Mosul

Stories 41 - 60 | << Prev   Next >>

Airstrikes Likely Hit ISIS Bosses: Officials

Unclear whether top figure was among them

(Newser) - US airstrikes have hit a convoy of trucks which, officials believe, were carrying some ISIS leaders, US officials tell the AP . Rumors have suggested that the group's top figure, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, may have been among the leaders, the New York Times reports; neither Iraqi nor US officials could...

Latest ISIS Weapon: Hijacking Iraq&#39;s Water
 ISIS' New Weapon: Water 
Oct 7, 2014 5:30 PM CDT

ISIS' New Weapon: Water

Insurgents commandeering precious commodity to strengthen position

(Newser) - Even when ISIS militants can't maintain control of Iraq's cities and villages, they have another weapon at their disposal: water. The insurgents are increasingly cutting off water to villagers, extorting local governments, and flooding homes, schools, and farms in an effort to gain the upper hand by usurping...

US Airstrikes Hit ISIS Near Critical Iraq Dam

Militants were trying to capture Haditha Dam

(Newser) - The US military today launched airstrikes around Haditha Dam in western Iraq, targeting Islamic State insurgents there for the first time in a move to prevent the group from capturing the vital dam. The strikes represented a broadening of the US campaign against the Islamic State militants, moving the military...

Obama Sends Hundreds More Troops to Baghdad

Embassy protection force brings troop levels over 1K

(Newser) - The US is adding 350 more troops to help protect the American Embassy in Baghdad and its support facilities in the Iraqi capital, raising the number of US forces in the country to over 1,000, officials say. President Obama approved the additional troops for protection of American personnel following...

US Hit 90 Targets in Mosul Dam Fight: Pentagon

President calls recapture of dam a 'major step forward'

(Newser) - President Obama hailed the recapture of Mosul dam today as a "major step forward" as a barrage of US airstrikes helped Kurdish and Iraqi forces score the biggest victory of its counteroffensive against the Islamic State militants. Obama also urged the badly fractured and largely dysfunctional Iraqi government to...

Iraq: We've 'Fully Liberated' Critical Dam

US airstrikes backed troops in big blow to Islamic State

(Newser) - In a major victory against the Islamic State, Iraqi and Kurdish forces have retaken control of the Mosul Dam, an Iraqi military spokesman tells the AP . The success comes after two days of US airstrikes aimed at helping recapture the site north of Iraq's second-biggest city. The troops have...

US Strikes Iraq With Land-Based Bombers

President Obama updates Congress with a letter

(Newser) - The US has expanded its air campaign in Iraq with attacks aimed at helping Iraqi forces regain control of the strategic Mosul dam. The White House said President Obama notified Congress today that the widened mission would be limited in duration and scope. The administration's letter to Congress said...

Islamic State Stones 2 Women to Death for Adultery

Locals refuse to throw rocks

(Newser) - Two women were stoned to death by Islamic State militants within a 24-hour period last month, the AP reports. Their alleged crime: adultery. "People were shocked and couldn't understand what was going on," says an activist witness to one of the stonings in northern Syria. Militants called...

ISIS Seizes Major Dam, Could Now Flood Baghdad

200K civilians flee after Kurdish forces defeated

(Newser) - ISIS militants have made major gains after a fresh push in northern Iraq, seizing three towns after defeating Kurdish forces and taking control of the country's biggest and most important dam. The militants have been destroying Shiite shrines and executing resisters in the captured towns and up to 200,...

ISIS Blows Up Jonah&#39;s Tomb
 ISIS Blows Up Jonah's Tomb 
Jul 25, 2014 12:27 AM CDT

ISIS Blows Up Jonah's Tomb

Mosul shrine destroyed as new president elected

(Newser) - Jonah, the prophet who ends up in a whale's belly, is as big a figure in the Koran as he is in the Bible, but that didn't stop ISIS militants yesterday from blowing up a shrine devoted to him in Mosul. Officials tell CNN that the shrine—one...

UN Official: ISIS Demanding Female Genital Mutilation

Militant Sunni group issues fatwa, official says

(Newser) - A UN official in Iraq shared disturbing news with reporters today: ISIS militants have issued a religious edict declaring that all women in or around Mosul must undergo female genital mutilation, reports Reuters . The fatwa from the Sunni insurgents, who overtook the northern Iraqi city in June, applies to females...

Iraq Launches Push to Reclaim Saddam's Hometown

State media claims success in Tikrit

(Newser) - Iraqi troops backed by helicopter gunships launched an operation today aimed at dislodging Sunni militants from the northern city of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown and one of two major urban centers militants seized in recent weeks in a dramatic blitz across the country. State media reports said the government...

Militants Strike Town Just 37 Miles From Baghdad

Meanwhile, Sunnis killed inside the capital

(Newser) - The battle for Iraq is getting uncomfortably close to its capital city. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants briefly took over parts of the city of Baquba, which is just 37 miles from Baghdad, the BBC reports. The Iraqi military and allied Shiite militias eventually drove them off—and...

Every Iraqi Urged to Pick Up a Weapon

Iraq's top cleric says 'everyone who can' must fight

(Newser) - Iraq's top Shiite cleric issued a statement during Friday prayers today, calling on everyone—Shiite and Sunni alike—to fight back against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the New York Times reports. It is "the legal and national responsibility of whoever can hold a weapon, to...

US Rejected Iraq's Call for Airstrikes

Militants vow to take fight to Baghdad

(Newser) - As the scale of the threat from militants who have now seized several Iraqi cities became clear, Iraq's government asked the US to strike militant positions—only to find Washington, somewhat unsurprisingly, reluctant to become involved in new military action in the country. Requests for both manned and unmanned...

500K Flee as Iraq Loses City; Islamists Eye Baghdad
 Iraq Loses Control of 2nd City 
UPDATED
Jun 11, 2014 10:23 AM CDT

Iraq Loses Control of 2nd City

State Dept. calls ISIS 'threat to entire region'

(Newser) - Stability is deteriorating quickly in Iraq, where officials are confirming that Islamist militants have seized control of a second city, Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Officials tell the AP that the provincial governor based in Tikrit is missing, while the New York Times notes that militants encountered precious little...

Iraq Loses Control of Its 2nd-Largest City

Police abandon Mosul to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

(Newser) - Fighters believed to be with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took control of the city of Mosul today, as police and military forces fled their bases, leaving weapons, vehicles, and even their uniforms behind for the taking, the New York Times reports. The militants have seized the provincial...

Month Gets Deadlier in Iraq With New Wave of Bombings

13 dead, May death toll passes 500

(Newser) - A series of morning bomb explosions in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul today killed at least 13 people and wounded dozens in the latest eruption of violence rattling the country, officials said. Iraq is facing its most relentless wave of violence since the 2011 US military withdrawal,...

Dozens Killed in New Wave of Iraq Bombings

(Newser) - A series of bomb attacks in Baghdad and Mosul killed at least 41 people today and raised fears of a new upsurge in sectarian violence, the BBC reports. In Mosul, where an attack on a Shia mosque killed 40 people Friday, a double truck bomb killed 25 people in a...

Iraqis Applaud US Exit, but Fears Linger

US troops quit Iraqi cities June 30; some see economic boon

(Newser) - Many Iraqis are looking forward to the departure of US troops from the country’s cities June 30—but what that means for security remains to be seen, Reuters reports. “Anyone who wants to fight them can go there and attack their bases without harming civilians,” says one...

Stories 41 - 60 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser