Iraq

Leader’s Death Is Another Blow for ISIS, but It’s Hardly the End

BEIRUT, Lebanon — For a man who sought to disappear, the leader of the Islamic State seemed to have done everything right. He hid out far from where his enemies expected. He never left the house, relying on trusted couriers to communicate with his far-flung underlings. He was the group’s only leader to never issue […]

ISIS Siege of Syria Prison Proves It’s Still a Threat

BEIRUT, Lebanon — One week after Islamic State fighters attacked a prison in northeastern Syria, where they have held out despite a heavy assault by a Kurdish-led militia backed by the United States, the terrorist organization published its version of what had gone down. In its official magazine, it mocked how many times in its […]

Boys Held as Hostages by ISIS Worry Rights Activists

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The boys in the prison sleep in groups of about 15 in cells with no windows, according to aid workers. They get fresh air and see the sun during visits to a walled-in yard, but receive no visitors. They range in age from as young as 10 up to 18 and have […]

As ISIS Resurges, US is Drawn Back Into the Fray

BAGHDAD, Iraq — An audacious attack on a prison housing thousands of former ISIS fighters in Syria. A series of strikes against military forces in neighboring Iraq. And a horrific video harking back to the grimmest days of the insurgency that showed the beheading of an Iraqi police officer. The evidence of a resurgence of […]

Reveling in the Joys of Books, and Reading, at a Baghdad Book Fair

BAGHDAD — Protesters in Baghdad hold a sit-in demanding that U.S. troops leave Iraq. Counterterrorism troops patrol streets. A federal court ponders whether to certify results of parliamentary elections two months ago. But at the Baghdad International Fair grounds, almost no one cares about all that. Inside is the Baghdad International Book Fair. It’s not […]

‘Our Boat Was Surrounded by Dead Bodies’: Witnessing a Migrant Tragedy

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq — The boat packed with migrants was about halfway across the English Channel when one of the passengers spotted two orange life jackets bobbing in the water. The seas were rough, and it was only when they got closer that Zana Hamawandani saw the vests contained dead bodies. Soon, other bodies started appearing. […]

Iraqis Return From Belarus, but Some Say They Will Try Again to Reach the E.U.

ERBIL, Iraq — Iraq repatriated a second wave of more than 600 migrants from Belarus on Friday after they gave up, at least for now, on a disastrous attempt to try to reach the European Union via its eastern borders. Two Iraqi Airways charter flights landed before dawn in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan […]