Shiite militia

Turkey is capable of pushing fighters of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from northern Syria if they continue to ignore Ankara's demands for a full withdrawal east of the Euphrates, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has stated. 

Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on March 27 night after beginning a sit-in in Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone intended to be a show of force following his calls to combat government corruption.

Three U.S. citizens who were kidnapped in Baghdad last month have been released with the help of the Iraqi government, the State Department said on Feb. 16. 

Iraq's foreign ministry summoned Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Baghdad on Jan. 24 to protest his "interference" in the country's internal affairs over remarks on militia forces fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

The United States on Dec. 28 welcomed the Iraqi forces' victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in the city of Ramadi.

"We commend the government of Iraq and the brave Iraqi forces that are displaying tremendous perseverance and courage in this fight," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a written statement.

The Iranian intelligence service stepped in for the release of Turkish workers kidnapped in Iraq. The Turkish National Intelligence Service (M?T) had contacted Tehran and prominent Shiite leaders with leverage on Shiite militias for help in the workers' case.

Sixteen Turkish workers who were held captive by Shiite militias earlier this month in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have arrived in the Turkish capital late Sept. 30 after their release earlier in the day.

A Shiite militia group that abducted 18 Turkish workers on Sept. 2 has released a video of them for the first time, reading the names of the abducted workers and a list of the group's demands, Al Jazeera Türk has reported.

The group calling itself the "Death Squads," listed its conditions to release the workers, addressing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. 

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu on Sept. 4 spoke on the phone with his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi over the abduction of 18 Turkish workers in Baghdad on Sept. 2, as Iraqi security forces raided the Baghdad headquarters of a powerful Iranian-backed Shiite militia.
      

An Iraqi soldier was killed in clashes with gunmen as security forces searched for a suspect behind the kidnappings of 18 Turkish workers, the military said on Sept. 4.

The Turkish employees of construction company Nurol ?n?aat were seized on Sept. 2 in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad, where they were working on a football stadium project.