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With just 46 days until Iraq goes to the polls, the UN Assistance Mission for the country (UNAMI) is stepping up its communications to inform voters about their conduct, Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told the Security Council on Wednesday, stressing that it is up to the political parties themselves to refrain from attempts to distort the results.

U.S. and Iraqi officials are finalizing a shift in the U.S. military mission in Iraq to a purely advisory role by the end of the year, marking the official end of the U.S. combat mission in the country, according to a U.S. official and two people familiar with the issue.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill Thursday that would repeal the authorization of use of military force in Iraq that has been in effect since 2002.  

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) until 27 May 2022, deciding to provide a strengthened United Nations team in advance of the country’s election, to monitor election day and to continue to assist with the vote.

Legislation introduced to the Kurdish parliament on Wednesday has raised the possibility that suspects detained in the years since the extremist group’s collapse could be transferred to a court in the northern city to Erbil to be prosecuted with international backing.

The United States agreed in talks Wednesday with Iraq to remove all remaining combat forces deployed to fight Islamic State extremists, although US forces will still provide training. After a first “strategic dialogue” under President Joe Biden‘s administration, the two nations said that the Iraqi military had made substantial improvements.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday the alliance decide to expand a NATO training mission in Iraq from 500 to around 4,000 personnel while defence ministers of member states held off on making a final decision on NATO's 9,600-strong support mission in Afghanistan. 

The United Nations has warned tensions in Iraq could escalate after a rocket attack killed a foreign contractor for the US military and wounded at least 14 others in Erbil.The raid  was condemned by the United States and its European allies.

NATO defence ministers are set to expand the military alliance’s training mission in Iraq once the coronavirus pandemic eases, senior officials and diplomats said, potentially cementing a broader role for the Atlantic alliance in the Middle East.