Iraqi battle seen as key victory in Iran - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Shi'ite fighters pose with a black flag belonging to the Islamic State, which they pulled down after capturing the town of Jurf al-Sakhar from the Islamic State militants, south of Baghdad October 26, 2014. Picture taken October 26, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4BQ6H

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Shi'ite fighters pose with a black flag belonging to the Islamic State, which they pulled down after capturing the town of Jurf al-Sakhar from the Islamic State militants, south of Baghdad October 26, 2014. Picture taken October 26, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4BQ6H

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Iraqi soldiers fire artillery during clashes with Sunni militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, south of Baghdad June 30, 2014. Iraqi troops battled to dislodge the al Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit on Monday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria. Alarming regional and world powers, the ISIL claimed universal authority when it dropped the local element in its nam

Money, power draw young Iraqis to IS

Wassim Bassem

Iraq's transport minister Hadi al-Amiri (2nd R), head of the Badr Organisation, visits members of the Iraqi security forces after clashes with the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the town of Dalli Abbas in Diyala province, June 26, 2014. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential Shi'ite cleric in Iraq, called on the country's leaders on Friday to choose a prime minister within the next four days, a dramatic political intervention that cou

Iran news site profiles head of Iraq’s Badr Organization

Arash Karami

A displaced boy, who fled from Salahuddin province stands in a tent at a refugee camp, on the outskirts of Kirkuk, December 17, 2014. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY POVERTY) - RTR4IESO

Displaced Iraqis still wait to return home

Mushreq Abbas

Iraq kicks off historic Fallujah operation against Islamic State

Mohammed A. Salih

Mohammed A. Salih