Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi gives a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Oct. 5. (Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images) The Iraqi prime minister has held his country together amid war and financial crisis. His next battle is to win re-election. BAGHDAD — On a hot July afternoon in Mosul’s city center, a crowd gathered to celebrate the liberation of the c
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In the coming days, Kirkuk will either explode into open fighting between Kurdish and Iraqi forces or spur a much-needed dialogue between Baghdad and Erbil. On October 12, the oil-rich Iraqi province of Kirkuk came very close to witnessing a major clash between two U.S.-armed militaries -- the federal Iraqi army and the forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The
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The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) controversial referendum on independence has sparked fears of a disruption to Iraq’s northern oil exports amid a firestorm of opposition from the central government in Baghdad, neighboring Turkey and Iran, as well as Western powers. Global oil prices scaled two-year highs last week on concerns that the backlash against the September 2
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The emergence of an independent Kurdish state will continue to face serious hurdles and obstacles. Sheikh Ubaydullah al-Nahri, a prominent religious and tribal leader who is known as the grandfather of Kurdish nationalism, in 1880 established the Kurdish League, an alliance of 200 tribes, and launched a revolt in the Ottoman-Persian border area. He wrote letters to the tsar
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Kurds wave Israeli flags at a Kurdish independence rally. Israel is the only country in the region to support the referendum. Iraqi Kurdish leaders plan to hold a controversial independence referendum on Monday. Kurds are expected to overwhelmingly vote in favor of separating from Iraq. The United States and other allies have warned them not to go ahead. Here's what
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