Anti-government protesters in Iraq set fires and closed streets near Baghdad’s Tahrir Square during a demonstration against the Iranian missile strike that targeted two military bases in Iraq housing US troops.The Iranian attack was in retaliation for a US drone strike that killed top Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani last week near the Baghdad airport. About 100 protesters took part in the morning’s demonstration near Tahrir, the epicenter of Iraq’s protest movement.The protesters carrying Iraqi flags shouted “Iran out, out!”…

Sean Hannity reacted Tuesday night to Iran launching ballistic missiles at U.S. military forces in Iraq, saying there's a "massive price to pay" for Iran's retaliation. "I have talked to one high ranking source, only one within the Defense Department ... that believes almost if not all of these missiles may have missed their targets," Hannity said. "That wouldn't be an accident." Iran fired as many as 15 ballistic missiles into Iraq, targeting U.S. military and coalition forces. Hannity pointed out that while some…

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday the United States wants to de-escalate tensions with Iran, but the country is ready to finish any war that could be started."We are not looking to start a war with Iran, but we are prepared to finish one," he said. "What we'd like to see is the situation de-escalated."The US drone strike on Friday that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani has sharply escalated tensions with Iran, raising fears of all-out conflict.…

The U.S. is bolstering its military presence in the Middle East after an American strike killed a key Iranian commander in Iraq, with plans to send about 2,800 troops from the Army’s 82nd Airborne division to Kuwait. The new U.S. contingent will join roughly 700 troops dispatched to Kuwait earlier this week as part of the division’s rapid-reaction “ready battalion,” according to two U.S. officials who asked not to be identified discussing the deployment. The U.S. already had about 60,000…

The 62-year-old Soleimani was the target of Friday’s U.S. attack, which was conducted by an armed American drone, according to a U.S. official. His vehicle was struck on an access road near the Baghdad airport. A senior Iraqi security official said the airstrike took place near the cargo area after Soleimani left his plane and joined al-Muhandis and others in a car. The official said the plane had arrived from either Lebanon or Syria. Two officials from the PMF said…

BAGHDAD – Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, was killed early on Friday in a US air strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport, the Pentagon said. Top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the attack, a militia spokesman said. “This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans,” the Pentagon said in a statement. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed in a statement that Soleimani was killed. Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for…

BAGHDAD – Supporters of Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi force began dismantling their sit-in outside the US embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday, but hardliners insisted they would stay put. The Hashed, a powerful paramilitary network integrated into Iraq’s state security forces, ordered its backers to end their protest outside the US mission. “You delivered your message,” it said in a statement. Thousands had massed outside the embassy in anger at deadly weekend US air strikes on pro-Iran Hashed faction, Kataeb Hezbollah. Iraq’s…

Speaking to reporters just hours after dozens of Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militiamen and their supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, President Trump on Tuesday night vowed that the situation "will not be a Benghazi" -- a pointed reference to the deadly 2012 embassy attack in Libya on the Obama administration's watch, after officials at the embassy had requested enhanced security for weeks. "It's been handled very well," Trump said as he walked into New Year's Eve celebrations at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.…

At least 68 Iraqi protesters have been kidnapped by unknown actors due to their involvement in protests that began to grip the south and center of the country on Oct. 1. Meanwhile, 56 remain missing according to a statement from Iraq's semi-official Human Rights Commission on Saturday. Faisal Abdullah, a member of the commission claimed on Saturday that 56 protesters still remain missing after reports they were abducted. Another 12 have been released, he said, quoting data recorded by his…

Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, shut operations at its southern Nasiriya refinery after protesters marched into the facility, according to a person familiar with the operations. The facility refines between 25,000 to 30,000 barrels a day with products ranging from gasoline, fuel oil and kerosene used mostly in the province. The cut in output may lead to a shortage for the area. Protesters -- mostly made up of the unemployed that also include recent graduates from the province -- have rallied…