Grim footage has emerged from eastern Mosul, supposedly “liberated” from Daesh control late last month,showing members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and men who appeared to be from the Shia-dominated Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) paramilitary organisation executing unarmed men in the streets. The footage shows armed Shia militants, who are fighting under the banner of Iraq, dragging a bound and clearly terrified man through the streets. The militants are heard abusing the man, and can be clearly seen beating…

Archbishop Bashar Warda said the Church wanted displaced people to return to their villages in peace and security Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil has unveiled plans to provide a future for Iraq’s displaced Christians – despite fresh reports showing the extent of the destruction of their homes in the Nineveh Plains. Archbishop Warda said the Churches aim to rebuild “so that the IDPs (internally displaced people) are able to return to the villages of their forefathers with hope and security”.…

Shi’ite Muslim militias have reportedly been using weapons from Iraqi military stockpiles. Militias fighting alongside Iraqi troops against Islamic State are committing war crimes using weapons provided to the Iraqi military by the United States, Europe, Russia and Iran, Amnesty International said on Thursday. The rights group said that predominantly Shi’ite Muslim militias, known collective as the Hashid Shaabi, were using weapons from Iraqi military stockpiles to commit war crimes including enforced disappearances, torture and summary killings. Parliament voted for…

More than 2,000 Iraqis a day are fleeing Mosul, several hundred more each day than before U.S.-led coalition forces began a new phase of their battle to retake the city from Islamic State, the United Nations said on Wednesday. After quick initial advances, the operation stalled for several weeks but last Thursday Iraqi forces renewed their push from Mosul's east towards the Tigris River on three fronts. Elite interior ministry troops were clearing the Mithaq district on Wednesday, after entering…

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber detonated a pickup truck loaded with explosives on Monday in a busy Baghdad market, killing at least 36 people hours after President François Hollande of France arrived in the Iraqi capital. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomb went off in a produce market that was packed with day laborers, a police officer said, adding that another 52 people were wounded. During a news conference with Mr. Hollande, Haider al-Abadi, Iraq’s prime…

UN mission in Iraq says the figure does not include casualties from western Anbar for May, July, August and December.  At least 6,878 civilians were killed in Iraq last year as the Iraqi government struggled to maintain security and dislodge fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group from areas under its control. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, known as UNAMI, said on Tuesday that its numbers "have to be considered…

BARTELLA, Iraq –  There were no big New Year's celebrations for the Iraqi men, women and children who narrowly escaped the fighting in Mosul, only to wait for hours under armed guard while the fighting-age males among them were cleared of links to the Islamic State. The lucky ones would go with their families to one of the wind-swept camps for displaced Iraqis, where they will endure the remainder of northern Iraq's bitterly cold winter in tents and learn to…

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday at a press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh that Saudi opposes any sectarian forces on the ground in Iraq, and are keen on preserving the Arab identity of Iraq. Jubeir said the Popular Mobilization militias are purely sectarian institutions, stressing that that they are led by Iranian officers. He also added "we are keen to address any across the Iraqi border terrorist operation." Jubeir confirmed that the Jordanian Saudi…

Gunmen have kidnapped an Iraqi female journalist who has campaigned against widespread corruption in the country. Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi was taken from her home in the Saidiya district of the capital, Baghdad, on Monday night by men claiming to be security personnel. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered security forces to "exert the utmost effort" to save her. On Monday, Ms Qaisi wrote an article in which she expressed anger that armed groups could act with impunity. The article, published…

Irbil, Iraq (CNN)Nearly 2,000 Iraqi troops were killed across Iraq in November as they battled to force ISIS extremists from the country, according to newly released UN figures. That's nearly triple the number of military casualties reported in October, when an offensive to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS first began. The toll for November includes Iraqi army, police in combat, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and allied militias. The Iraqi-led coalition forces' advance slowed after Iraqi Security Forces entered Mosul…