Category: Iraq

Marc Kolber, a native of Long Island , has spent more than three years overseeing the construction of offices for foreign oil companies in Iraqi Kurdistan . Now he’s joining an exodus of expatriates from the capital, Erbil. “The expat community in Erbil was thriving, it was a very welcoming and inclusive society,” Kolber said in a telephone interview as his employer made arrangements to evacuate staff. “But now about 80 percent of expats have left.” The Kurdistan region of Iraq has attracted hundreds of foreigners in the past five years, enticed by a mixture of oil, security and growing prosperity. The autonomous region, largely free from the violence that’s plagued the rest of the country, has some of largest untapped oil fields in the world. Related: Islamic State fighters are battling Kurdish troops just 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Erbil, threatening the energy boom that’s brought a thriving […]

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Islamic State fighters have captured seven oil fields in Iraq with a total output capacity of 80,000 barrels a day, adding to energy deposits they seized earlier in neighboring Syria, the International Energy Agency said. The insurgents, who swept into northern Iraq in June, grabbed the Ain Zalah and Batma fields in Nineveh province this month, the IEA said today in its monthly oil market report. They already controlled the Najma, Qayara, Himreen, Ajeel and Balad fields, the agency said. The potential flow of oil from deposits they hold in Iraq would fetch about $8.4 million a day on international markets, based on yesterday’s closing price for benchmark Brent crude of $104.68 a barrel. The militants, tapping oil fields to supply their own fuel needs and generate revenue by smuggling, have advanced toward Iraq’s self-governed Kurdish region and its capital Erbil, the IEA said. They were about 30 kilometers […]

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Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community gather to receive food at a camp in Syria on Tuesday. Associated Press WASHINGTON—The U.S. is weighing a military mission in Iraq to rescue thousands of Yazidi refugees, a move that risks putting American forces in direct confrontation with Sunni fighters for the Islamic State. The proposal is still under development and hasn’t been approved by President Barack Obama . U.S. officials said the rescue mission is one of many options the U.S. military is weighing after dropping food and water to dying refugees over the past six days. "People are looking at ways to do something more than just drop water and supplies," one senior U.S. official said. "You can only do that for so long." Since last week, the U.S. has sought to halt the militants’ advance on the Kurdish city of Erbil and to relieve Yazidis trapped by the fighters […]

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Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel addresses the Marines assembled in a hangar at Camp Pendleton on Tuesday Aug. 12, 2014. Hagel announced the deployment of another 130 U.S. troops to Iraq in remarks to Marines at this Southern California base on the final stop of a weeklong, around-the-world trip that also took him to India, Germany and Australia. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Paul Rodriguez) The US decision to send another 130 military advisers to Iraq comes amid speculation that Washington could commit ground troops in an attempt to rescue tens of thousands of people trapped by insurgents in the north of the country as part of a wider international mission. Announcing the deployment of the extra troops in California late on Tuesday, US defence secretary Chuck Hagel, insisted there were no plans for a full-scale intervention. More On this story On this topic IN Iraq “This is not […]

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WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has sent an additional 130 military advisers to northern Iraq to help plan the evacuation of thousands of displaced people trapped by Sunni militants on Mount Sinjar, Defense Department officials said Tuesday, raising the possibility that a larger American force may eventually be needed in the rescue attempt. While military officials said the Pentagon planned to continue aid drops of food and water, United States officials said they believed that some type of ground force would be necessary to secure the passage of the stranded members of the Yazidi group. The military is drawing up plans for consideration by President Obama that could include American ground troops in what is expected to be an international effort to rescue the refugees, a senior administration official said. Mr. Obama has insisted, most recently on Monday, that he will not send American ground troops back to Iraq. But […]

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BAGHDAD — Iran endorsed Iraq’s prime minister designate on Tuesday, striking a decisive blow against incumbent Nouri al-Maliki as a wide spectrum of domestic factions — and even his most loyal militia — also turned their backs on the country’s longtime leader. Maliki’s growing isolation raised hopes of a relatively smooth transfer of power after a tense two-day standoff during which the desperate incumbent deployed security forces to strategic points across the capital. The Iranian leadership, which wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, joined a range of Iraqi political groups — including Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites — in backing Shiite politician Haider al-Abadi’s efforts to form a new government. The United States and many Iraqis see the creation of a new, more inclusive government as crucial to peeling away support for the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State . Maliki, a Shiite, had marginalized the country’s Sunni minority, pushing […]

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LONDON — Facing a mounting drumbeat of calls on Wednesday for stronger military action in northern Iraq, the British authorities have agreed to send a “small number” of Chinook helicopters and to transport military equipment supplied by other countries to Kurdish fighters in the American-led campaign against Sunni militants, officials said. But the government continued to insist that it was focused on humanitarian relief efforts, notably to get water and other supplies to thousands of Yazidis besieged on the arid, baking heights of Mount Sinjar, rather than on offering direct military involvement. In recent days, with many government leaders including Prime Minister David Cameron on vacation, Britain has slowly stepped up its relief effort, sending three Tornado warplanes on surveillance missions to support airdrops by C-130 military cargo planes. “Our focus remains the humanitarian situation, particularly those trapped on Mount Sinjar,” Mr. Cameron’s office said in a statement . […]

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France will supply arms to Iraq’s Kurds "in the coming hours", French President Francois Hollande has announced. France has received approval from authorities in Baghdad for the decision, French media reports say. Kurdish forces have been fighting militants from the Islamic State (IS) group. The conflict has displaced thousands of people. The US has also reportedly begun supplying weapons to the Kurdish forces, known as Peshmergas. A statement from Mr Hollande’s office said the move was "in response to the urgent need expressed by the regional authorities in Kurdistan". Earlier the US announced it had sent 130 more military advisers to the Kurdish region. The marines and special operations forces will assess the humanitarian situation and will not be engaged in combat, a US defence official said. The US has been carrying out air strikes against IS fighters in northern Iraq. More on This Story

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Another 130 US military personnel have arrived in Iraq on what the Pentagon described as a temporary mission to assess the scope of the humanitarian crisis facing thousands of displaced Iraqi civilians trapped on Sinjar Mountain. Chuck Hagel, the US defense secretary, announced the deployment on Tuesday, saying that "this is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation". Another defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the extra troops were Marines and special operations forces whose mission was to assess the situation in the Sinjar area and to develop additional humanitarian assistance options beyond current US efforts there. The 130 troops, who are in addition to 250 US military advisers already in Baghdad and Erbil, arrived on Tuesday in the city of Erbil, well east of Sinjar. They are to work with representatives of the State Department and the US Agency for International Development to […]

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Oil and Erbil To the defense of Erbil: this was the main cause that drew President Obama back to combat in Iraq last week, two and a half years after he fulfilled a campaign pledge and pulled the last troops out. After Mazar-i-Sharif, Nasiriyah, Kandahar, Mosul, Benghazi, and a score of other sites of American military intervention—cities whose names would have stumped most American “Jeopardy!” contestants before 2001—we come now to Erbil. One can forgive the isolationist: Where? Erbil has an ancient history, but, in political-economic terms, the city is best understood these days as a Kurdish sort of Deadwood, as depicted in David Milch’s HBO series about a gold-rush town whose antihero, Al Swearengen, conjures up a local government to create a veneer of legitimacy for statehood, all to advance his rackets. Erbil is an oil-rush town where the local powers that be similarly manipulate their ambiguous sovereignty for […]

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