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Iraq

US Airman Dies After Setting Himself Afire Outside Israeli Embassy in Washington

Voice of America - Mon, 02/26/2024 - 04:09
WASHINGTON — A U.S. military service member who had set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington over the weekend, in an apparent act of protest against the war in Gaza, has died, local police said Monday.  Officer Lee Lepe, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department, confirmed the U.S. airman's death.   The Pentagon said that the death was a "tragic event" and that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was following the situation. Pentagon...
Categories: Iraq

IS Landmine Kills 14 Truffle Hunters in Syria Desert

Voice of America - Mon, 02/26/2024 - 03:44
Damascus, Syria — A blast Sunday from a landmine left by the Islamic State group killed 14 people foraging for truffles in the Syrian desert, state media said. "Fourteen citizens were killed, and eight others injured after a landmine left by IS terrorists exploded while they were collecting truffles in the Raqa desert," said Syria's official news agency SANA. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor earlier reported that the landmine blast had killed "13...
Categories: Iraq

Iran: US-British Strikes on Yemen 'Escalate Tensions'

Voice of America - Mon, 02/26/2024 - 02:03
Tehran, Iran — Iran on Sunday condemned the latest strikes by the United States and Britain on Yemen, saying they were seeking to "escalate tensions and crises" in the region.   On Saturday, American and British forces carried out fresh strikes against 18 Houthi targets in Yemen, in response to a wave of attacks by the Iran-backed group on Red Sea shipping.  "With such attacks, America and Britain seek to escalate tensions and crises in the region, and expand the scope of...
Categories: Iraq

Israel Says Pushing Ahead With Rafah Offensive Amid New Cease-Fire Efforts

Voice of America - Sun, 02/25/2024 - 23:55
Israel says it is pushing ahead with plans for a ground invasion in the Gaza city of Rafah to root out Hamas militants, even as mediators work on a new cease-fire in the five-month war that also calls for the release of more hostages held by Hamas. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the story.
Categories: Iraq

Israel Threatens Eurovision Pull-Out if Entry Vetoed 

Voice of America - Sun, 02/25/2024 - 19:48
Jerusalem — Israel on Sunday warned that it may withdraw from this year's Eurovision Song Contest if organizers reject the lyrics from its entry as too political. Eden Golan and her song "October Rain" were chosen to compete in the annual competition, which is being held in May in Malmo, Sweden. Media reports have suggested that the song, which is mostly in English with some Hebrew words, references the victims of Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel. That could...
Categories: Iraq

Iraq Captures 2 Wanted IS Group Terrorists

Voice of America - Sun, 02/25/2024 - 04:46
ERBIL, Iraq — Iraq's authorities have captured two members of the Islamic State group in an operation outside the country and brought them home, where they confessed to committing crimes during the rule of the extremist organization, the intelligence department said Saturday. A statement by the Iraqi National Intelligence Service didn't say where the two men were captured and released a video showing them blindfolded and handcuffed while aboard a small plane. The two men later...
Categories: Iraq

Two Men Detained for Bringing Syrian Refugees to Cyprus by Boats

Voice of America - Sun, 02/25/2024 - 04:37
NICOSIA, Cyprus — A court in Cyprus on Saturday ordered two men to remain in police custody for six days on suspicion of people smuggling. The men were identified as the drivers of two boats that brought 146 Syrian refugees and one Lebanese migrant to the east Mediterranean island nation.  Police said the suspects are Lebanese nationals aged 19 and 21.  According to police, the refugees said during questioning that they departed from the Lebanese city of Tripoli on Thursday, February 22...
Categories: Iraq

US, Britain Strike More Than Dozen Houthi Targets in Yemen

Voice of America - Sun, 02/25/2024 - 01:58
washington — The U.S. and Britain struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday, answering a recent surge in attacks by the Iran-backed militia group on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, including a missile strike this past week that set fire to a cargo vessel. According to U.S. officials, American and British fighter jets hit about 18 sites across multiple locations, targeting missiles, launchers, rockets, drones and unmanned surface and underwater vehicles. The...
Categories: Iraq

Oil-Slick From Cargo Ship Attacked by Iranian-Backed Houthis Growing

Voice of America - Sat, 02/24/2024 - 19:44
CAIRO — An attack by Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels on a Belize-flagged ship earlier this month caused a 29-kilometer (18-mile) oil slick, the U.S. military said Saturday. It also warned of the danger of a spill from the vessel's cargo of fertilizer. The Rubymar, a British-registered, Lebanese-operated cargo vessel, was attacked on Feb. 18 while sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, U.S. Central Command said. The missile attack...
Categories: Iraq

Iran Labor Protest Uptick Coincides With Annual Minimum Wage Deliberations

Voice of America - Sat, 02/24/2024 - 10:00
WASHINGTON — Iran is seeing an uptick in labor protests coinciding with annual deliberations on raising the minimum wage to keep up with higher living costs, yet there has been no violent government crackdown such as the one that crushed a women’s rights movement one year ago.  One of the Islamic republic’s most sustained labor protests of recent weeks involves striking workers of the Iran National Steel Industrial Group (INSIG) in the southwestern city of Ahvaz. A Telegram channel...
Categories: Iraq

Outlining Postwar Gaza Principles, Netanyahu Continues to Defy Biden

Voice of America - Sat, 02/24/2024 - 03:08
washington — Postwar principles for Gaza outlined in a document Friday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stand in stark contrast to Washington's vision for the war-torn territory, a sign of the deepening divide between his government and the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. The document, The Day After Hamas Principles, is the first official summary of Netanyahu's public positions on the war that Israel has waged in Gaza in response to Hamas' October 7...
Categories: Iraq

US Destroys Houthi Drones, Missiles in Yemen, Red Sea, Military Says

Voice of America - Fri, 02/23/2024 - 20:03
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said on Friday it had destroyed Houthi drones and anti-ship cruise missiles in Yemen and the Red Sea after determining they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships. The strikes hit four drones and two cruise missiles that were prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Red Sea, the military's Central Command said.   The military also shot down three Houthi one-way attack drones near commercial ships...
Categories: Iraq

UNRWA Chief Says Israeli Pressure, Funding Freeze Threaten Agency

Voice of America - Fri, 02/23/2024 - 05:34
United Nations —  The head of the embattled U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees warned Thursday that it is at a "breaking point," and its ability to assist millions of Palestinians is "seriously threatened." "It is with profound regret that I must now inform you that the Agency has reached breaking point, with Israel’s repeated calls to dismantle UNRWA and the freezing of funding by donors at a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs in Gaza,"...
Categories: Iraq

Iraqi Court’s Decision Threatens to Undermine Kurdish Autonomy

Voice of America - Fri, 02/23/2024 - 04:56
washington — A recent decision by Iraq’s top court has raised concerns among Kurdish groups about the future of their autonomous region in the north. The country’s Supreme Court on Wednesday issued several rulings regarding the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), including one related to the autonomous region’s election law. The court ruled that KRG’s provincial election law’s article about the minority quota was deemed "unconstitutional." The current law, adopted in 1992 and...
Categories: Iraq

4 Charged in US Court With Transporting Iranian-Made Weapons  

Voice of America - Fri, 02/23/2024 - 04:14
richmond, virginia — Four foreign nationals were charged Thursday with transporting suspected Iranian-made weapons on a vessel intercepted by U.S. naval forces in the Arabian Sea last month. Two Navy SEALs died during the mission.  The criminal complaint unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Richmond alleges that the four defendants — who were all carrying Pakistani identification cards — were transporting suspected Iranian-made missile components for the type of weapons used by...
Categories: Iraq