Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has said he escaped unhurt after a drone attack on his home inside Baghdad's high-security Green Zone. A drone laden with explosives struck the building, injuring six of his bodyguards in an apparent assassination attempt, officials said.

The groups blamed parties such as the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Independent High Electoral Commission for their loss, as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi due to — in their words — his "suspicious" role in organizing the elections.

Hundreds of Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi supporters protest against ‘fraud’ and call for a recount of the October 10 vote.

Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's party was the biggest winner in an Iraqi election on Monday, increasing the number of seats he holds in parliament, according to initial results, officials and a spokesperson for the Sadrist Movement.

The situation in Afghanistan overshadowed a summit in Baghdad of key regional leaders and French President Emmanuel Macron, who vowed his country would stand firm in Iraq.

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.