Nouri al-Maliki

Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki has rejected an initiative sponsored by the United Nations regarding a planned independence referendum in northern Iraq, saying that it contains several elements that are against the country's constitution. 

Iraq will not allow the creation of a "second Israel" in the northern parts of the country, the vice-president and former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said, quoted by the Anatolian agency.

His speech came at a meeting with US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silimon and concerns the referendum on independence prepared by authorities in the Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Region.

A court in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir has arrested an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) "commander" after police detained him as part of an anti-ISIL investigation carried out by Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. 

Abdelhamid Abaaoud - Photo: Twitter / @sudouest

The recapture of Mosul is an achievement of the Iraqi people while the US is trying to highjack it and claims it was them who "led that war," Iraq's Vice President Nouri al-Maliki has told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The Islamic State stands on the brink of a twin defeat. Mosul, the largest city under its control, has almost entirely fallen from its grasp, and Kurdish-led forces are advancing into its de facto capital of Raqqa.

We are all locked in on Syria. Our eyes and ears have been focused on this land. Yet this seems to make us overlook what's going on in another country along Turkey's southern borders, which is Iraq. The country has been going through its darkest period in the last 14 years, ever since the U.S. invasion and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Bahrain's Foreign Ministry summoned Iraq's ambassador in Manama to protest against remarks by Iraqi officials denouncing the execution of men convicted of a 2014 bomb attack, state news agency BNA said on Jan. 16, Reuters reported. 

The execution on Jan. 15 of three men, whose attack killed three policemen, has drawn condemnation from rights groups. Iran called it a "reckless" act. 

Not too long ago, it was only three months ago when Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi issued harsh statements against Turkey. During Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's recent visit to Iraq, al-Abadi was constructive and is expected to visit Turkey in March or April. 

The Mosul operation has started, while a symbolic opening kickoff will be conducted in the coming days.  I will try to convey the parameters of the Mosul operation, within the context of its effects on Turkey. Mosul has been in the hands of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) since June 2014. 

A resolution adopted by Iraq's parliament criticizing the Turkish military presence at the Bashiqa base in northern Iraq does not represent all of Iraqis, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, describing the move as ill-intended.