Key Takeaways:
Iraqi Politicians Meet Foreign Counterparts; Nechirvan Barzani Elected President of the Kurdistan Region – On May 23, Iraqi President Barham Salih arrived in Jordan for a tripartite meeting including Jordanian King Abdullah II, Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. On May 25, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in Baghdad and met with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, President Barham Salih, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Mohammed al-Halbousi. On May 26, Zarif met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hakim. On May 27, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi arrived in Doha to meet with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. On May 28, Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was elected the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). On May 28, Iraqi President Barham Salih met with Turkish President Recep Erdo?an in Istanbul. On May 28, Iraqi Speaker of the House of Representatives Mohammed al-Halbousi met with Jordanian King Abdullah II. On May 29, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu arrived in Baghdad to meet Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Ali al-Hakim. On May 30, Iraqi President Barham Salih and Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Ali al-Hakim arrived in Saudi Arabia for meetings. more…
Militant Attacks Continue; Multiple Fires Rage in Iraq with ISIS Claiming Some as Arson Attacks; Iran Constructing New Iraq-Syria Border Crossing; Turkey Conducts Ground Offensive against PKK in Northern Iraq; US Renditioned Foreign ISIS Militants to Iraq from NE Syria – On May 24, Fox News reported that Iran is currently constructing a new border crossing on the Iraqi-Syrian border. On May 24, local witnesses and a security source notified Shafaaq News that unknown gunmen had set fire to wheat fields in the town of al-Jafar al-Haram, south of Tikrit. This fire is just one of many that have recently affected farms in Ninewa, Diyala, Kirkuk and Najaf. On May 24, ISIS fighters attacked a group of civilians in Salah ad-Din and set their crop fields on fire. Three were killed and three were wounded. On May 25, an IED killed and wounded locals and firefighters who were trying to extinguish a fire ravaging fields in the town of al-Abbasi in Kirkuk Province. Between four to five people were killed. The same day, in the farmland surrounding the town of Sharqat in Salah ad-Din Province, five farmers were killed and two wounded in twin IED explosions while trying to harvest their crops. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack. On May 28, the Iraqi Civil Defense announced that a total of 139 fires affected the provinces of Salah ad-Din, Kirkuk and Ninewa. ISIS claimed responsibility for 13 of these fires. On May 30 in the Daquq district of Kirkuk, civilians rushed to extinguish a burning field, but were ambushed by ISIS fighters. One person was killed in the attack, and between seven to nine injured. On May 24, the Iraqi army clashed with a popular mobilization unit in the town of al-Ba’aj, west of Mosul. On May 26, a vehicle-borne IED detonated in the town of Oweinat in Ninewa Province killing five people. On May 26, a roadside IED activated in the town of Kubaysah, west of Ramadi. The device killed one member of the Popular Mobilization Units. On May 29, an Iraqi court sentenced a French and Tunisian national to death, raising the total number of French nationals to seven after on May 28, an Iraqi court ordered death penalties for two French nationals who fought for ISIS. On May 28, Turkish commandos entered northern Iraq after an initial artillery and aerial bombardment. On May 28, a vehicle-borne IED exploded between Baiji and Haditha. The blast killed two members of the Popular Mobilization Units and injured one other. On May 29, Reuters reported that U.S. forces secretly moved suspected foreign ISIS fighters from Syria to Iraq for trial in 2017 and 2018. more…
Poverty Rates Rises is Diwaniya; Children with ISIS Links Repatriated to Turkey; Overcrowding and Abuse at Dhi Qar Prisons – On May 16, the World Bank published a report titled The Reconstruction of Iraq after 2003. According to the report, reconstruction in Iraq provides “few successes and many failures from which the international community can learn.” On May 27, a member of the Diwaniyah Governorate Council stated that the poverty rate in Diwaniyah had reached 60%, a historic record for the area. On May 27, the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights in Dhi Qar reported on a disturbing level of overcrowding in two prisons in Nasiriyah. On May 29, the Iraqi government repatriated 188 Turkish children born to suspected ISIS members to Turkey. On May 30, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) issued a report stating that the first 10 families are returning to the Assyrian town of Batnaya in Ninewa Province thanks to the efforts of the UNDP to rehabilitate the town. more…
For more background on most of the institutions, key actors, political parties, and locations mentioned in our takeaways or in the stories that follow, see the ISHM Reference Guide.