Under huge domestic and international pressure, Iraq formed a new government to bring about urgently needed reforms, and expanded U.S. support to fight back the growing threat of the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and the region.
U.S. airstrikes have killed several senior Islamic State (IS) leaders in recent weeks, blunting the group's ability to fight Iraqi and Kurdish forces, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid al- Obiedi said on Tuesday his country rejected the entry of foreign ground troops to fight against terrorism, stressing that the Iraqi army will be able to expel the Islamic State militant group from Iraq.
The United States top military officer said during an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan on Saturday that the momentum in the battle with Islamic State (IS) militant group was "starting to turn", but predicted the campaign against the group would take several years.
The Iraqi government asks foreign counties for military support, including equipment and training of security forces, but the country does not want foreign troops in its territory to fight the Islamic State (IS), Iraq Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday.
Britain is planning to offer more military training and advisory personnel to Iraq to help local forces combat extremist Islamic State (IS) militant group, British Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced Wednesday.
The Pentagon chief on Thursday praised the progress made against the Islamic State (IS) as U.S.-led coalition continues to implement a comprehensive strategy aimed at destroying the militant group.
The Islamic State (IS) militants captured eight journalists and media workers working for a local television in the militants-seized city of Mosul, capital of the country's northern province of Nineveh, a provincial security source said on Sunday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday reassured U.S. support for Iraq's anti-Islamic State (IS) efforts during a phone conversation with newly appointed Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al Obeidi.
During Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's three-day visit to Iran, top Iranian leaders have respectively reassured the new Iraqi leader that Tehran will give full support to the war-torn country's new government in the face of threats posed by terrorist groups.
Iraqi security forces and allied tribal fighters rebuffed an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in a town near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, but were forced to withdraw from another embattled town after two days of fierce clashes in the country's western province of Anbar, security sources said on Thursday.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that the Islamic republic fully supports the new Iraqi government, local media reported.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday hailed Iraqi lawmakers' approving Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's nominees for the posts of defense and interior ministers as "a very positive step forward" in fighting the militant Islamic State (IS).
Twenty-two people were killed and 25 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack targeting a Shiite mosque in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad on Sunday evening, a police source said.
Dozens of U.S. military advisors arrived in Iraq on Wednesday to train the country's security forces as they continue to face obstacles in their fight against the Islamic State (IS) militant group, officials said.
A total of 59 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Wednesday in clashes with Iraqi security forces and air strikes against their positions across the country, security sources said.
A total of 50 people were killed on Tuesday in clashes and air strikes against the positions of the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq, security source said.
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