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Iraq

Why Authoritarians Like Saddam Hussein Confound U.S. Presidents

NY Times Iraq - Wed, 02/28/2024 - 13:04
A C.I.A. capable of making a mistake on the scale of its miss about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction was not part of Saddam Hussein’s worldview.
Categories: Iraq

'Uncommitted' Michigan Voters Send Signal to Biden on Gaza Cease-Fire

Voice of America - Wed, 02/28/2024 - 09:31
As negotiators push to secure a temporary cease-fire deal that would halt the Gaza war before Ramadan begins, a message from Michiganders signaling anger at President Joe Biden's support of Israel's campaign that has killed almost 30,000 Palestinians. Early results show that 13% of Democratic primary voters in the critical swing state, home to a large Arab American constituency, marked their primary ballots as "uncommitted" on the president. White House Bureau Chief Patsy...
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VOA Denounces Iran for Convicting VOA Persian Journalists of 'Propaganda' Crimes

Voice of America - Wed, 02/28/2024 - 09:02
WASHINGTON — The Voice of America’s acting director has denounced Iran for convicting a number of VOA Persian journalists in absentia for the alleged crime of spreading antigovernment propaganda. The convictions came to light last week, when hacking group Edaalat Ali published Iranian judiciary documents showing that a Tehran Revolutionary Court handed guilty verdicts to dozens of Persian journalists from VOA and other Western news outlets in a secret 2022 trial. In a Tuesday statement,...
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Iran’s Proxies Curtail Attacks on American Bases in Iraq and Syria After U.S. Strikes

NY Times Iraq - Wed, 02/28/2024 - 04:29
Tehran, wary of igniting open warfare with Washington, has told militia groups it backs to curtail assaults on targets such as military installations, Iranian and American officials say.
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UN: If No Cease-Fire, 'Widespread Famine' in Gaza Is Near Certain

Voice of America - Wed, 02/28/2024 - 04:13
New York — Several United Nations humanitarian officials warned Tuesday that there is a high risk of conflict-induced famine in the Gaza Strip if the war does not stop soon.  "If nothing is done, we fear widespread famine in Gaza is almost inevitable, and the conflict, which since October has claimed the lives of almost 30,000 people and injured more than 70,000, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, will have many more victims," said Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the...
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UN Reports Medical Evacuation Convoy in Gaza Blocked by Israeli Forces

Voice of America - Tue, 02/27/2024 - 21:36
geneva — The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has accused Israeli forces of blocking a medical evacuation of hospital patients in Gaza, preventing them from reaching another medical facility in the Rafah area bordering Egypt for several hours Sunday. OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said Tuesday that the medical convoy was transporting 24 patients, including one pregnant woman and one mother and newborn, from Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis. “Despite prior...
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Analysts: Lebanon Bracing for More Deadly Conflict With Israel

Voice of America - Tue, 02/27/2024 - 21:35
Amman, Jordan — Lebanon is bracing for more deadly conflict, analysts say, as Israel launches its deepest airstrikes inside the country in years. Israel’s airstrike Monday on Baalbek, in the Beka’a Valley deep inside Lebanon, is the most significant, they say, since the one that killed top Hamas official Saleh Al-Arouri in the capital, Beirut, in early January. The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it shot down an Israeli drone over Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold where it...
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Iran Court Changes Jail Time to Home Confinement for Pop Singer

Voice of America - Tue, 02/27/2024 - 03:42
tehran, iran — An Iranian court has changed the sentence against a pop singer who criticized the mandatory headscarf for women to home confinement instead of jail time, due to health issues, his lawyer said. Mehdi Yarrahi, 42, was arrested in August for releasing an "illegal song" that challenged "the morals and customs of Islamic society." He was released on bail in October. In January, the court sentenced Yarrahi to "a total of two years and eight months in...
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Greece Takes Helm in EU Naval Mission in Red Sea  

Voice of America - Tue, 02/27/2024 - 03:24
ATHENS, Greece — Greece on Monday formally agreed to participate in and lead a European Union maritime security operation in the Red Sea to protect commercial shipping from attacks by Houthi militants in Yemen. A security committee led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis ordered the participation of a Greek frigate in the Aspides operation — named for the Greek word for “shield” — that was launched last week. The mission will be run from a military base in Larissa, in central Greece,...
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Watchdog Report: Iran Has Further Increased Its Total Stockpile of Uranium

Voice of America - Mon, 02/26/2024 - 22:47
vienna — Iran has further increased its total stockpile of uranium, according to a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog seen by The Associated Press on Monday, and it continues to bar the agency's most seasoned inspectors from monitoring its nuclear program, The International Atomic Energy Agency also said in a second confidential report, distributed to member states, that Tehran made no progress in explaining the presence of man-made uranium particles found at two locations. The IAEA...
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Gaza Conflict Looms Large at UN Human Rights Council

Voice of America - Mon, 02/26/2024 - 18:37
Geneva — Amid deteriorating conditions in Gaza, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has renewed his call for a humanitarian cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave. He is also calling for the unconditional release of all hostages abducted by Hamas militants during their attack on southern Israel on October 7. “Nothing can justify Hamas’s deliberate killing, injuring, torturing, and kidnapping of civilians, the use of sexual violence—or the indiscriminate launching of rockets towards...
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Palestinian PM Submits Government's Resignation

Voice of America - Mon, 02/26/2024 - 16:54
JERUSALEM — The Palestinian prime minister announced the resignation of his government on Monday, paving the way for a shake-up in the Palestinian Authority, which the U.S. hopes will eventually take on a role in postwar Gaza.  Many obstacles remain to making a revamped Palestinian Authority a reality. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces were driven from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, has made clear that he would like the PA to govern the enclave after the war. But it is deeply...
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US Airman Dies After Setting Himself Afire Outside Israeli Embassy in Washington

Voice of America - Mon, 02/26/2024 - 04:09
WASHINGTON — A U.S. military service member who had set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington over the weekend, in an apparent act of protest against the war in Gaza, has died, local police said Monday.  Officer Lee Lepe, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department, confirmed the U.S. airman's death.   The Pentagon said that the death was a "tragic event" and that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was following the situation. Pentagon...
Categories: Iraq