Iraq's war against IS terrorism | Updates and Discussions

[Hindustani78]

Reuters, Baghdad

Shia Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) members and an Iraqi army military vehicle are seen on the outskirts of Tal Afar. (REUTERS Photo)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...at-tal-afar/story-fh13dgk44bHxKs7kxi9AkI.html


Hundreds of additional troops were sent into al-’Ayadiya on Wednesday, as Iraqi forces came under increasing pressure to clear Islamic State fighters from their final position in the group’s former stronghold of Tal Afar, military officials said.

Iraqi forces have been facing an unexpectedly tough battle in the small town, 11 km (7 miles) northwest of Tal Afar.

“We have to finish the battle before Eid, whatever it takes,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Adnan al-Saidi. “We are coming under tremendous pressure from top commanders.” The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha begins on Thursday evening.

“We will take back al-Ayadiya even if we have to level all houses and buildings used by Daesh,” Saidi said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

The fighting in al-Ayadiya has been described by some Iraqi troops as “multiple times worse” than the battle for Mosul, the former de facto IS capital in northern Iraq. The city was flattened in nine months of grinding urban warfare before it was recaptured in July.

 

[Serpentine]

You think ISIS terrorists are tough? This is what they become after being captured by Iraq's forces:

https://twitter.com/x/status/903385249324945411

Reuters, Baghdad

Shia Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) members and an Iraqi army military vehicle are seen on the outskirts of Tal Afar. (REUTERS Photo)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...at-tal-afar/story-fh13dgk44bHxKs7kxi9AkI.html


Hundreds of additional troops were sent into al-’Ayadiya on Wednesday, as Iraqi forces came under increasing pressure to clear Islamic State fighters from their final position in the group’s former stronghold of Tal Afar, military officials said.

Iraqi forces have been facing an unexpectedly tough battle in the small town, 11 km (7 miles) northwest of Tal Afar.

“We have to finish the battle before Eid, whatever it takes,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Adnan al-Saidi. “We are coming under tremendous pressure from top commanders.” The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha begins on Thursday evening.

“We will take back al-Ayadiya even if we have to level all houses and buildings used by Daesh,” Saidi said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

The fighting in al-Ayadiya has been described by some Iraqi troops as “multiple times worse” than the battle for Mosul, the former de facto IS capital in northern Iraq. The city was flattened in nine months of grinding urban warfare before it was recaptured in July.

Entire Al-Ayadiya and Ninawah province liberated, news already outdated.

 

[HAIDER]

You think ISIS terrorists are tough? This is what they become after being captured by Iraq's forces:

https://twitter.com/x/status/903385249324945411

Entire Al-Ayadiya and Ninawah province liberated, news already outdated.

What's there nationality , they don't seem Iraqi ????

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1154021/middle-east




BAGHDAD: Iraq’s victory over the Daesh group in Tal Afar was the latest in a string of gains against the jihadist group, but Iraqi forces still face massive challenges, experts say.

In 2014, as Daesh staged a rapid advance across northern Iraq, police and military personnel abandoned their posts to the jihadists with barely a fight.

That allowed the group to establish its “caliphate” across parts of Syria and a third of Iraq’s territory including second city Mosul.

Today, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, who took office three months after the 2014 military debacle, says the Iraqi state is back, stronger and better organized.

Under the Shiite premier’s command and backed by a US-led multinational coalition, Iraqi forces have retaken Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah and in July, after a gruelling nine-month battle, Mosul.

On Thursday, Abadi announced the recapture of the town of Tal Afar and surrounding areas, bringing the whole of Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, under government control.

“Our battle plans are now being taught in military academies, including tactics for urban guerrilla warfare and demining,” said interior ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan.

Andrew A. Croft, deputy commander of the US-led coalition, praised Iraqi forces for their achievements.

“The fight would have challenged almost any army in the world. The fact that the Iraqis could do it has given their security forces additional confidence,” he told AFP.

“They have shown themselves to be capable to maneuver against Daesh in all locations in Iraq.”

During the fight for Mosul, described by an American general in Baghdad as “the toughest urban battle since World War II,” Iraqi troops suffered heavy losses.

But they have now forced Daesh out of all its Iraqi territories except the town of Hawija, 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of Baghdad, and a few pockets of territory near the border with Syria.

In doing so, they have repaired some of the damage done three years ago and regained “the confidence of their fellow citizens and internationally,” said Jassem Hanoun, an Iraqi military expert.

Coalition officials say Iraqi-led decision-making and better sharing of intelligence between Baghdad and the US-led coalition have allowed for quicker, more targeted attacks.

But Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jafari warned on August 26 that “victory in Iraq will not mean an end to the danger posed by IS.”

He said Iraq would continue its military cooperation with the coalition, saying it needed “preventive security” against “terrorist cells working in the shadows.”

Hanoun said Daesh would likely go back to its “original mode of operation,” attacking targets such as residential districts and markets.

But a lack of coordination and organization means the security services struggle to cope with such attacks, he said.
The question of whether and how the coalition will continue to operate in Iraq is a hot political topic both for Baghdad and for Washington, which in 2011 finally withdrew its troops eight years after leading an invasion of the country.

Abadi’s cooperation with the US poses a pressing dilemma: what will become of the Hashed Al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition, key to the fight against Daesh but dominated by Shiite militias backed by Iran?

Most Shiite leaders call for the Hashed, currently under the command of the prime minister, to remain in its current form.

But paramilitary groups have played a problematic role in Iraqi politics as far back as the 1930s, according to Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, professor of international history at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

The Hashed “is only the most recent version of a national politico-security configuration that has been combined with a sectarian component since 2003,” he said.

The Iraq specialist said the Hashed’s existence was an “admission of the failure of an army trained by US administrations at great financial and material cost over 14 years.”

Experts say alleged abuses both by government and Hashed fighters battling Daesh will complicate efforts to regain the confidence of Iraq’s Sunni minority, marginalized and out of power since the 2003 fall of dictator Saddam Hussein.

On top of the sectarian question, Iraq faces another challenge to its national unity: a referendum on independence for its autonomous Kurdish region, set for September 25.

The US and coalition members are strongly opposed to the poll, saying it could distract from the fight against Daesh.
Baghdad is also set to hold provincial and parliamentary elections in spring 2018, posing a test for Abadi.

The premier has “made the success of the military campaign a selling point as a way to prove his ‘reforms’ are working,” said Kirk Sowell, a political risk analyst and publisher of Inside Iraqi Politics.

But Abadi’s campaign could suffer from low oil prices, which have hit the Iraqi state’s coffers hard.

Sowell said that “as the election will not be held sooner than next April or May, by then the lousy economy could weigh more heavily on voters’ minds” than this summer’s military victories.

 

[Hindustani78]

***************

Iraqi security forces and members of the Saraya Al-Salam (Peace Brigades), a group formed by Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, inspect the site of suicide bombings at a power plant north of the capital Baghdad, Saturday. — AFP

7 die in attack on Iraqi power plant
http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/516445/World/Mena/Iraq

SAMARRA, Iraq — Suicide bombers dressed as members of the Iraqi security forces killed seven people and wounded 12 in an attack on a power plant north of Baghdad on Saturday, officials and a survivor said.

Wearing military uniforms and armed with grenades, the three attackers entered the facility in Samarra, about 100 km north of the capital, said Gen. Qassem Al-Tamimi, head of a police unit in charge of protecting the vital installations.

A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one of the bombers detonated his explosives belt while the two others were shot dead by security reinforcements who rushed to the scene.

He said seven people were killed and 12 wounded in the attack.

"At 2:00 am we were woken up by shots being fired," Abdel Salam Ahmed, one of the employees who was hit by gunfire in the legs, told AFP from his hospital bed.

He recalled running with colleagues away from the shooting.

"We ran into one of them (the militants). Some of us hid while two others kept running toward the exit, shouting 'we are employees' but they (the attackers) shot them dead," he said.

Prefabricated houses where employees were sleeping were destroyed as explosions rang out in the power plant, an AFP reporter said.

Several tanker trucks were also damaged and the remains of one of the suicide bombers lay on the ground, the reporter said.

The police official said security reinforcements evacuated the employees.

The attack comes as Iraqi Shiites mark the first day of the Eid Al-Adha feast.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Daesh (the so-called IS) militant group frequently carries out suicide bombings in Iraq.

In 2014, Daesh captured almost a third of Iraqi territory in a lightning offensive. It now only holds two pockets of territory in the country. — AFP

 

[Hindustani78]

By Hussein al-Amir

BAGHDAD
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/daesh-attack-on-power-plant-leaves-15-dead-in-n-iraq/900046

At least 15 people were killed and 11 more injured on Saturday when Daesh terrorists staged a suicide attack on a power plant in Iraq’s northern Saladin province, according to local security sources.

"Joint security forces killed eight Daesh suicide attackers who attempted to storm the Al-Jalesiyya power plant in Saladin's city of Samarra," an Iraqi military source, speaking anonymously due to restrictions on talking to media, told Anadolu Agency.

According to Police First Lieutenant Numaan al-Jubouri, seven other people -- mostly security personnel -- were also killed in the attack, while 11 others were injured.

"Security in the area has since been stepped up, while army reinforcements have been brought in from Samarra," al-Jubouri told Anadolu Agency.

Saturday’s suicide attack comes amid preparations by the Iraqi army for fresh military operations aimed at recapturing Kirkuk’s Al-Hawija district and Saladin’s Sharqat district, both of which are still held by Daesh.

In June, the Iraqi army retook the northern city of Mosul, regional capital of Nineveh province, from the terrorist group after a nine-month campaign.

And in August, Daesh was driven from Nineveh’s Tal Afar district following a weeklong army operation.

**

By Ali Jawad and Ibrahim Saleh

BAGHDAD
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iraqi-forces-gear-up-for-fresh-anti-daesh-ops-in-kirkuk/900178

Iraq’s military has redeployed troops from Baghdad to Kirkuk for a fresh campaign aimed at retaking Kirkuk’s Al-Hawija district from the Daesh terrorist group, the Defense Ministry said Saturday.

In a statement, the ministry said that additional units of the Iraqi Federal Police (IFP) had been sent from the capital to participate in the upcoming operation.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Police Captain Jabbar Hassan said that army troops and IFP units had arrived in Mosul’s southern Al-Qayyarah district on Saturday after being withdrawn from recently-liberated Tal Afar in Nineveh province.

According to Hassan, these forces will be employed in the planned campaign to retake Al-Hawija in southern Kirkuk.

“Most of the troops who participated in the liberation of Tal Afar will participate in the Hawija campaign,” Army First Lieutenant Fayeq Numan al-Salim told Anadolu Agency.

Along with army and police units, the Al-Hawija campaign will also likely include Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi (a Shia fighting force incorporated into the army last year) and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, according to the military officer.

“Preparations for the campaign began several weeks ago, but they were stepped up following the recent recapture of Tal Afar,” al-Salim said.

He went on to predict a “speedy victory” over Daesh in Al-Hawija, “similar what we saw in Tal Afar”.

Late last month, Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition captured the Tal Afar district in Nineveh province following a 10-day campaign.

A predominantly Turkmen district, Tal Afar was overrun by the terrorist group -- along with large territories in northern and western Iraq -- in mid-2014.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...f-offensive/story-KXQ3cgoGzZppSGYbkAurmO.html

The Iraqi air force and the U.S.-led coalition have stepped up a campaign of airstrikes on the Islamic State group-held town of Hawija ahead of a planned ground assault there

world Updated: Sep 09, 2017 18:26 IST

Members of Iraqi Army are seen during the war between Iraqi army and Shi'ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) against the Islamic State militants in al-'Ayadiya, northwest of Tal Afar, Iraq August 28, 2017.(REUTERS FIle Photo)


The Iraqi air force and the U.S.-led coalition have stepped up a campaign of airstrikes on the Islamic State group-held town of Hawija ahead of a planned ground assault there, according to Iraq’s minister of defense Saturday.

Iraqi forces are pushing IS out of the remaining pockets of territory the group holds in the country after forces backed by the U.S.-led coalition retook Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul in July.

“There are large operations underway ahead of the liberation of Hawija and surrounding areas,” Iraqi Defense Minister Erfan al-Hayali told The Associated Press, explaining that his forces were working closely with Iraqi Kurdish forces known as the Peshmerga as well as the coalition.

Last month, the Iraqi military command overseeing the IS fight declared victory in Tal Afar, west of Mosul and announced Hawija, 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Baghdad, would be the next battle against the extremists.

The stepped-up coalition strikes are targeting IS territory in western Anbar as well as Hawija, said U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, coalition spokesman.

“Coming off of their victory in Tal Afar (Iraqi security forces) will use a lot of the same techniques,” Dillon said. “Simultaneous attacks proved to be very successful as did operations ahead of time to let civilians know what to do.”

Defense Minister al-Hayali said his forces began radio broadcasts and leaflet drops on Hawija warning civilians of the planned push.

The United Nations said the operation to retake Tal Afar forced some 20,000 people to flee, according to counts by Iraqi authorities. When the fight for Hawija begins, the U.N. estimates some 60,000 people will be affected.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iraqi-army-begins-mop-up-operations-in-diyala-province/905306

By Hussein al-Amir, Mohamed Walid and Sarhad Shakir

DIYALA/NINEVEH, Iraq

The Iraqi army on Saturday began “large-scale” operations aimed at mopping up the remaining Daesh presence in the east-central Diyala province, according to security sources.

“Troops from the army’s 5th Division, accompanied by Federal Police units and Hashd al-Shaabi fighters, began large-scale operations on Saturday morning aimed at hunting down Daesh militants still in Diyala,” Police Captain Habib al-Shemmari told Anadolu Agency.

Incorporated into the Iraqi military last year, the Hashd al-Shaabi is a Shia fighting force that has participated in most of the army’s recent anti-Daesh operations.

Supported by the Iraqi air force, mop-up operations in Diyala were launched along three separate axes, targeting the Al-Thalab, Qizlaq and Al-Hadedeen Valley areas, “where Daesh cells are still active”, according to al-Shemmari.

Recent weeks have seen several attacks by Daesh militants on security personnel deployed in Diyala, which lies to the immediate northeast of capital Baghdad.

The army is also in the process of deploying troops to the Al-Shirqat and Hawija districts -- respectively located in the Saladin and Kirkuk provinces -- with the aim of extirpating the Daesh presence in northern Iraq.

In a related development, at least eight Daesh militants and one pro-government tribal fighter were killed in clashes in the northern Mosul province, according to Army Colonel Ahmed al-Jubouri.

“Clashes erupted Saturday between Daesh terrorists and Hashd al-Ashaeri fighters in Mosul’s southeastern village of Al-Adla and the Nimrod district,” al-Jubouri told Anadolu Agency.

The Hashd al-Ashaeri is a pro-government fighting force made up of Sunni tribal volunteers, who, like the Hashd al-Shaabi, fight alongside the Iraqi army.

Daesh, which overran much of northern and western Iraq in mid-2014, has recently suffered a string of major defeats at the hands of Iraqi security forces and a U.S.-led military coalition.

Late last month, the terrorist group was driven from the Tal Afar district in the northern Nineveh province. And in July, the city of Mosul -- once the capital of Daesh’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” -- fell to the army after a nine-month campaign.

***************

http://aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-troops-amass-in-n-iraq-in-advance-of-anti-daesh-ops/905486


U.S. troops have been deployed along the line between Iraq’s northern Nineveh and Kirkuk provinces to support a planned Iraqi army campaign to retake a district of Kirkuk from the Daesh terrorist group, a Peshmerga source said Saturday.

“Large concentrations of U.S. troops have arrived in the Al-Qaraj area some 90 kilometers southeast of Mosul,” Younis Kuran, a Peshmerga officer, told Anadolu Agency.

Armed with “smart” artillery batteries, the U.S. troops are there to support a planned Iraqi army campaign to recapture Kirkuk’s Hawija district, according to Kuran.

“U.S. troops and vehicles have converged on the area and are now preparing to shell the targeted district,” the Peshmerga officer said.

Last week, the Iraqi army began deploying troops to the Shirqat and Hawija districts -- respectively located in the Saladin and Kirkuk provinces -- with the aim of reestablishing control over northern Iraq, much of which was overrun by Daesh in mid-2014.

Central, northern and eastern Kirkuk, meanwhile, have remained under the control of Kurdish forces (Peshmerga and Asayish) since the Iraqi army fled before the terrorist group’s 2014 advance.

Daesh has recently suffered a string of military defeats at the hands of Iraqi security forces and a U.S.-led coalition.

Late last month, the group was driven from the Tal Afar district in the northern Nineveh province. And in July, the city of Mosul -- once the capital of Daesh’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” -- fell to the army after a nine-month campaign.

 

[Mr.Department]

Profesor Ibadi PM of IRAQ :

" We'll defend Iraq against seccionists with military Force "!

Iranian strategist Dr. Sadullah Zarei :

Barzani Regime could be erased for ever

@Serpentine

Can you please confirm his comment ?

 

[Saif al-Arab]

In the ongoing campaign in Western Anbar the city of Anah (nice looking city and surroundings BTW) has been liberated alongside surrounding villages. Operations to liberate Hawija and Shirqat have begun too.

Video of the ongoing special operations near Hawijah:

https://twitter.com/x/status/911284348896333824

 

[SALMAN F]

You think ISIS terrorists are tough? This is what they become after being captured by Iraq's forces:

https://twitter.com/x/status/903385249324945411

Entire Al-Ayadiya and Ninawah province liberated, news already outdated.

Because not all of them are extreme religious

 

[Hindustani78]

http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkey-iraq-to-launch-joint-military-exercise/919283

Turkey and Iraq will launch a joint military exercise on the Turkish-Iraqi border on Tuesday following a controversial referendum in northern Iraq, according to the Turkish military late Monday.

Turkey started its military manoeuvers in southeastern Silopi region on Sept. 18, a week ahead of the referendum on independence in northern Iraq.

On Monday, Iraqis in areas held by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) -- and in a handful of territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad – voted to decide whether to secede from Iraq.

Along with Baghdad, Turkey, the U.S., Iran and the UN have all spoken out against the poll, saying it will only distract from the ongoing fight against Daesh and further destabilize the region.

In a brief statement on its official website, the Turkish General Staff said the third phase of the military exercise will start on Tuesday jointly with the Iraqi military in the Habur border gate, also known as Ibrahim Khalil border crossing, on the Turkish-Iraqi border in Silopi district of Sirnak province.

The area sits to the north of the Syrian and Iraqi borders and contains the Habur border crossing, which provides the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq with its main access point to the outside world.

Across the Syrian frontier from Silopi lies territory controlled by the PKK/PYD. Counter-terrorism operations targeting the PKK on the Turkish side of the border are ongoing, the statement said.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU and U.S. as well as Turkey, although only Turkey has designated the PKK/PYD as a terror group in Syria, where it is used by the U.S.-led coalition to fight Daesh.

 

[Mr.Department]

Here we go, our new guest. ISOF - Iraq

Tonights party in Erbil

https://twitter.com/x/status/912422346954350593

https://twitter.com/x/status/912340776285327361

https://twitter.com/x/status/912321456494612481

https://twitter.com/x/status/912363392001806337

 

[Hindustani78]

SIRNAK, TURKEY - SEPTEMBER 26: Turkish and Iraqi Armed Forces launch a joint military exercise on the Turkish-Iraqi border following a controversial referendum in northern Iraq, in Silopi district of Sirnak province, Turkey on September 26, 2017. ( Fatih Aktaş - Anadolu Agency )

 

[Solomon2]

Iraqi citizens' sentiment may be softening toward Israel
READ IN: العربية
Adnan Abu Zeed September 27, 2017

A Kurdish man holds Israeli and Kurdish flags on Sept. 22, 2017, during a rally to show support for the Sept. 25 independence referendum in Erbil, Iraq. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

ARTICLE SUMMARY
Grass-roots support for improved communications seems to be growing in both Iraq and Israel, though officially they have no diplomatic relations.​

BAGHDAD — Some Iraqis are calling for closer relations with Israel, feeling a common bond of past persecution and a desire for peace and stability. Many people might find two factors cited in this change quite surprising: Iraqis' guilt, and some resentment of Palestinians.

"There is a dramatic shift that has changed [Iraqi] public opinion [toward Israel] as a result of the Palestinians' involvement in supporting the [late Iraqi] dictator Saddam Hussein and thus getting involved in terrorist operations," writer and political analyst Ali Mared al-Asadi told Al-Monitor recently by phone.

"Most Shiites in Iraq have a sense of guilt because they did not support the peaceful Jewish community with whom they lived for hundreds of years in peace and harmony in one homeland, but who were persecuted and displaced during the monarchy [1958-1963] and the Baathist regime [1968-2003] eras.”

Much of the fanaticism and hostility toward Israel appears to have declined in central and southern Baghdad, where the majority of people are Shiite.

On Sept. 9, Asadi wrote, “It is not in the interest of Shiites to antagonize Israel. Shiites and Jews ought to reach understandings based on common humanitarian grounds that guarantee peaceful coexistence in the Middle East.”

Asadi told Al-Monitor by phone, “If we put the influence of Iran and the remnants of the Baathist culture aside, Iraq would have no excuse to keep officially antagonizing Israel, especially since the majority of the Arab states, [even] the Palestinian state itself, hold relations with Tel Aviv.” Asadi apparently was referring to Arab states having contacts or other ties with Tel Aviv, because most Arab states do not formally recognize Israel..

Many Sunnis also seem to favor closer ties. Political analyst Maher Abed Jawdah told Al-Monitor, “Even Iraqi Sunnis are in tune with Sunnis in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf countries in establishing good relations with Israel, mainly because they are driven by the same hate toward Iranian Shiites, who are very hostile against Israel.”

Much of the favorable sentiment in Iraq is coming from Kurds. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports the Kurdish quest for an independent state in northern Iraq. This has pushed some Kurds to promote the idea of openness to Israel and to call for turning their relationship into an official one. Some media outlets even showed Kurdish cities raising the Israeli flag next to the Kurdish flag as they prepared for a Sept. 25 vote on a nonbinding independence referendum, which passed overwhelmingly.

As for Iraq’s official position, Maher said, “The Iraqi state rejects relations with Israel. The influential, Iran-backed Shiite factions in Iraq would not allow any friendlier official stance toward Israel.”

He added, "But the [Iraqi] Shiite public opinion is no longer as hostile to Israel as it was in the past, because of the participation of Arabs, especially Palestinians, in the bombing of Iraq,” he added.

Shuruq al-Abayji, an Iraqi parliamentarian, told Al-Monitor, “There are many individuals in Iraq calling for establishing relations with Israel, though they don't represent the official state position. However, Israel is seeking to galvanize these individual views through special agendas.”

Mithal al-Alusi, a former Iraqi parliamentarian and longtime outspoken advocate of normalizing ties with Israel, sees communication as the key to achieving that goal.

“The need to communicate and have dialogue with everyone at the level of states, parties and individuals, including Israel, is the way to solve problems in the region and achieve a secure future for all peoples,” he told Al-Monitor. "The current communications revolution means everyone has become able to express their opinion freely, regardless of the official stance of a government or a state. Many positions and stances have [become] pro-Israel.”

Linda Menuhin, a Jewish writer and former journalist born in Baghdad and based in Israel, told Al-Monitor by phone of her experience with the issue. “Many of the Iraqis I am in touch with encourage good relations with Israel. Many of them also want to visit Israel and even settle there.”

Aziz, who studied public administration in the United States, added, “I think relations between Israel and Iraq will flourish in the future, and I hope by then I will be the first Israeli ambassador to Iraq."

Found in:KURDISTAN STATE EFFORTS

Adnan Abu Zeed is an Iraqi author and journalist. He holds a degree in engineering technology from Iraq and a degree in media techniques from the Netherlands. ​