Category: Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s armed forces, backed by Shi’ite militia, attacked Islamic State strongholds north of Baghdad on Monday at the start of a campaign aimed at driving them out of the mainly Sunni Muslim province of Salahuddin. The offensive is the biggest military operation in the province since the Sunni Islamist radicals seized swaths of north Iraq last June and advanced towards the capital Baghdad. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the start of the Salahuddin operations on Sunday during a visit to the government-held city of Samarra, where some of the thousands of troops and Shi’ite militia had gathered for the offensive. The pace of their progress in Salahuddin could affect plans to recapture Mosul further north. A U.S. official said the assault on Mosul, the largest city under Islamic State control, could start as early as April but Iraqi officials have declined to confirm that timetable. In […]

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Iraqi security forces and Shia fighters gather in preparation for an attack on Islamic State strongholds Iraqi forces, backed by Shia militia, Sunni tribesman and thousands of volunteers, launched a military operation to clear the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as Isis, from Salahaddin province and the city of Tikrit, the home town of former leader Saddam Hussein. Thousands of men from army and militia units based in Baghdad and Diyala province, began moving into position in the mostly Sunni province, home to an important Shia shrine and an oil refinery already under the control of pro-government forces. Iraq has been struggling to take the offensive against the militants since Isis , together with allied Sunni groups, seized control of swaths of Iraq’s west and northwest in a lightning campaign last June. Government forces finally appear to be making progress and have seen battlefield success outside […]

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ENLARGE An aircraft of the United Arab Emirates takes off from a base in Jordan on Feb. 15 before raids against Islamic State positions. Airstrikes have managed to disrupt the militant group’s ability to deliver oil to the black market. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images PARIS—Airstrikes against Islamic State militants and falling oil prices have hurt the group’s ability to fund operations across Iraq and Syria, according to an international agency that fights terror financing. In a report issued Friday, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, said U.S.-led airstrikes targeting refineries and transport convoys have managed to disrupt Islamic State’s ability to deliver oil to the black market. Islamic State’s “ability to efficiently extract, refine and sell petroleum and petroleum products from the territory in which it operates has significantly diminished,” the report said. Bank looting, kidnapping and ransom have helped offset the loss of oil revenue, FATF […]

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(Bloomberg) — Iraq overtook Angola and Russia to become China’s second-largest oil supplier in January as imports from the Middle Eastern country rose to a record. Inbound shipments from Iraq jumped 44 percent to 3.4 million metric tons, or 803,000 barrels a day, data from the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs showed Friday. That’s the highest in records going back to May 2008, and made the nation the largest supplier after Saudi Arabia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China is benefiting from record discounts offered by crude producers as they compete for market share amid a global oversupply. Oil demand in the world’s largest energy user is forecast to be steady, and additional purchases from one country will be at the expense of another, said Gao Jian, an analyst at consultancy SCI International in Shandong, China. “China’s strategy is simply to buy oil from wherever it’s available and […]

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You’ve sunk your wells, started drilling; have extracted tens of millions of barrels of oil for export. But a year down the line, you still haven’t been paid.  This is Continue Reading

Gulf Keystone Petroleum announces receipt of payment for future Iraqi crude oil sales, one day after said it was engaged with other parties on a possible sale of the company. Photo courtesy: Gulf Keystone Petroleum. The company said Thursday it received $20.8 million from an undisclosed third-party buyer for future sales of crude oil from its Shaikan development in the Kurdish north of Iraq. The company, which has headquarters in London, is producing oil from seven wells in the Shaikan development in the Kurdish north of Iraq. Total production was around 40,000 barrels of oil per day at the end of 2014. This week, it said it was engaged in talks with "a number of parties" about a possible sale of the company or transaction of assets. Earlier this month, it said it was owed an undisclosed amount of money from the Kurdish government. Company spokesman Mark Antelme said […]

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Kurdish peshmerga fighters walk with their weapons as they take control of an area on the outskirts of Mosul, Feb. 6, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Ari Jalal) MULA ABDULA, Iraq — "How are the skies?" a gruff voice asks in Iraqi Arabic dialect. "The skies are clear," is the reply, after a crackle of static on the walkie-talkie through which a Kurdish major is listening to the conversation between two Islamic State (IS) militants on the other side of this front line, southwest of Kirkuk in Northern Iraq. An irrigation canal no wider than 10 meters (33 feet) separates the lightly armed Kurdish peshmerga forces from the extremist militants in Mula Abdula, where Maj. Aziz Ahmad stands behind a defensive berm, holding the walkie-talkie up to intercept the enemy’s communications. “They change the frequency regularly and it is not easy to intercept,” he told Al-Monitor. "IS is terrified of bomber aircraft, especially the French.” With the help of coalition […]

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PARIS (AP) — France has deployed an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf to strengthen its military operation against Islamic State extremists in Iraq. President Francois Hollande announced days after deadly attacks by Islamic radicals in Paris last month that France would dispatch the Charles de Gaulle carrier to the Middle East, to work more closely with the U.S.-led coalition. A French military official said warplanes are starting operations from the Charles de Gaulle on Monday, and French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was visiting the carrier. France has been among the most active participants in the coalition, carrying out regular airstrikes in Iraq. French media reported that some 2,000 military personnel are aboard the carrier, accompanied by a submarine, an air defense frigate and a British anti-submarine frigate.

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An Iraqi army vehicle secures the Akkas gas field in the western desert of Iraq October 19, 2010. (ALI AL-MASHHADANI/Reuters) Published Thursday, February 19th, 2015 Recommend 388 people recommend this. Sign Up to see what your friends recommend. The Akkas gas field once symbolized Iraq’s ambition to become a major natural gas producer, and its promise to bring economic development to Anbar province. Now, it is an unofficial refugee camp.At least 500 internally displaced people have moved into the facilities that were originally built for the South Korean company Kogas and its subcontractors, according to a resident of the nearby Karabilah village, an engineer at the Akkas power plant and a Kogas official.After the rise of the s…

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