidate gains against the jihadists. The Post said Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, who heads coalition forces in Iraq, is among a group of military leaders, administration officials and lawmakers who are fed up with "arbitrary" limits on troop numbers.

Iraq forces flushing IS out of last Fallujah pocket Posted: 23 Jun 2016 10:55 AM PDT Iraqi forces closed in on the last neighbourhood of Fallujah still held by the Islamic State group Thursday while aid groups struggled to deliver relief to desperate civilians. A month into a major offensive against one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions, elite forces were close to establishing full control over Fallujah. "I can say that more than 80 percent is controlled by our forces," Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, the operation's overall commander, told AFP in Fallujah.

Experts say South Africa suffers intelligence gaps Posted: 23 Jun 2016 09:57 AM PDT JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Weaknesses in South Africa's police and intelligence agencies could make the country particularly vulnerable to an extremist attack, security experts warned. However, the analysts said they are not aware of an immediate threat.

Libyan government bombs Islamic State positions in Sirte Posted: 23 Jun 2016 09:30 AM PDT Libyan pro-government forces targeted the Islamic State group in Sirte with a wave of air strikes Thursday to help pave the way for ground troops to take the jihadists' coastal stronghold. "Our air force today launched an intense series of air strikes that targeted various (IS) positions in Sirte," Reda Issa, a spokesman for Libya's Government of National Unity (GNA), told AFP. The fall of Sirte would be a major blow to IS, which has faced a series of setbacks in Syria and Iraq.

With Rubio in, others step out of Florida's Senate race Posted: 23 Jun 2016 09:23 AM PDT TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's decision to run for president set off a scramble to replace him. His last-minute decision to run for re-election set off another scramble.

Offensives against Islamic State could displace 2.3 million Iraqis: U.N. Posted: 23 Jun 2016 09:09 AM PDT By Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Upcoming military offensives in Iraq against Islamic State, including an assault on the northern city of Mosul, could displace at least 2.3 million people, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq said on Thursday. The prediction of such a vast humanitarian emergency creates additional complications for the Iraqi government and its U.S. allies, who have announced plans for offensives to drive Islamic State fighters this year from most of their Iraqi territory. More than 3.4 million people across Iraq have already been forced by conflict to leave their homes, according to the United Nations.

‘We Can’t Understand That Kind of Hate’ Posted: 23 Jun 2016 09:01 AM PDT ORLANDO, Fla.—The good news is it's a long way from Fallujah to Orlando. The bad news is it still feels like Orlando is a long way from the Middle East. If ever an American city was going to make the very real connection from the battlefields overseas to their own doorsteps, this could be it.

Turkey says inappropriate for lawmakers to visit air base, in row with Germany Posted: 23 Jun 2016 08:01 AM PDT Turkey's foreign minister said on Thursday it would be inappropriate for politicians to visit an air base used by German and other Western forces in his country, drawing an angry response from Berlin in a mounting row between the NATO states. Mevlut Cavusoglu's words came a day after Germany's defense ministry said Turkey was blocking plans by a senior German defense official and lawmakers to visit the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey. Cavusoglu did not give his reasons – but one German lawmaker said Turkey's stance was meant as a response to the German parliament's decision this month to declare the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a genocide, a label Turkey rejects.

U.S. transfers Guantanamo detainee to Montenegro Posted: 23 Jun 2016 06:20 AM PDT (This June 22 story corrects Al-Rahabi's age to 36 from 37 in paragraph 3) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Yemeni man who had been held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo for 14 years has been transferred to Montenegro, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, as President Barack Obama pushes to close the facility before leaving office in January. Al-Rahabi, 36, who was brought to Guantanamo in January 2002, had been accused of being a bodyguard for the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, according to Pentagon documents.

Southeast Asian Islamic State unit being formed in southern Philippines: officials Posted: 23 Jun 2016 05:31 AM PDT By Randy Fabi and Manuel Mogato JAKARTA/MANILA (Reuters) - Southeast Asian militants who claim to be fighting for Islamic State in the Middle East have said they have chosen one of the most wanted men in the Philippines to head a regional faction of the ultra-radical group, security officials said on Thursday. The claim was made in a video that was recently posted on social media, possibly last week, a military intelligence official in the Philippines told Reuters. The video is significant, experts say, because it shows that Islamic State supporters are now being asked to stay home and unify under one umbrella group to launch attacks in Southeast Asia, instead of being drawn to the fight in the Middle East.

A Tale of Two Rallies Posted: 23 Jun 2016 04:48 AM PDT RALEIGH, N.C.—There was no shortage of differences between recent rallies by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in this newly minted battleground state, but it was the thing they shared in common that stuck out most. Sooner or later, and usually sooner, every conversation came back to Trump's unpopularity, his temperament, and whether he's qualified to be president.

Erdogan suggests UK-style referendum on Turkey EU bid Posted: 23 Jun 2016 04:38 AM PDT Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for the first time suggested Turkey could hold a referendum over whether to continue its long-stalled bid to join the European Union. Angrily lashing out at the bloc's treatment of Ankara, Erdogan said Turkey could hold a referendum along the lines of the plebescite in Britain, where voters are deciding Thursday whether to stay in the European Union or leave. "We can stand up and ask the people just like the British are doing," Erdogan said late Wednesday at a speech in Istanbul, quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Yesterday's U.S. Ambassador on Today's Middle East Turmoil Posted: 23 Jun 2016 01:00 AM PDT One provocative thought from a longtime U.S. ambassador: Obama should have given Hillary Clinton more backup.

Pope risks Turkey's ire with Armenia trip Posted: 22 Jun 2016 11:28 PM PDT Pope Francis heads to Armenia Friday for a three-day visit likely to inflame simmering tensions with Turkey over the Vatican's description of mass killings under the Ottoman Empire as genocide. The same formulation had been employed by Pope John Paul II in 2001 in a written declaration. Turkey reacted furiously to Francis's comment.

Citing doubts, LA prosecutors want to free convicted killer Posted: 22 Jun 2016 08:49 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County prosecutors will ask a judge Thursday to free a man convicted seven years ago of killing a college student, citing new doubts about his guilt.

Idaho prosecutor denies Syrian refugees gang-raped girl Posted: 22 Jun 2016 08:18 PM PDT An Idaho prosecutor said on Wednesday that internet outlets devoted to carrying anti-Muslim sentiments were to blame for fomenting widely spread, false rumors that three Syrian refugee boys had gang-raped a young girl at knife-point. None of it is true," Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs said of the reports, which originated on blogs and social media postings and have since gone viral. An investigation by Twin Falls police found one of the boys sexually assaulted the girl and the two others were involved in the crime but did not touch the child, Loebs said.

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