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Late last week, a bulldozer toppled a minaret that has watched over the city of Basra, Iraq, for nearly three centuries, leaving local residents dismayed.Minarets like this one serve as the beacons from which Muslims are called to prayer five times each day. At roughly 36 feet tall, this particular minaret has stood since 1727. Cultural officials say that the initial plan had been to preserve and relocate the Siraji Mosque's minaret, which was reportedly contributing to traffic jams, according to Reuters.Officials from the Sunni Endowment Office, which oversees Sunni religious sites, say they had no knowledge of the impending...

The State Department is temporarily closing the U.S. Consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra and evacuating all diplomats stationed there, following a rocket attack early Friday morning. Although there were no casualties, concerns back in Washington grew. The decision comes out of concern for the safety of U.S. personnel stationed in that Iraqi city near the border with Iran. In a statement released Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited "repeated incidents of fire" from Iranian-backed militias. "I have made clear that Iran should understand that the United States will respond promptly and appropriately to any such attacks,"...

Protesters have torched the Iranian consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra amid large protests against corruption and lack of basic services. Crowds in the streets of the Shia Muslim-majority city chanted against Iranian influence on Iraqi politics. A protester was killed and 11 more wounded during clashes with security forces. It is the fifth day of violent protests in the country's second city, with at least 10 people killed. Officials announced a curfew at about 21:00 local time (18:00 GMT). Iran, the region's main Shia power, has fostered ties with Iraq's Shia majority since Saddam Hussein's downfall. …...

Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, on Saturday said that the Iraqi security forces captured a leading figure in Saddam Hussein’s Baath party in an operation based on intelligence reports. Al-Abadi said this in his address to a ceremony in Baghdad for the 146th anniversary of the Iraqi press. “The security forces managed to arrest the terrorist Abdul Karim al-Sadoun by the efforts of the Iraqi intelligence,” Abadi said. Abadi did not give further details about how or where the arrest took place, saying he preferred an official statement to declare the details later as interrogation was still underway. Al-Sadoun was...

ABID HUSSAN took one step inside the foul-smelling prison cell and began to shake. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead and behind his gold-rimmed spectacles. The 45-year-old shopkeeper pointed to the electric cables hanging from the ceiling where President Saddam Hussein’s security police would torture him three times a day. People tried to elbow their way inside this impossibly small 6ft by 4ft torture chamber. They were anxious to sift through the documents carpeting the floor to see if it gave a clue as to what became of a loved one, or friend, who had been dragged inside here...

A fresh wave of bombs has killed at least 21 people across Iraq - mostly targeting Shia areas - officials say. The deadliest was in the city of Hilla, south of the capital Baghdad, where two car bombs at a market killed at least nine civilians. Other bombs hit Baghdad itself as well as Basra, Nasiriya and Karbala in the south of the country. Sectarian violence has surged across Iraq in recent months, reaching its highest level since 2008. More than 5,000 people have been killed so far this year in Iraq, 800 of them in August alone, according to...

SNIPPET: "But if the US can transport Abu Ghaith onto US soil and prosecute him for terrorist activities, why couldn't the Obama administration do the same with Musa Ali Daqduq, the senior Hezbollah commander who was captured in Iraq in 2007? The US Department of Justice had planned to prosecute Daqduq and the FBI was building a case against him. Daqduq was directly implicated in the kidnapping and murder of seven US soldiers in Karbala in January 2007. He was in US custody up until December 2011, just before the US withdrew from Iraq. Although the administration argued that it...

[Kansas City, MO] 360 Architecture has been selected by the government of Iraq to master plan and design a $500 million “sports city” in Basra. The 360-acre project will be developed in phases. The first phase features a 65,000-seat stadium and a 10,000-seat secondary stadium/practice facility designed to FIFA (international soccer) and Olympic (track and field) standards. It also includes four training facilities, athlete housing facilities, a fire station and helipad, among other items. 360 Architecture is teamed on the project with Newport Global Project Management Group and Abdullah Al-Jiburi Contracting Company, Iraq’s largest general contractor. The team won an...

The Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has been identified as operating in Iraq's southern oil capital. Officials said Hizbullah formed insurgency cells in several Iraqi cities, including Basra. They said Hizbullah was targeting Iraqi security forces and Shi'ite politicians in the Basra region. "Hizbullah is acting in Iran's interest, which is to take over the energy sector of Basra," an official said. In September 2009, Hizbullah Brigades conducted a rocket attack on security forces in Basra. Other Hizbullah strikes targeted pro-Western Shi'ites aligned with the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki. Officials said Hizbullah was using rockets and mortars in their attacks....

BASRA, Iraq — The small group of American troops and Iraqi Catholics held hands around a table heaped with dishes of rice, chicken, lamb and pizza. "Our Father," began the archbishop of Basra, the Most Rev. Imad Aziz al-Banna, before continuing the prayer in Aramaic, a version of the ancient language likely spoken by Jesus Christ. In the next room at Basra’s Chaldean Catholic Church, a plastic Christmas tree twinkled amid graying photographs of old patriarchs and a newer shot of Pope Benedict XVI. Several of the Americans said while assembling and decorating the tree that it was likely the...

Continuing our gripping series of our extraordinary series about the doctors and nurses who go into the very heart of battle we reveal the terrifying events that unfolded in Basra in 2005, when a Warrior tank, sent to help an RAF nurse whose ambulance was surrounded by a hostile crowd, was hit by a petrol bomb.The soldiers inside threw themselves out, engulfed by flames. Their dramatic exit was captured by photographs that went round the world. But inside the flaming tank, the gunner was trapped. He was sent to rescue the medic; the question now was - would the medic...

BAGHDAD – U.S.-backed Iraqi troops seized a launcher loaded with more than a dozen Iranian-made rockets and detained three suspected militants after an attack against the American base outside the southern city of Basra, officials said Tuesday. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said the missiles were found in an eastern section of Iraq's second largest city after rockets targeted the U.S. base Monday evening. The U.S. military confirmed that 16 rockets were found and three suspects detained by Iraqi troops who responded to the attack. It said no casualties were reported.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Aug. 12, 2009 – U.S. Soldiers, airmen and civilians here are taking part in a special opportunity to learn Arabic. Army 2nd Lt. Noel Cronin converts an Arabic word to its feminine form during the first Introduction to Arabic class offered by the Basra Education Center, Basra, Iraq, Aug. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 1st Sgt. Larry Mears  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. On the first day of the first Introduction to Arabic class offered here through the Basra Education Center, their teacher, an Army interpreter known as Ms. Lucy, wasted no time with...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2009 – Iraqi police from the Basra special weapons and tactics team, along with U.S. advisors, arrested a suspected terrorist commander yesterday in an Iraqi-led operation in southern Iraq, military officials reported. The SWAT team was operating under the authority of a warrant issued by a Basra-based court. The suspected terrorist commander of a Basra-based insurgent group is believed to be responsible for explosions and indirect-fire attacks in the area. The man’s detainment may reduce the insurgent group’s ability to conduct attacks, Iraqi officials said. (From a Multinational Corps Iraq news release.)

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, July 31, 2009 – Local leaders met with members of the Basra Provincial Reconstruction Team and the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team at the city’s trash dump July 23 to assess the progress of a month-long project to facilitate the mass cleanup of trash. Gov. Sheltag Aboud al-Mayah of Iraq’s Basra province speaks to the local media at the Basra city trash dump site, July 23, 2009. Next to him stands Army Lt. Col. Gregory Jacobsen, deputy commander of the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt....

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2009 – U.S. forces made headway in an investigation of a rocket attack on a base in Iraq, and Iraqi-led forces detained suspected terrorists and seized weapons in recent operations in Iraq, military officials reported. U.S. soldiers pursued criminals suspected of launching a rocket attack against Contingency Operating Base Basra on July 16 that resulted in the deaths of three Multinational Division South soldiers. Following the attack, U.S. troops were flown by helicopter to the suspected launch location, northeast of Basra Airport, where the soldiers were met by 14th Iraqi Army Division soldiers. A U.S. patrol pursued...

A missile strike in Iraq Thursday killed three Minnesota soldiers, all members of the National Guard's 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, family and friends said Friday. One of those killed near Basra was Carlos Wilcox, 27, of Cottage Grove, whose mother said her son asked her to mail him books so he could study for a medical school entrance exam when he got home. "He knew that God had called him to be a soldier and a doctor," said Charlene Wilcox. Dan Drevnick, 22, a graduate of Woodbury High School, was also killed in the attack. The third soldier, James...

CONTENGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, July 15, 2009 – A new law and order force is now on duty here to provide a safe and secure environment for servicemembers. Army Sgt. David Karlson, military policeman with the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division’s 34th Military Police Company, approaches a vehicle to address a violation during a training exercise on Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, July 11, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Darryl L. Montgomery   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Military police of the 34th Military Police Company began patrolling the base here July 11 due to the combined...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, June 30, 2009 – In accordance with Article 5 of the security agreement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments, Iraqi security forces now have full ownership of security in their cities, towns and villages. Army Capt. Rich Turvey, commander of 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, signs over Joint Security Station Salaam to Iraqi army 1st Lt. Jassim Abbas at a transfer ceremony near Numaniyah, Iraq, June 20, 2009. In accordance with the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, Iraqi security forces took full ownership of security in their cities, towns and villages on June 30, 2009. U.S....

BASRAH — Col. Butch Kievenaar, commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, met with key Basrah province shaykhs at the Basrah Operations Center here, June 16. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the brigade commander to the shaykhs, as well as discuss partnership as it’s related to the U.S.-Iraqi Security Agreement, said Maj. Richard Fierro, fire support officer for the brigade. The commander spoke with the shaykhs and explained to them what contributions the U.S. forces were bringing to the province. "Since we moved into the province, I wanted you to hear from me what...