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Washington has blamed Iran-backed paramilitary groups for increasingly regular rocketing and shelling of bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq and of the area around the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

NATO has agreed "in principle" to take over some of the training activities carried out by the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State terror group in Iraq, according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

After two months of political deadlock, Iraqi President Barham Salih on Saturday appointed Mohammed Allawi to replace caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who resigned in late November in the face of widespread anti-government protests.

Islamic State has begun to reassert itself in its heartlands in the Middle East and continues to seek opportunities to strike in the west, the United Nations has said. A report to the UN security council based on recent intelligence from member states describes how the group is mounting increasingly bold insurgent attacks in Iraq and Syria, calling and planning for the breakout of its fighters from detention facilities and exploiting the weaknesses of local security forces.

The new leader of Islamic State has been confirmed as Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, according to officials from two intelligence services. He is one of the terror group’s founding members and has led the enslavement of Iraq’s Yazidi minority and has overseen operations around the globe.

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has said German troops are ready to stay in Iraq — should the Iraqi government wish it. The German parliament has also signaled its support for troops to stay put.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has told the U.S. secretary of state to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq, according to a statement released Friday.

Members of the U.S.-led Coalition against Islamic State are pulling troops from Iraq as training of both the Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga are paused due to security concerns and uncertainty over the future of the multinational mission.

The Pentagon is immediately sending 750 more troops to the Middle East after pro-Iranian protesters tried to storm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday.

The State Department plans to dramatically downsize the number of American personnel in Iraq, according to a memo sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and obtained by CNN.