Haider al-Abadi

A spokesman for the governor of Iraq's Anbar province said May 17 that about 500 people - both civilians and Iraqi soldiers - are estimated to have been killed over the past few days as the city of Ramadi fell to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters seized the government compound in the city of Ramadi on May 15 and edged closer to what would be their biggest victory in Iraq this year, officials said.

US President Barack Obama met the head of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region at the White House on May 5, courting a vital ally on the frontline of the fight against Islamic militants.
 
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met Massud Barzani to discuss the campaign to regain Iraqi territory lost to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 
 

Iraqi authorities are on the defensive after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) scored a major propaganda victory with attacks in Anbar, undermining confidence in Baghdad's attempts to retake the key province.

Representatives from around 80 countries, including 21 presidents, three deputy presidents, and five prime ministers, will attend controversially rescheduled events in Turkey on April 24 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign during the First World War.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has lost control of "25 to 30" percent of the territory it holds in Iraq after coalition air strikes and an Iraqi offensive, the Pentagon said April 13.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on April 13 that he will use a visit to the United States to seek increased air support and arms deliveries to aid Baghdad's battle against jihadists.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the Baghdad government would work with Kurdish authorities to liberate the northern province of Nineveh from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants. 

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Baghdad on March 30 for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other top officials.
      
Ban first met President Fuad Masum and Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and was also due to meet parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi before holding talks with Abadi.
      

ISIS fighters are in control of many strongholds in the -mainly Sunni- Salahuddin (Saladin) area north of Baghdad, as well as other cities along the river Tiger. At the same time, many Shiite guardsmen have gathered to fight against ISIS.