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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.

The ISIL (ISIS) group has claimed responsibility for a twin suicide bombing – the deadliest in nearly three years – that ripped through a crowded market in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing 32 people and wounding 110 others.

Iraq’s Cabinet members voted unanimously Tuesday to postpone this year’s general elections from June 6 until October 10, according to the state news agency INA.

The US will withdraw more than a third of its troops from Iraq within weeks, its top Middle East commander has said.

The COVID-19 pandemic is aggravating deep-rooted economic, social and political challenges in Iraq, but elections in 2021 – if credible - could open a new chapter for the Middle East nation after years of conflict and strife, the UN’s top official in the country said Wednesday. 

Demonstrators lobbed petrol bombs at Basra's parliament building to decry government inaction following the killing of two activists. It's the most violent incident in the southern city since protests erupted in October.

As Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi prepares for his first meeting with US President Donald Trump this week, attacks on American targets by pro-Iranian fighters have been on the rise.