Orientul Mijlociu

Iraqi armed forces will prevent Kurdish militants based in northern Iraq from staging cross-border attacks against Turkey, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said on Tuesday.

Abadi’s pledge, made during a phone call with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, came a day after Ankara threatened to intervene directly if the Iraqi operation against the militants based in the Sinjar region failed.

Abadi said that he has ordered the military to take full control of the country’s borders.

If Syria were to collapse, the entire region would be under threat, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned on Thursday.

“We have a territory which is feeling very much threatened, controlled by the Syrian Kurds. If Syria disintegrates, God forbid, the whole area will be under threat,” Abadi said in an interview with the American weekly news magazine, Time.

Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) currently control large swaths of territory which they’ve liberated from the Islamic State (IS) over the past few years. Its troops, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), are supported by the US and the Global Coalition against IS.

EU High Representative Federica Mogherini met in Brussels Monday with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and discussed the situation in Syria, including Ghouta, Libya and of the Rohingya refugees.

A press release by Mogherini’s office said she discussed in the meeting the second Brussels Conference on ‘Supporting the future of Syria and the region” that the European Union and the United Nations will co-chair on 24-25 April.

Iraqi forces on Friday began fresh military operations aimed at finding and neutralizing Daesh terrorist cells in the eastern Diyala province, according to a local police source.

“Army forces backed by Hashd al-Shaabi fighters have launched a major security operation against Daesh remnants in Diyala’s Azim sub-district 60 kilometers north of Baqubah,” Police Captain

US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan expressed during a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Abadi support for reconstruction efforts in the country.

Sullivan was quoted by a government statement as saying the US support for Iraq would continue, particularly to rebuilding the country, boosting economy, attracting investment and creation of

The US has pledged to provide further assistance for the reconstruction of the city of Fallujah and other areas of Al-Anbar province, roughly 70 kilometers west of Baghdad.

In a press conference with Al-Anbar governor Suhaib Al-Rawi on Monday, the US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman that Washington is committed to helping in the reconstruction of Fallujah after the devastation afflicted on the city at the hands of the so-called Islamic State (IS).

The U.S. Army announced Thursday that 2,100 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) will deploy to Iraq this fall.

The soldiers from 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, based in at Fort Polk in Louisiana will replace the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, in a regular rotation of forces in

US Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday wrapped up a key visit to Turkey without a breakthrough on military co-operation in the Syrian crisis but with officials confident the talks brought their positions closer.

During his three-day trip to Istanbul, Biden held several hours of talks with both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the crises created by the capture by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadists of swathes of Iraq and Syria.