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TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) — Iraq declared a "magnificent victory" Wednesday over the Islamic State group in Tikrit, a key step in driving the militants out of their biggest strongholds. Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi made the pronouncement, saying security forces have "accomplished their mission" in the monthlong offensive to rid Saddam Hussein's hometown and the broader Salahuddin province of the militant group. "We have the pleasure, with all our pride, to announce the good news of a magnificent victory," Obeidi said in a video statement. "Here we come to you, Anbar! Here we come to you, Nineveh, and we say...

On a recent Saturday evening, Ahmed al-Shabibi relaxed at a hookah café in England with other Iraqi friends – both Shiite and Sunni Muslims – when the conversation turned to the ongoing battle to reclaim the city of Tikrit from Islamic State jihadists. A Sunni in the group lamented Iranian interference in the fight and boasted that such meddling never would’ve occurred under the former Sunni dictator, Saddam Hussein. Al-Shabibi said he and the others agreed because, “Saddam, as you know, had a very interesting idea of security.” Nostalgia for Saddam is hardly new, but it appears to be reaching...

Families of Jacob Fritz, Johnathan Chism and Shawn Falter claim Tehran orchestrated retaliatory attack The families of three American soldiers killed during a brazen attack in Iraq are suing the Iranian government for allegedly orchestrating the raid. Filed late Monday in US District Court in Washington, the lawsuit says Lt. Jacob Fritz, Specialist Johnathan Chism, and Private First Class Shawn Falter were taken prisoner and then murdered in January 2007 by Iranian-backed Hezbollah agents and the Khazali network, an Iraqi militant group also funded and trained by Iran. The lawsuit says Iran directed the assault on the provincial headquarters in...

Juan Williams: Boehner’s Trip to Israel is RacistPosted By Daniel Greenfield On March 31, 2015 @ 1:03 am In The Point | No Comments “Something something racist.” A Democratic argument from 2008 to 2016.Juan Williams is back and he wants you to know that Boehner’s trip to Israel is racist. Also all trips are racist. And all planes. Especially white planes. The real issue here is the way Boehner is recklessly sowing division along party lines on Israel. He is also — intentionally or not — heightening the silent but simmering racial tensions that increasingly divide Americans on the subject.The...

On the brink of a new Middle Eastern catastrophe: Saudi Arabia sends war planes into Yemen in a terrifying clash with Iran leaving region at boiling point Religious fissure between Sunni and Shia Muslims erupted into conflict Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels 18 civilians were injured after Saudi warplanes targeted Sana’a in Yemen Britain and America supported the Saudi-led military intervention Coalition deployed 100 fighter jets and 150,000 soldiers to fight in region Truly, it is a terrifying development. The great religious fissure between Sunni and Shia Muslims that dominates the Middle East has erupted into...

CAIRO — As America talks to Iran, Saudi Arabia is lashing out against it. The kingdom, Iran’s chief regional rival, is leading airstrikes against an Iranian-backed faction in Yemen; backing a blitz in Idlib, Syria, by jihadists fighting the Iranian-backed Assad regime; and warning Washington not to allow the Iranian-backed militia to capture too much of Iraq during the fight to roll back the Islamic State, according to Arab diplomats familiar with the talks. Through Egypt, a major beneficiary of Saudi aid, the kingdom is backing plans for a combined Arab military force to combat Iranian influence around the region....

Iraqi forces battling to wrest Tikrit from ISIS are now in control of the city, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Tuesday on Iraqiya TV. Al-Abadi, who is also the top military commander, said on state television that the city was liberated. Tikrit had been under ISIS control since June. The push into Tikrit comes days after a series of U.S.-led airstrikes targeted ISIS targets around the city. The airstrikes made it possible for the Iraqi forces to move through the city. Troops reported finding dozens of roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings as they combed the city. At a Cabinet...

Iranian-backed Shiite militias have left the northern Iraq city of Tikrit, a key condition the U.S. demanded before it agreed to begin launching airstrikes Wednesday to support Iraqi forces and try to retake the city from the Islamic State group, the top U.S. general for the Middle East said Thursday. Austin said he witnessed brutality by Shiite militias during his extensive experience leading U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. "I will not -- and I hope we will never -- coordinate or cooperate with Shiite militias," he said, adding a blunt explanation for why the Iranian-led offensive failed: The wrong...

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) traveled to Baghdad on Monday, where he met Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to discuss the political and security situation there, according to the prime minister's office. In another meeting with Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, Boehner affirmed support for Iraq's democratic system and discussed the shared U.S. determination to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to a parliamentary statement provided to The Hill by a local journalist. The Speaker's visit with a congressional delegation comes as local forces, including Iranian-backed Shiite militias, work to retake the city of Tikrit, about 100 miles northwest...

Gruesome new images have emerged showing Islamic State militants stoning a blindfolded and bound man and woman to death in Iraq after they were accused of having sex before marriage. Taken in the ISIS-stronghold of Mosul in Nineveh province, the shocking images show a large crowd gathered to watch the jihadis murder the defenceless couple. Young boys clamber onto their fathers' shoulders to get a better view of the man and woman being charged with 'fornication', before the familiar white-bearded face of ISIS's elderly Mosul-based executioner-in-chief Abu Ansar al-Ansari orders their stoning to death. An Islamic State militant with a...

Amman - His Majesty King Abdullah II, on Monday, received a delegation of US senators, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The meeting reviewed ways to strengthen Jordan-US relations in various fields, and the latest regional and international developments. His Majesty the King expressed his appreciation for the United States' efforts to support Jordan in dealing with various challenges facing the region, and the aid that the US provided to the Kingdom, which helps Jordan implement its comprehensive and development plans and programs. The meeting tackled the latest developments in the Middle East, particularly endeavors to combat the threat...

His Majesty King Abdullah II received on Sunday, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, and his accompanying delegation to discuss Middle East issues. The meeting, which was attended by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah and His Royal Highness Prince Faisal Bin Al Hussein, dealt with Jordanian-US ties and ways to enhance these, especially in political and economic fields, in addition to regional and international developments, top of which are efforts to combat terrorism and extremist ideology and achieve peace in the region. The King said efforts should be ramped up to fend off the threat of...

CAIRO — The Arab states said on Sunday that they had agreed to form a combined military force to counter both Iranian influence and Islamist extremism, a gesture many analysts attributed in large part to their drive for more independence from Washington. The agreement came as American and other Western diplomats in Lausanne, Switzerland, were racing to beat a self-imposed deadline of Tuesday to reach a deal with Iran that would restrict its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions. In response, Saudi Arabia and other American allies in the region have made clear that they are...

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and president of Khalilzad Associates, an international business consulting firm based in Washington, DC. He was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush. He has been involved with U.S. policy makers at the White House, State Department and Pentagon since the mid-1980s, and was the highest-ranking Muslim American in the Administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. Khalilzad's previous assignments in the Administration include U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. President Bush in 2002 appointed Khalilzad...

The former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency on Sunday described President Obama's Middle East policy as one of "willful ignorance," saying the administration needs a clearer strategy for dealing with conflicts emerging across the region. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said during an interview on "Fox News Sunday" that recent developments in the Middle East are moving in a bad direction for the United States, with Iran "clearly on the march" to influence events in a "regional sectarian war." “At the end of the day, we have just this incredible policy confusion — never mind what our strategy is to...

The stabilization of Iraq has become wedged on a plateau, beyond which further improvement will be a slow process. According to incident metrics compiled by Olive Group, the average monthly number of insurgent attacks between January and June 2011 was 380.[1] The incident count in January was 376, indicating that incident levels remained roughly stable in the first half of 2011. One reason behind this stability is the ongoing virulence of northern and central Iraqi insurgents operating within Sunni Arab communities. Five predominately Sunni provinces and western Baghdad were responsible for an average of 68.5% of national incidents each month...

Richard Engel: Military Officials Say Allies No Longer Trust Us, Fear Intel Might Leak to Iran (Video)

The first 6 Arab nations to form the Arab League are: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria are no more. Egypt was almost lost, and is well into it's recovery from intensive care thanks largely to Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who might become the most accomplished of Arab Leaders, if he holds true. I believe El-Sisi was the impetus of the Arab League getting it's act together with coordinated political, diplomatic and military efforts to keep Iran off the Sinai Peninsula. Is their any doubt now why any sane person would deny a nuclear armed...

Syrian opposition activists say al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front, has seized large parts of the northwestern city of Idlib from government forces. ...

The leader of Iraq’s Chaldean Catholics at the United Nations in New York today urged international leaders to support his country’s government in a drive for “the liberation of all Iraqi cities." For the first time, the UN Security Council devoted a debate to the persecution of minorities under attack by jihadists, according to ANSAMed, a service of the Italian news agency ANSA. French foreign minister Laurent Fabius chaired the debate, which included Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad Louis Raphael I Sako, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and, by video-conference from Geneva, High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Zeid...