A Mysterious Pipeline Closure Is Bankrupting Iraqi Kurds Iaqi Kurds’ dreams of energy-financed political independence are taking a beating — and not just because of low oil prices. Since the middle of February, Iraqi Kurdistan’s tenuous export link to the outside world has been totally shut down. As recently as January, the Kurds were exporting 600,000 barrels a day in
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Islamic State prepares its murderous bombings with chilling care and attention to detail. Several months ago, the Iraqi security forces discovered a plan to bomb al-Khadamiya, an ancient quarter of Baghdad at the centre of which is one of the holiest Shia shrines. Isis operatives first spent a month watching the checkpoints protecting the district, looking for weaknesses. Then
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Iraq has signed a contract with Italy's Trevi Group worth 273 million euros ($296 million) to reinforce and maintain the Mosul hydro-electric dam for a period of 18 months, state television reported on Wednesday. Italy has said it plans to send 450 troops to protect the site of dam, which is 3.6 km (2.2 miles) long and close to territory held by Islamic State militants in the c
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Key Take-Away: ISIS conducted a large-scale campaign against civilian and military targets across Iraq between February 25 and February 29. Two ISIS attackers detonated their Suicide Vests (SVESTs) at a mosque in Shuala in northwestern Baghdad on February 25, setting off a series of SVEST attacks across Iraq. Deadly SVEST attacks targeted Sadr City on February 27 and the Abu Gh
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The head of OPEC said this week his organization doesn’t know how to coexist with the U.S. shale oil industry. “Shale oil in the U.S. — I don’t know how we are going to live together,” Abdalla Salem El-Badri, OPEC secretary-general, told an audience of oil and gas industry executives at the annual IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas. OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Ex
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