Recent Appearances...

Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Iraq

Suspected Iranian drones, missile fragments fall in Kurdistan Region

2025-06-22

[Rudaw] A suspected Iranian drone crashed in the Makhmour district of Nineveh province on Saturday. Separately, a fire broke out in Sulaimani province and officials suspect it was caused by drone or missile fragments.

"At around 1:00 pm, a fire broke out near Sheikh Mansourian village and we haven't been able to control it," Kamaran Abdullah, the administrator of Khalakan sub-district, told Rudaw. Khalakan is located near Dukan Lake.

Abdullah said locals and officials searched for the source of the fire with no luck and have speculated that "a drone or missile fragment has fallen," causing the blaze, though this has not been confirmed.

Separately, a drone crashed in the Makhmour district of Nineveh province.

Ghazi Faisal, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) Makhmour office, told Rudaw that the drone crashed without any explosion.

"We suspect it's an Iranian drone. We have informed the Iraqi forces and they went to retrieve it," he said.

Quality control is key. This one failed the Three Sigma test without the IDF needing to exert itself

The Kurdistan Region and Iraq lie under the flight path of Iranian drones and missiles aimed at Israel. There have been multiple reports of drones and debris falling from the sky, sometimes sparking fires.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

IRGC-affiliated media accuses Halabja governor of disregarding hijab law

2025-05-27

[Rudaw] Fars news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on Sunday accused Halabja’s female governor of "disregarding diplomatic principles" after she appeared at a Tehran tourist attraction without wearing a hijab, in an official visit with the Kurdistan Region’s governors that also met the Iranian president.

"The governor of Halabja, who had traveled to Tehran as a member of the delegation of governors of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, attended one of Tehran's tourist attractions without wearing a hijab last Thursday, disregarding diplomatic principles and disrespecting Iranian laws," Fars news said on X.

A compulsory hijab was imposed in Iran
Iran

...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
since the 1979 Islamic revolution in public places and governmental institutions.

Halabja Governor Nuxsha Nasih joined a delegation of Kurdistan Region governors, including Erbil’s Omed Xoshnaw, Sulaimani’s Haval Abubakir, and Duhok’s Ali Tatar, in a visit to Iran last week to meet their counterparts from the Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan provinces in western Iran (Rojhelat).

On Thursday, they met with President Pezeshkian, discussing bilateral relations between Tehran and Erbil and cultural and trade ties, with the president reaffirming his support for mutual agreements between both sides.

The comments from Fars news come as the government faces challenges in enacting a new hijab bill and enforcing stricter obligations under its existing hijab laws.

They also come as the Iranian government struggles to enforce its existing compulsory hijab law, with a larger number of women defying authorities by appearing in public without the scarf.

Rudaw English reached out to Governor Nasih but she was not readily available for comment.

On Sunday, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said that the country’s top national security body has advised against enacting the new hijab bill as tensions continue among hardline politicians over the controversial legislation.

Under the bill, women who violate mandatory hijab rules face escalating penalties, including fines, travel bans, and digital restrictions. Repeat offenses can result in prison sentences ranging from 3 months to 1 year and fines up to 1.65 billion rials (about $2,357).

The legislation notably came despite challenges the Iranian government faced enforcing existing hijab laws, especially after the nationwide protests which swept through the country in 2022 sparked by the death of a young Kurdish woman, Zhina (Mahsa) Amini, while in morality police custody for allegedly wearing a lax hijab.

Link

Iraq

$73 million in development projects approved for newly-declared Halabja province

2025-05-27

Keeping an eye on our friends, the Kurds.

[Rudaw] The Kurdistan Region’s Council of Ministers on Sunday granted approval for nine major development projects in Halabja province, valued at approximately 96.65 billion Iraqi dinars ($73.3 million), including the construction of a free trade zone, multiple infrastructure upgrades, and a new provincial building.

The decision followed a meeting between Halabja Governor Nuxsha Nasih and Omed Sabah, head of the Council of Ministers’ Presidency Office.

Commenting on the decision on her Facebook page, Nasih described the projects as “necessary” to “better serve citizens.”

The projects include several road projects worth around 50.9 billion Iraqi dinars ($38.8 million), a combined road and sewerage project worth 14.4 billion Iraqi dinars ($10.9 million), and a memorial construction project budgeted at $16.3 million.

An additional 10 billion dinars ($7.6 million) was allocated to support border departments, including bulldozers, loaders, trucks, excavators, road rollers, water tankers, shovels, bobcats, graders, and trailers.

In April, Iraq’s parliament officially recognized Halabja as the country’s 19th province and the Kurdistan Region’s fourth, passing a long-awaited bill during a session attended by 178 of the 329 lawmakers.

The Iraqi Council of Ministers had initially approved Halabja’s status change in December 2013, separating it from Sulaimani province, but political disputes delayed the formalization for over a decade.

Halabja stands out as a potent symbol of Kurdish resilience. On March 16, 1988, near the end of the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, the forces of toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein bombed Halabja with chemical weapons. The gruesome attack claimed the lives of at least 5,000 people - mostly women and children - and injured thousands more. Of note, the Halabja chemical attack was part of the Baath regime’s broader Anfal campaign in which more than 182,000 Kurds were killed.

Link

Europe

Kurdish couple tried in Germany for ISIS links

2025-05-20

[Rudaw] The Bavarian Supreme Court held a trial for a Kurdish couple accused of the Islamic State

The couple were previously named in the Rantburg archives as Twana H.S. and Asia R.A.

Since April 9, 2024, Twana and Asya have been imprisoned in Germany on charges of membership in a foreign terrorist organization, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and sexual assault against individuals under 18 years of age.

"If the charges brought against them by the public prosecutor are confirmed, then there will be life imprisonment; the complaint is about genocide. The client we represent in this process and other Yazidi survivors whom we have represented talk about two main motivations for why they participate in these trial processes and why it is important to them," Natalie von Wistinghausen, a lawyer for a Yazidi girl who survived ISIS atrocity, told Rudaw.

Twana has been accused of sexually abusing two Yazidi girls, one of which is expected to be present in a future trial as a witness.

ISIS swept through vast swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and declared a so-called caliphate in a brazen offensive that saw the group take control of around a third of Syria’s territory as well as several Iraqi cities, including the second largest northern city of Mosul. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 in both countries respectively.

During the jihadists’ brutal reign, they committed heinous atrocities, such as genocide, sexual slavery, and massacres against non-Moslems, especially the Yazidi ethnoreligious group.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Sulaimani security forces dismantle 'dangerous' ISIS cell

2024-11-25

[Rudaw] Sulaimani security forces (Asayish) on Sunday announced the dismantling of the Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
's (ISIS) so-called Kurdistan State cell, following months-long operations across the Kurdistan Region and the disputed areas.

General Directorate of Security Forces’ Operations announced in a statement that it had conducted a series of operations from August 9 to November 22, in coordination with other Kurdish forces and and the Iraqi army.

The operations spanned across the Sulaimani, Halabja, and Kirkuk provinces, targeting the group’s so-called Kurdistan Wilayat (state) - which Asayish deemed as "dangerous."

"During this process aimed at stabilizing the Kurdistan Region, five ISIS bad boyz were potted, and 14 were arrested. A number of weapons, bombs, suicide belts, and thermal military cameras were seized, and all their hideouts were destroyed," read the statement from Asayish.

Three members of Asayish forces were killed during the operations, and three others were maimed. There also three injuries from the Iraqi security forces.

The ISIS cell aimed at "connecting the sleeping cells in Kurdistan [Region] and Iraq with murderous Moslems in ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
and Iran," according to the statement, adding that they also planned to set up checkpoints wearing military uniforms to kidnap businessmen to finance the group.

The statement also noted that it has detained several ISIS suspects in Sharazoor, which later rejoined their families following rehabilitation.

ISIS was in control of swathes of Iraqi territory at its height in 2014. The Iraqi army and the Kurdish Peshmerga fought to retake areas of the country controlled by the hard boyz and declared the territorial defeat of ISIS in 2017. The United States-led global coalition provided both forces with air and ground support, as well as training and equipment.

Despite its territorial defeat, the forces of Evil have taken shelter in the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad, where there is a security vacuum.

Last week, the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga ministry announced two Kurdish Peshmerga commanders and another fighter were killed, with three soldiers maimed when an IED went kaboom! on a joint Iraqi-Kurdish patrol in Salahaddin province’s Tuz Khurmatu, located about 65 kilometers south of Kirkuk city.

ISIS grabbed credit for the attack.

Link

Iraq

Iraq round-up: some interesting events 7/21-7/25/2024

2024-08-03

I’m trying to catch up on at least some of what I’ve missed while dealing with analog life stuff that will continue a bit longer, I’m afraid. All articles from Rudaw.

Mass grave of ISIS victims discovered in Nineveh

Iraq to delay closure of IDP camps: Official

Eleven ISIS suspects arrested in Sulaimani, Halabja

Iraqi court acquits 4 suspects of Khor Mor drone attack

Captagon seizure nearly quadrupled in Iraq in 2023: UNODC

Iraqi, Kurdish forces arrest 21 ISIS suspects in Sulaimani

Iraq sentences 8 to death on terror-related charges

Iraqi forces arrest ‘dangerous’ ISIS leader in Fallujah

Link

Iraq

Training for asylum seekers returned from Denmark begins in Halabja

2024-06-13

[Rudaw] Kurdish non-governmental organization has begun a professional training program in Halabja designed to support rejected asylum seekers from Denmark. The project is funded by the Danish government.

The program, run by the Erbil-based Rwanga Foundation, targets people who have recently been deported as well as those who returned to the Kurdistan Region previously. Twenty-three people took part in the first round of training.

Fakhir Mohammed was in Denmark for 11 years. He said he had status in the country, but chose to return to "beautiful Kurdistan."

"When I wanted to return, I handed over the [Danish] documents and then I returned. The person who had interviewed me to process my return was surprised. He asked 'Why are you returning the documents? Keep them for yourself.' I said to him 'I do not want the documents. I want to close this door for good. I do not want to have any second thoughts.'"

He works as a car mechanic in Halabja and said that finding a job is difficult everywhere.

Another young man who attended the training and wished to remain anonymous said that over five years, he stayed in five different European countries, including La Belle France and the United Kingdom.

"I will not go back again, not at all," the man told Rudaw. "We faced hardship in the prime of our youth."

"We travelled from one country to the other, experiencing boats and the sea. It is difficult to experience all of these," he said.

Every year, thousands of Kurds, mainly young people, try to reach Europa
Europa

...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
in hope of a better life. They are driven to leave their homes by unemployment, lack of opportunities, and political uncertainty.

Rwanga Foundation and Denmark signed an agreement for the two-year program in February 2024. Asylum seekers can register for the $1.5 million program through the Danish government, Iraq's diplomatic mission, or through international organizations.

After the training, some of the applicants could receive financial support ranging from $3,000 to $4,000.

"We want them to depend on themselves," Khubaib Nadr, the head of Rwanga's projects in Halabja province, told Rudaw.

"We hope they can find a job or open their businesses. We also provide financial aid to some of them," he said.

Link

Iraq

Iraq sentences 3 to six years in prison for promoting Ba’ath party

2024-01-14

[Rudaw] A Baghdad court on Thursday sentenced three people to six years in prison for promoting the ideology of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party.

The suspects were sentenced by Baghdad’s Karkh criminal court for "publishing posts on social media and hanging posters on walls glorifying the former regime," according to a statement from the Iraqi judiciary.

The Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party ruled Iraq from 1968 until 2003 when a United States-led invasion toppled its leader Hussein. The party is now banned in Iraq and Article 7 of the constitution prohibits adopting, glorifying or promoting symbols and propaganda of the former regime.

The Iraqi National Security Service in late December announced that ten people in Kirkuk were sentenced to five years in prison each for glorifying the fallen regime.

Hussein and his regime committed numerous crimes against humanity, including the Anfal genocide campaign against the Kurds, which reached its peak in 1988 with the Halabja chemical attack, which instantly killed 5,000 people and injured 10,000.

Hussein was executed before his trial for the Anfal crimes was concluded. He had been sentenced to death in an earlier trial for the killing of 148 Shiites. He was hanged on December 30, 2006.

Notice: Trying to get property 'id' of non-object in /var/www/html/rantburg/ajax/refsorg.php on line 44

Link

Iraq

Iraq to resume excavations at southern mass graves in 2024: Official

2023-12-14

[RUDAW] The Iraqi government has announced that it will resume excavation works in 2024 for the first time in five years at mass grave sites in the deserts of Samawah in the southern Muthanna province.

Mass graves in the deserts of southern Iraq contain the remains of countless Kurdish civilians, including women and kiddies, killed during former dictator Saddam Hussein’s campaign of extermination in the late 1980s known as the Anfal, launched to punish the Kurds for rebelling against his regime.

"Whenever we are informed by the government, eyewitnesses or survivors of the existence of a mass grave, we immediately form a technical team to search," Dhargham Kamil, in charge of the mass graves department at the Iraqi Martyrs Institute, told Rudaw.

"Our plan for the year 2024 is to excavate mass graves dating back to the Baath regime era," he added.

One of the notorious locations where the graves are located is in Shaikiya, around 80 km southwest of Samawah, the capital of Muthanna province near the Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
n border.

Fahd Nasir al-Zeyadi is a villager in the Shaikiya deserts. He is an eyewitness and says there are many mass graves in their region that have not been discovered by the government of Iraq.

"The mass graves date back to the 80s. During Saddam's rule, no one dared to get close to them. After the collapse of Saddam, people started to learn that they were mass graves," al-Zeyadi said.

"In the past, this region used to be a prohibited zone. Some people used to have farms there. They would not dare even visit their farms or cultivate them," he added.

The eyewitness explained that there are mass graves that have not yet been discovered.

"In the Saibiya area, there are mass graves. There are mass graves in the Nugra Salman area also. They are not yet discovered. But there are," he said.

The Anfal campaign took place over eight phases — beginning in 1986 and reaching its peak in 1988 with the Halabja genocide that killed 5,000 people and injured another 10,000. It culminated in the closing weeks of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88).

More than 182,000 people are thought to have died.

Political dissent was not tolerated under the Baathists. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds and Shiites were disappeared, trucked to Iraq’s southern deserts, and murdered.

Link

Iraq

Sulaimani security forces arrest 55 ISIS suspects

2023-11-20

[Rudaw] Security forces (Asayish) in Sulaimani on Friday announced the arrest of 55 Islamic State

Link

Iraq

Iraqi Ministry incorporates study of Baath Party's ''Crimes'' in university curriculum

2023-08-17

The past is prologue, relegated to schoolchild recitations...

[Shafaq News] The Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research decided to introduce the study of the "crimes" attributed to the Arab Socialist Baath Party into the syllabi of both public and private universities.

The subject, under the title: "Crimes of the defunct Ba'ath Party," encompasses various academic disciplines, including law, political science, psychology, and sociology.

This initiative aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the historical and political context surrounding the actions of the Baath Party in Iraq.

The Ba'ath Party in Iraq was a political party that ruled the country from 1968 to 2003. It was founded in 1951 by Fuad al-Rikabi and was based on the ideology of Ba'athism, a mixture of Arab nationalism, pan-Arabism, Arab socialism, and anti-imperialism.

The Ba'ath Party first came to power in Iraq in 1963 but was tossed a few months later. It regained control in 1968 and remained in power until the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies. During its time in power, the Ba'ath Party was responsible for several human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
abuses, including the Anfal genocide, the Halabja chemical attack, and the invasion of Kuwait.

The Ba'ath Party was banned in Iraq after the 2003 invasion but continues to exist underground. It is estimated that there are still a few thousand Ba'ath Party members in Iraq, but they have no significant political power.

The party's leader, Saddam Hussein, had absolute power over the country. He was captured by U.S. forces on December 13, 2003, and executed by hanging on December 30, 2006.

Link

Iraq

Kurdistan’s Counter-Terrorism Unit announces death of PKK commander in Turkish airstrike

2023-08-10

[Shafaq News] The Counter-Terrorism Unit in the Kurdistan region on Wednesday reported the death of a security official from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in a ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
<del>Arclight</del> airstrike

...KABOOM!...
targeting the Dukan area in Sulaymaniyah.

"A ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish drone targeted at 13:00 a vehicle affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party near the village of Gulala in the Mawat district of Sulaymaniyah, resulting in the death of the party’s intelligence official and injuring two other members," an official statement said.

"Another ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish drone targeted at 15:30 another PKK vehicle in the village of Qalat in the Khalkan area in the Sulaymaniyah governorate, leading to the death of a PKK member and injuring two others."

Earlier on Wednesday, a ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish military drone targeted a civilian vehicle on the outskirts of Sulaymaniyah, injuring two civilians.

Serwan Sirhad Khalifa, the administrator of Dukan district, told Shafaq News Agency’s correspondent that "an unmanned aerial vehicle," targeted a civilian "Jeep" transporting civilians on the road connecting the Dukan district with the Khalkan area in the village of "Qalat."

He added that one of the injured persons is Halabja-born, and the other is a Syrian Kurd.

#Turkish UAV targets civilian vehicle near al-Sulaymaniyah
Read more: https://t.co/EtgjI9LXUK
— SHAFAQ News (@Shafaqnews) August 9, 2023

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More