Large explosions have struck an arms depot belonging to the Iraqi Federal Police forces and Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi, at a military compound southwest of the capital Baghdad.

The Security Media Cell said in a statement that the two consecutive blasts occurred at al-Saqr military base, which lies in the Saydiya neighborhood of Rashid district and close to the highway linking Baghdad to the city of Hilla, at 6:40 p.m. local time (1540 GMT) on Sunday, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.

The statement added that the ammunition warehouse exploded due to high temperatures and “faulty storage.” It made no mention of any casualties.

The head of the security and defense committee at the Iraqi parliament has condemned Ankara’s ongoing cross-border operation in the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region against hideouts of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, stating that Turkish forces are now deployed more than a dozen kilometers into the area.

“Iraq rejects transgression of its sovereignty or airstrikes within its territory by another state,” Mohammad Reza Al Haider told the official Iraqi News Agency on Tuesday, calling on the Baghdad government to address such issues.

Haider noted that the bilateral agreement between Turkey and Iraq permits hot pursuits between five and seven kilometers from the border, but Ankara has exceeded the limit, and Turkish troops are now deployed along an area stretching some 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) south of the frontier.

The head of the security and defense committee at the Iraqi parliament has condemned Ankara’s ongoing cross-border operation in the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region against hideouts of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, stating that Turkish forces are now deployed more than a dozen kilometers into the area.

“Iraq rejects transgression of its sovereignty or airstrikes within its territory by another state,” Mohammad Reza Al Haider told the official Iraqi News Agency on Tuesday, calling on the Baghdad government to address such issues.

Haider noted that the bilateral agreement between Turkey and Iraq permits hot pursuits between five and seven kilometers from the border, but Ankara has exceeded the limit, and Turkish troops are now deployed along an area stretching some 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) south of the frontier.

In a recent report, a United Nations expert found the January killing of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani by a US drone strike was against international law. One journalist told Sputnik the killing fit a long pattern of the US destroying places it cannot control, which is linked to the proliferation of poverty in the US.

Kei Pritsker, a journalist with BreakThrough News, told Radio Sputnik’s Political Misfits Tuesday that “for most of US history, we’ve just attacked countries purely out of our interest to extend our sphere of influence for power and take out governments we don’t like, and it’s really the same deal with Qasem Soleimani.”

Hours after the US reportedly tested a defense system that can stop mortars, artillery and small rockets, a rocket was said to be intercepted after it was fired at the Green Zone in Baghdad where the US Embassy is located.

This adds to 24 hours of tension in Iraq that coincided with American Independence Day. There were claims the US had deployed a C-RAM system to confront threats to its embassy and other facilities.

Sometimes listening to the morning news on television is a bit like entering into an alternate universe. Last Wednesday, the day after primary elections in New York State, CBS News reported that New York Congressman Eliot Engel was “facing a challenge” from Democratic Party challenger Jamaal Bowman. NBC News reported that Engel was “trailing.” The reality, according to the New York Times tally of the results that morning was that Bowman had beaten Engel by a margin to 60.9% versus 35.6% with more than 82% of votes counted. Even though it posted the numbers, the Times felt compelled to describe the apparently impending lopsided loss as if it were something less than that, as a “stiff challenge” for Engel.

A security spokesman for an Iran-backed militia issued a statement on Friday threatening Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, describing him as an “American agent,” following an overnight raid on the group by security forces.

The Iran-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah security spokesperson threatened al-Kadhimi with punishment, or “torture” after the raid that led to the arrest of over a dozen fighters, which sent a strong message to militias, warning against attacking Iraqi facilities.

The Turkish military has begun an air and ground operation against Kurdish PKK militants in northern Iraq, calling it an act of self-defense to weed out “terrorists” in the area.

Named Operation Tiger-Claw, the incursion involves Turkish commandos supported by warplanes, helicopters and armed drones. The Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that its planes had struck Kurdish targets in northern Iraq’s Haftanin region, and that troops were already on the ground.

In a statement released on Twitter, Turkey’s military described the attack as “legitimate self-defense” against PKK forces and “other terrorist elements” accused of carrying out attacks on Turkish personnel in the region.

Now, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, looks poised finally to give the court some teeth. She is threatening to investigate two states – the US and Israel – whose actions have been particularly damaging to international law in the modern era.

The court is considering examining widespread human rights abuses perpetrated by US soldiers in Afghanistan, and crimes committed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially Gaza, as well as the officials responsible for Israel’s illegal settlement program.

An investigation of both is critically important: the US has crafted for itself a role as global policeman, while Israel’s flagrant violations of international law have been ongoing for more than half a century.

The US is the most powerful offender, and Israel the most persistent.

Both states have long dreaded this moment – the reason they refused to ratify the Rome Statute that established the ICC.

After months of the world's attention focused on the pandemic and resulting national shutdowns and economic pauses, the fact that the US and Iran were only months ago almost at war in Iraq seems a world away. But a proxy war pitting Iranian-backed Shia paramilitary fores in Iraq against US interests and allies has continued unabated, threatening once again to draw in American military intervention.

In the latest instance, multiple rockets were fired on the US embassy in Baghdad Tuesday morning. "A rocket struck Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq’s government, early on Tuesday morning, according to an Iraqi military statement, the first attack on the area since a new prime minister was sworn in earlier this month," AP reports.

A rocket landed on an empty house in the Green Zone near the US embassy in Baghdad early on Tuesday morning.

According to the Iraqi Security Media Cell, the Katyusha rocket, which was launched from an eastern district of Baghdad, landed on an empty house inside the Green Zone, but did not cause any casualties. The rocket caused "minor damage to the wall of the house."

The Green Zone is an "international zone" in the Karkh district of central Baghdad, which served as the governmental center of the Coalition Provisional Authority following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

A leader in Iraq’s Badr Organization said US forces have transferred Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorists from Syria into Iraq amid Washington’s attempts to reinforce the American presence in the Arab country.

US hostility toward Iran is all about its sovereign independence — free from US control.

It’s also because of its large hydrocarbon resources the US seeks control over, along with wanting Israel’s main rival neutralized.

Hostile US policy toward Iran reached a unprecedented level under Trump and hardliners surrounding him.Earlier the Obama regime falsely claimed that the US can “seize any .com, .net and .org domain name because the companies that have the contracts to administer them are based on United States soil.”

Cyberspace is the last frontier of press freedom. Without it, the Internet would be like cable TV, controlled by corporate giants.

Truth-telling would be marginalized and silenced, speech and press freedoms consigned to the dustbin of history — where things are heading without redoubtable resistance.

Republicans and Dems are hostile to free and open expression.

American forces in the Persian Gulf have greatly bolstered their ability to respond to Iran at a moment President Trump has renewed trading threats and barbs with the Islamic Republic, ordering the US Navy "to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea."

This includes the Pentagon bolstering its AC-130 gunships and Apache attack helicopters to target and destroy small surface threats in the Arabian Sea. Tehran has meanwhile responded with its own threats to 'destroy' American vessels of course.

It was apparently this beefed up presence that led to the April 15 confrontation about which Trump was responding by ordering destruction of boats that "harass" American vessels.

Two so-called 'rogue states' recently targeted for US-imposed regime change are helping each other fight coronavirus as well as Washington-led sanctions.

Late last week it was revealed Venezuela received a huge boost in the form of oil refinery materials and chemicals to fix the catalytic cracking unit at the 310,000 barrels-per-day Cardon refinery, essential to the nation's gas supply.

This as a fuel and food shortage crisis has driven protests and clashes with police, especially in hard-hit rural areas, over the past month.

“Thanks to the support of our allies in the Islamic Republic of Iran... We will overcome our difficulties,” Erling Rojas, vice minister for refining and petrochemicals in Venezuela’s Oil Ministry, stated when the much-needed refinery parts arrived last Thursday.

He further underscored in colorfully provocative rhetoric that Iran’s support is “driving the gringos in the White House crazy.”

Daesh* are plotting to hand out contaminated masks in Iraq through pseudomedics as the country struggles to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen channel reported on Friday, citing Iraqi sources.

The militants are planning to do this in a number of villages that are out of firm control of the government forces.

The security forces aim to thwart this plot and urge Iraqis to stay away from strangers.

As of Thursday, Iraq confirmed 1,434 COVID-19 cases, including 80 fatalities. The country declared a victory over Daesh on its soil back in December 2017, but still continues fighting terror sleeper cells.

Matthew Hoh is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Policy. He resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan over US strategic policy and goals in Afghanistan in September 2009. Prior to his assignment in Afghanistan, Matthew served in Iraq; first in 2004-5 in Salah ad Din Province with a State Department reconstruction and governance team and then in 2006-7 in Anbar Province as a Marine Corps company commander. In his extensive interview with Parsi Policy, he explored the chances of a US coup in Iraq and warns of flip-flop policies of White House.

Iraq has designated a new Prime Minister that, contrary to his two predecessors, apparently enjoys inclusive support from the various political blocs in a development that suggests the defeat of the United States’ attempts at forcing its choice on the Arab nation.

On April 9, President Barham Salih tasked Mustafa al-Kadhimi, director of Iraq's National Intelligence Service, with forming a new government in a month. The president said Kadhimi was a “fighter and intellectual who is well known for his integrity, moderation, and keenness [to honor] the rights of the Iraqi people.”

The presidential ceremony was attended by several high-ranking politicians and public figures, something that reflected Kadhimi’s across-the-board popularity with Iraq’s political groupings.

The New Arab or al-Araby al-Jadeed, a London-based pan-Arab media outlet, interpreted the broad guest list as “a sign that Kadhimi will likely find success at forming a government.”

Throughout five years of war Yemen has been considered by the UN and health agencies to be the 'world's worst humanitarian disaster' — but few Americans have heard much about the war or its over 100,000 dead, including tens of thousands of civilians, given that it's the US-Saudi coalition doing the bombing.

But now Yemen is about to rip back into the headlines, given the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the country, with health officials fearing "one million" could be infected if the outbreak takes hold in the war-torn country.

This as already some 25 million civilians are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including basic food, medicines, and other staples. The Saudis have essentially imposed a complete land, sea and air blockade of the country for years. Its health system also long ago collapsed.

Under its effective leader, firebrand ultra-nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Iraq is theoretically committed to not allowing itself to become overly dependent on any one country. That was the rallying call of al-Sadr’s ‘Sairoon’ (‘Marching Forward’) power bloc during the last general election in Iraq in May 2018 that saw him and his grouping win the most seats of any party. For a while, this theory seemed to be in effect, with Iraq playing off Chinese and Russian interests against those of the U.S. All the time, though, in practice, Iran continued to dodge and weave around any and all sanctions aimed at preventing it from continuing to wield the deciding power in its neighbour through the leverage of its military, militias, and pro-Iran politicians in Baghdad. The surest sign yet that the U.S. has had enough of this situation came in the shape of the latest waiver granted just over a week ago by the U.S.

The US-led Coalition has been repositioning forces in the last weeks, handing over several key posts, and training of Iraqi forces is temporarily wrapping up.

Reports indicate that Iran, the US and Iranian proxies are all preparing for a conflict in Iraq after a year of rising tensions, rocket attacks and airstrikes.

OPEC’s second-largest oil producer hit record production figures in August with an output of 4.88 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the latest figures from S&P Global Platts.

Iraq’s highest-ever production count has contributed to what may be OPEC’s first monthly output rise of the year, throwing a wrench into the 14-member organization’s plans to limit global oil supply and keep a floor under declining crude prices.

“The recent increases in Iraqi production turned what was a sort of minor headache for OPEC into a fully-blown migraine,” Dave Ernsberger, global head of commodities pricing at S&P Global Platts, told CNBC on Thursday.

Al-Kastan is located near the town of Jisr al-Shughur, controlled by the Al-Qaeda-linked Turkistan Islamic Party. The exploded weapon depot likely belonged to the terrorist group or persons affiliated with it.

On the same day, the Turkish military established three new ‘observation posts’ around Jisr al-Shughur. They are located at the villages of Baksariya, al-Z’ainiyah and Furaykah. Idlib militants see Turkish positions as an important defense line that would allow containing possible Russia- and Iran-backed anti-terrorist operations in the area.

The 46th Regiment Base of the Syrian Army in western Aleppo came under Turkish artillery shelling. In response, Syrian forces struck position of Turkish-backed militants near Kafr Amma. The attack on the 46th Regiment Base became a third incident between the Turkish military and Syrian troops in less than a week. On April 3, two Syrian soldiers were killed in a Turkish artillery strike on their positions near Tell Abyad.

Several Iraqi factions issued a joint statement on Saturday in which they vowed to target the U.S. forces until they fully withdraw from Iraq.

According to the statement, eight Iraqi factions – including Asaib Ahl al-Haqq, Liwaa Imam ‘Ali, and Harakat Al-Nujaba”Movement – vowed to attack the U.S. forces in Iraq, while also condemning the newly appointed Prime Minister, ‘Adnan Al-Zurfi.

The factions called on parliamentarians to get Zurfi to apologize and back down, in order to thwart the alleged “conspiracy.”

In the past, the Iraqi factions like Asaib Ahl Al-Haqq and Kata’ib Hezbollah have targeted the U.S. forces in Iraq, prompting the latter to carry out retaliatory strikes near the Syrian border and other governorates.

Over the past week or so, China has eased quarantine measures in Wuhan – the city in which the global coronavirus pandemic began – with the entire lockdown scheduled to end on 8 April. With China’s President Xi Jinpiang having visited the city just a few days ago, the industrial economy across China as a whole is back working and operating at levels even above the pre-coronavirus rates, although the service sector remains more cautious.

For the oil industry, this means that China is back and busy taking up where it left off in terms of exploring and developing new field opportunities.

This is at a time when the U.S. is just beginning to see the full onset of coronavirus mayhem.

In late March, the US military deployed its Patriot missile defence system to the Ayn al-Asad base in Iraq in a move to "protect against another potential Iranian attack”.

Reuters on Monday reported, citing its sources, that missiles hit near sites of foreign and state-run oil companies in Basra, Iraq. No casualties have been reported so far.

According to police, the missiles were Katyushas launched at around 3 a.m. local time and hit the Burjesia residential and operations headquarters west of Basra.

At the same time, the Iraqi military stated that the rockets hit near US-based Halliburton company site.

Three doctors “closely involved in the testing process” told Reuters on Thursday that Iraq has “thousands” of confirmed coronavirus cases, far more than the 772 infections reported by the government.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed the deployment of new Patriot missile systems to Iraq amid calls for the withdrawal of American troops from the Arab country.

In a statement on Thursday, Bill Urban, spokesman for CENTCOM confirmed the deployment, saying the US military would not provide further status updates on its ongoing movement of Patriot missile systems into Iraq for security reasons.

“The US military continues to coordinate the effort with its Iraqi partners,” he said, adding, "The Iraqi Government is well aware of our collective need for air defense protection of service members within Iraq".

Also, Pentagon spokesman Commander Sean Robertson said Thursday that "for operational security reasons, we are not providing status updates as those systems come online."

In the wake of the great escalation of January 2020, ultimately resulting in the retreat of United States forces, situated across Iraq, down to a few key bases around Baghdad that now come under regular rocket attack by local anti-occupation resistance groups, American strategic planners are confronted with only two choices: leave Iraq or launch a full-scale shock attack operation in the country's west and subsequent occupation of the area to regain the strategic initiative.

The US finds itself in its current position in Iraq, for the first time since the North Korean army invasion of South Korea in 1950 - an event which nearly threw American troops, at Pusan, into the sea and forced them to fight a protracted defense.

President Trump said Wednesday that Iran is planning a "sneak attack" on U.S. troops or "assets" in Iraq, warning the country will pay a "heavy price" if this happens.

The president made the abrupt announcement in a tweet Wednesday afternoon, coming amid lingering tensions between the two countries over past confrontations as well as the coronavirus pandemic.

Can anyone think what our society might have spent six and a half trillion dollars on instead of 20 years of war in the Middle East for nothing? How about the trillion dollars per year we keep spending on the military on top of that?

Invading, dominating and remaking the Arab world to serve the interests of the American empire and the state of Greater Israel sounds downright quaint at this point. Iraq War II, as Senator Bernie Sanders said in the debate a few weeks ago, while letting Joe Biden, one of its primary proponents, off the hook for it, was “a long time ago.” Actually, Senator, we still have troops there fighting Iraq War III 1/2 against what’s left of the ISIS insurgency, and our current government continues to threaten the launch of Iraq War IV against the very parties we fought the last two wars for. This would almost certainly then lead to war with Iran.

By Robert Inlakesh

In the wake of the great escalation of January 2020, ultimately resulting in the retreat of United States forces, situated across Iraq, down to a few key bases around Baghdad that now come under regular rocket attack by local anti-occupation resistance groups, American strategic planners are confronted with only two choices: leave Iraq or launch a full-scale shock attack operation in the country's west and subsequent occupation of the area to regain the strategic initiative.

The US finds itself in its current position in Iraq, for the first time since the North Korean army invasion of South Korea in 1950 - an event which nearly threw American troops, at Pusan, into the sea and forced them to fight a protracted defense.

For a military force whose historical doctrine has been to 'attack, attack, attack', America’s current position in Iraq is terribly awkward and uncharacteristic of the usual predicament of total superiority it generally finds itself in.

Recent US fighting with Iraqi militias has seen bases in the country hosting US troops coming under rocket fire, and this has led to the US trying to get more Patriot missiles into Iraq to intercept such rockets. The first missile systems are now set up, at Ayn al-Assad base, and in Irbil.

The US appears to be trying to move away from having troops scattered around Iraq, closing multiple bases in the west, and reportedly has missiles in Kuwait ready to be sent to two more US bases inside Iraq in the days to come.

Details on the diplomacy with Iraq on these deployments are unclear. The US has talked about wanting the missiles in Iraq since January, but it has never been confirmed that Iraq signed off on such deployment. Since the deployment is roughly intended to thwart attacks by Iraqi paramilitaries who are essentially part of Iraq’s security forces, this is potentially problematic for Iraq.

Initially announced weeks ago, the US withdrawal of troops from western Iraq and concentration in the east looks more and more like preparation for another confrontation with neighboring Iran. Recent reports suggest that is one policy being advocated.

On Friday, reports suggested that the Pentagon had been ordered, by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to start planning to wipe out certain Iraqi militias which they believe are Iranian proxies. Officials say the administration is increasingly divided on the plan.

Lt. Gen. Robert White was very averse to this idea, saying it would require the US bring in thousands of more troops, and divert from existing missions. He also warned it risks starting a war with Iran, which at least some of the proponents consider very much the point.

US and coalition troops have left an airbase in Kirkuk, Iraq, and given a million dollars-worth of equipment to Iraqi security forces. However, the full-scale withdrawal demanded by the Iraqi government has still some way to go.

With the Covid-19 pandemic grabbing headlines at home, US forces in Iraq have been engaged in a quiet retreat abroad. Despite President Donald Trump’s insistence on leaving troops in Iraq following a series of clashes with Iranian-backed militias, coalition forces have withdrawn from three bases in the country this month.

The third withdrawal, from the K1 Airbase near the northern city of Kirkuk, was announced on Sunday by coalition spokesman Col. Myles Caggins. Claiming that the coalition’s goal of defeating Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) was “successful,” Caggins said that the base’s 300 coalition soldiers and sailors would be “repositioned to other locations to continue the anti-ISIS partnership.”

According to local reports, at least three explosions were heard at the Camp Taji military base north of Baghdad late Tuesday. The base houses both Iraqi and US forces.

A reporter with Sky News Arabic said on Tuesday night that three explosions had been heard at Camp Taji, an Iraqi military installation that also houses a large number of US troops.

According to local reports, at least three explosions were heard at the Camp Taji military base north of Baghdad late Tuesday. The base houses both Iraqi and US forces.

A reporter with Sky News Arabic said on Tuesday night that three explosions had been heard at Camp Taji, an Iraqi military installation that also houses a large number of US troops.

An Iraqi security source says the US military intends to construct a new military base in the country’s western province of al-Anbar for the deployment of Patriot missile systems.

“US forces intend to establish a new base in Umm Samij area north of al-Baghdadi district in the city of Hit in order to deploy a Patriot anti-missile system, and protect Ain al-Assad air base as well as other locations in western regions against possible attacks,” the unnamed source told Iraq’s Arabic-language al-Ahad news agency on Monday.

He noted, “Identification of a location for the deployment of the Patriot missile system is the first of its kind in Iraq. Such measures are indicative of US forces’ intention to stay in their bases in the western regions of Iraq for a long period of time.”

Following Iraqi president Barham Saleh’s nomination of Adnan al-Zarfi (Zurufi or Zurfi) as the new Prime Minister, Iraq has entered a critical stage. The Shia block is divided. The 30 days given to al-Zarfi to nominate his cabinet will lead either to a quorum of the parliament recognising his new cabinet and in consequences to a bloody future that could lead to unrest and even partition of Iraq or absence of a quorum. Why did President Saleh nominate al-Zarfi?

In what appears the first significant US foreign policy alteration due to the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump reportedly nixed plans for a large-scale attack on "Iranian proxies" in Iraq last week amid a tit-for-tat following rocket attacks on a US base there, which killed two Americans.

The Commander-in-Chief specifically cited coronavirus as reason for holding off on such a major attack, which would surely bog American forces down further in an ongoing battle against Iran inside neighboring Iraq, which Washington fears has long come under the control of the Shia clerics in Tehran. More importantly, the president thought it would "look bad" at the moment of a global pandemic.

Last week, the US military confirmed that they had staged “defensive precision strikes” on weapons storage facilities of the Iraqi Shia paramilitary group Kataib Hezbollah in retaliation for the group’s previous attack on the Camp Taji military base in Iraq that killed at least two American servicemen.

NBC News has cited several unnamed US sources as saying on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic prompted President Donald Trump last week to refrain from ordering a more aggressive response to an Iraqi paramilitary group’s recent attack on American troops in Iraq. The US sees Kataib Hezbollah as an Iranian proxy.

According to the sources, Trump told his senior national security advisers that such a retaliation could tarnish the US’s image now that Iran is grappling with COVID-19, which has already claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people in the Islamic Republic.

The US State Department issued a statement Friday declaring themselves “enormously disappointed” by the Iraqi government’s failure to fulfill US demands to protect US and coalition forces in the country.

The US made a big deal of this last week, after US forces were hit with rockets at Camp Taji. The US attacked several bases belonging to Iraqi militias, then demanded Iraq make sure no one retaliated. There was some limited retaliation, which is why the US is so disappointed.

Iraq, for its part, has promised to investigate the rocket attack, but since they haven’t had time to do that and the US immediately started attacking people they thought might’ve conceivably done it, Iraq is also struggling to keep the situation calm, at a time when the government is crumbling and trying to get ready for early elections.

US forces stationed in Iraq to aid ISIS and overthrow the Syrian government, said Tuesday that it had transferred the al-Qa’im military base on the border with Syria to Iraq and transferred responsibility for the base to the Iraqi military.

According to the Iranian news site Pars Today, the forces of the international coalition said they had withdrawn their troops from the al-Qa’im military base on the border of Iraq and Syria, located in the west of Al-Anbar province, and transferred responsibility for the maintenance and control of the base to the Iraqi military.

This comes after several decades-long occupation, where the US’ stated reasons for being in the region has gone through multiple transformations. Following the defeat of the US strategy to remove Assad under the pretext of fighting the very same ISIS which in fact they were supporting, despite that Assad was leading the fight against ISIS, the US’s ability to maintain a foothold in the ravaged region has deteriorated.

"If there remained any doubt that the Trump administration's hostility towards the court is fundamentally punitive and callous in nature, these doubts have now been dispelled."

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer

Amnesty International on Wednesday rebuked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over new comments bashing the International Criminal Court and threatening court staff—and their family members—investigating alleged war crimes committed by United States forces in Afghanistan.

Pompeo suggested retaliatory actions would be in store.

The US assassinated Qasem Soleimani, long-time commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force military unit, in January, prompting Iran to launch a massed rocket strike on a pair of US bases in Iraq, and leading Iraq-based militias to carry out sporadic strikes on American bases and the US Embassy Green Zone in Baghdad.

Iran will continue to respond to the January 3 assassination of Commander Soleimani, President Hassan Rouhani has warned, one day after a coalition base holding NATO troops came under rocket fire.

“The Americans assassinated our great commander. We have responded to that terrorist act and will respond to it,” Rouhani said in a televised address Wednesday.

AFP is reporting that the US military is withdrawing US troops from 3 Iraqi bases. They are al-Qa’im in the far north on the Syrian border, Qayyarah near Mosul, and Kirkuk.

AFP quotes Coalition spokesman Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Myles B. Caggins III as saying “A transfer ceremony is taking place today to hand over the facilities to Iraqi forces, and the intent is that all coalition troops will be leaving Qaim … It’s historic.”

The new Iraqi prime minister-designate is a religious moderate who rose to prominence in the 2000s under a US-installed order that largely succumbed to the influence of Iran.

A presidential decree, made public on Tuesday, announced that Adnan Al Zurfi, a former grocery owner in Detroit, will form a government to replace that of caretaker prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

However, Mr Al Zurfi’s perceived closeness to the US is likely to be a significant obstacle in gaining a vote of confidence during the 30-day time frame set by parliament.

Iraq’s legislative body is dominated by political associates of the Iran-backed militias that hold considerable sway in Iraqi politics and want to end US influence in the country.

Late on March 17, at least three rockets struck the area near the US embassy in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone. This was the fourth such attack in the span of a week. A day earlier, a pair of rockets struck the Besmaya base south of Baghdad. This military facility is the second largest military base operated by the US-led coalition in Iraq after Camp Taji.

The threat of rocket attacks already forced the US military to announce that it is evacuating some of its bases in the country. The al-Qaim base, near the Syrian-Iraqi border, is among them. The al-Qaim facility has been an important logistical and operational hub employed by US forces for operations in western Iraq and eastern Syria. Its presence there, as well as in Syria’s al-Tanf, has allowed the US to project its power along the Syrian-Iraqi border more effectively and to support Israeli military actions against Iranian-backed forces in the area.

Iraq’s envoy to the UN threatened on Tuesday to arrest US troops in the country for carrying out air strikes on Iranian-backed Iraqi militias in the country amid rising tensions between US troops and pro-Iranian groups.

The US “perpetrators will be arrested and held accountable” for the attacks on the Iraqi militias last week, said Iraq’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammed Hussein Bahr al-Uloom in a draft letter seen by Al Arabiya English.

Iran supports militias in Iraq operating under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). The US has designated some of the PMU militias, including Katai'b Hezbollah, as terrorist organizations and increasingly come into conflict with them as the US and Iran compete for influence in Iraq.

Details are still emerging, but this was much fewer rockets than previous strikes, and so far there has been no word of any casualties in the incident. The US has threatened retaliation for further attacks, but no such strikes were yet reported.

Both sides have been hitting one another recently and talking up escalation. That this was a much smaller, casualty-free attack may suggest that the militias are trying to save face but not escalate the matter any further.

This would depend heavily on the US not looking to escalate further either, however, and all indications out of the administration are that they consider the Iraqi militias to be “Iranian proxies,” and are very keen to keep picking fights with them.

The Russian-Turkish de-escalation agreement on Idlib is once again shrinking due to actions of Turkish proxies and its allies. The security zone along the M4 has not been created and the Russian-Turkish patrols initiative turned to be a formality because any such patrols that would enter the militant-held area will immediately become a target of terrorist attacks.

While mainstream media outlets prefer to report about some ‘moderate protesters’ blocking the M4 highway, in fact, most of the persons involved are directly or indirectly linked to radical organizations operating in Idlib.

Multiple rockets reportedly landed near Baghdad's Green Zone on Tuesday. It's unclear if there have been any injuries or fatalities.

Unconfirmed reports have indicated that the target of the strike was reportedly the US embassy; however, the projectiles are believed to have struck buildings in the al-Jadriya area.

Photos shared online by Iraqi officials documents various structural damages to buildings in the al-Jadriya neighborhood. One of the structures was identified as an "abandoned home."

What a time for war to be brewing in the Middle East yet again: Washington warned Iraq's government on Monday it is ready to act “self-defense” if American forces come under attack. This follows last week's rocket attacks on Taji base just north of Baghdad, which houses US troops. At least two Americans have been killed in the recent attacks, blamed on Iran-backed militias, especially Kataib Hezbollah.

Pompeo told Iraqi PM Adil Abd al-Mahdi in a phone call that Baghdad “must defend Coalition personnel supporting the Iraqi government's efforts to defeat ISIS,” according to a Monday State Dept. press release.

Those “responsible for the attacks must be held accountable,” the statement warned. The US “will not tolerate attacks and threats to American lives” and will take “military action as necessary in self-defense,” it added.

Iraqi President Barham Salih issued a statement Friday angrily condemning a flurry of US airstrikes, saying they amounted to repeated violations of Iraqi sovereignty and threatened to provoke dangerous consequences.

Salih added that the US attacks amount to a “dangerous and deliberate weakening of its abilities especially at a time when Iraq faces unprecedented challenges.” Indeed, that the president is the one making responses at all shows the position Iraq is in. Normally this would be the purview of the PM, but Iraq simply doesn’t have one. The PM-designate has resigned, and the acting PM also resigned in recent weeks.

The US attacks targeted Iraqi PMF militia Kataib Hezbollah, and US officials insist they were “terrorist bases” that were legitimate to hit. The PMF is part of the Iraqi government, despite the US sense that they can attack them with impunity.

Two more U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq. Yes, that Iraq — the Iraq that never attacked the United States or even threatened to do so — the Iraq that the U.S. government invaded and has occupied for umpteen years under the rubric of “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

What did those two soldiers die for? They died for the same thing that 58,000 U.S. soldiers died for in Vietnam — nothing.

Earlier this week, US officials were justifying redeployments out of the Middle East, arguing Iran was no longer the threat they once were because of coronavirus. But a night of US attacks against Iraqi targets has US officials again convinced Iran is a threat.

Centcom commander Gen. Frank McKenzie praised the many US attacks in Iraq as successful, while saying the threat posed by Iran “remains very high,” suggesting the attacks were sending them a signal.

Iran has summoned the Swiss envoy, whose country represents US interests in Tehran, to protest US President Donald Trump’s accusations blaming Iran for an attack on occupying American forces in Iraq.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Saturday that Markus Leitner was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry a day earlier to be informed of Iran’s “severe protest” over the remarks.

Mousavi said Washington’s destructive policies and its role in current tensions were discussed during the meeting where Iran warned the Americans against any “unwise” actions.

“Trump can’t deny his responsibility by making such baseless and dangerous accusations” against Iran, he added.

Iraqi authorities confirmed 10 rockets are fired at Camp Taji near Baghdad, which houses U.S. troops, causing no deaths or injuries.

“Ten Katyusha rockets landed inside the Camp Taji, without losses,” said Iraqi military officials on Wednesday, referring to the type Russian-made missiles that are often used by Iran-backed paramilitary forces in the country.

Australia's Department of Defence has confirmed reports of a rocket attack on a military camp in Iraq that killed three military personnel, adding that no Australians were among the casualties.

US officials confirmed two American personnel were killed and dozens of service members were seriously wounded and evacuated from the Taji Military Camp north of Baghdad after 18 small rockets hit the camp on Wednesday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed a UK soldier was also killed in the attack.

Pulling out the ‘Iran threat’ card, the head of the US Central Command has announced that Washington is in the process of installing “air defense systems” and “ballistic missile defense systems" in Iraq.

US Marine Corps General Kenneth McKenzie revealed his country’s latest military maneuver in the Middle East during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday.

We are also in the process of bringing air defense systems, ballistic missile defense systems, into Iraq in particular, to protect ourselves against another potential Iranian attack.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Mark Milley explained the situation in response to a question from Fox News' Jennifer Griffin at a press conference on Jan. 30, 2020. There were reports last week that the U.S. military was considering deploying Patriot systems to Iraq. There has been increasing attention in the press and among the general public on the issue of American air and missile defenses in the country after it emerged that there were no such assets in place when Iran fired a flurry of ballistic missiles at U.S. forces at Al Asad, as well as Erbil International Airport, on Jan. 7. Those strikes had been in retaliation for the U.S. decision to kill Qasem Soleimani, then the head of Iran's Quds Force, on Jan. 3.

US weapons worth $715 million dollars were warehoused poorly and soldiers handling them did not keep receipts or records, so it’s impossible to tell how many, if any, ended up in the wrong hands, the Pentagon says.

The Pentagon is trying to move one battery from Saudi Arabia but it's stuck in Kuwait as Iraqis won't let it in

Authored by Simon Watkins via OilPrice.com,

Historically, Russia goes to great lengths to hide or disguise its strategic intentions but it clearly feels empowered enough in the Middle East to very obviously stake its claim in the region – excluding, for the time being only, Saudi Arabia – by stating that a slew of Russian companies are to spend up to US$20 billion on oil projects in Iraq in the near term.

“Since [U.S. President Donald] Trump outlined the new U.S. foreign policy of not engaging in conflicts abroad unless they were directly aligned with U.S. interests [October 2019], and then effectively withdrawing from Syria and from supporting the Kurds, Russia and China have felt that they can bring forward their plans to bring Iraq within their geopolitical arc of influence,” a senior source who works closely with Iraq’s Oil Ministry told OilPrice.com last week.

A senior member of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense commission said that the United States has transferred over a thousand terrorists from eastern regions of Syria to western areas of Iraq, warning about its consequences and dangers.

At least four rockets hit a US-led military coalition's Baghdad headquarters early on Sunday but caused no casualties, a coalition spokesman said, in the latest attack to target US facilities in Iraq.

Washington has blamed Iran-backed paramilitary groups for increasingly regular rocketing and shelling of bases hosting US forces in Iraq and of the area around the American Embassy in Baghdad.

U.S. allies in Europe agreed Wednesday to expand their mission in Iraq, answering a demand by Defense Secretary Mark Esper that NATO members play a larger role in the fight against the Islamic State, the alliance's top official said.

"Will the U.S. ever leave Iraq? Official policy promises an eventual departure, while warning of the dire consequences of a "premature" withdrawal. But while Washington equivocates, facts on the ground tell another story. Independent journalist Dahr Jamail, and author Chalmers Johnson, are discovering that military bases in Iraq are being consolidated from over a hundred to a handful of "megabases" with lavish amenities. Much of what is taking place is obscured by denials and quibbles over the definition of "permanent." The Bases Are Loaded covers a wide range of topics. Gary Hart, James Goldsborough, Nadia Keilani, Raed Jarrar, Bruce Finley Kam Zarrabi and Mark Rudd all add their observations about the extent and purpose of the bases in Iraq."

In a key piece of actual extensive, on-the-ground reporting, the New York Times’s Alissa Rubin has raised serious questions about the official US account of who it was that attacked the K-1 base near Kirkuk, in eastern Iraq, on December 27. The United States almost immediately accused the Iran-backed Ketaib Hizbullah (KH) militia of responsibility. But Rubin quotes by name Brig. General Ahmed Adnan, the chief of intelligence for the Iraqi federal police at the same base, as saying, “All the indications are that it was Daesh” — that is, ISIS.