Iraq

Two sources familiar with the process confirmed to Newsweek that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has signed off on Army Sergeant 1st Class Alwyn C. Cashe receiving the Medal of Honor, and a third source aware of the proceedings said the White House was working to set a ceremony date.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Iraq's military said the explosion occurred in the Wahailat market in Sadr City, a day before the Eid al-Adha holiday

The Iraqi Prime Minister's Office told Newsweek that President Joe Biden's Middle East coordinator discussed "mechanisms for withdrawing combat forces from Iraq," but a senior administration official denied the claim.

"The whole state system has collapsed, and who paid the price? The people inside here. These people have paid the price," one witness said.

"Targeting diplomatic missions is rejected by the Iraqi resistance, and its decision is to not even strike the evil American embassy military camp," Kataib Hezbollah spokesperson Abu Ali al-Askary, said in a statement.

The U.S.-led coalition told Newsweek it was "aware" of the reports of rocket attacks in Baghdad later confirmed by Iraq's Security Media Cell.

The attacks come as tensions continue to rise between U.S. troops and Iran-backed fighters after American airstrikes in Syria killed four Iraqi fighters late last month.

"If the enemy does not admit its losses, we will tell him the number of Zionists who were killed in the Erbil operation tonight," Iraq's Saraya Awliya al-Dam militia said.

"We want it to be an operation in which everyone says they have taken revenge on the Americans," Abu Alaa al-Walae said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi "stressed the importance of Iraq not being an arena for settling conflicts, or a springboard for aggression against any of its neighbors" during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

President Joe Biden's latest military action exposes the hot mess otherwise known as Washington's Middle East policy.

Issa Ismail passed away five days after sustaining severe third-degree burns in the horrific industrial accident, according to UAE News.

In the absence of the ability to remove them, airstrikes against Iranian weapons trafficking and its drone bases amount to the only way to keep Tehran in check.

"U.S. Forces in Syria, while under multiple rocket attack, acted in self-defense and conducted counter-battery artillery fire at rocket launching positions," U.S.-led coalition spokesperson Army Colonel Wayne Marotto said.

Iraq's National Security Council told Newsweek it has "expressed its strong condemnation and censure of the American bombing that targeted a site on our border with Syria" and "is studying resorting to all available legal options to prevent the recurrence of such attacks."

"The United States took necessary, appropriate and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation—but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message," the Pentagon said.

Omar has been criticized previously for speaking out against attacks against Iran, and has condemned U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

"The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged ... against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq," the Pentagon stated.

Until lawmakers stop providing the executive branch the benefit of the doubt about when and where to take the nation to war, inter-branch disputes on this issue will continue for a long time to come.

Over 500 Iraqis that have been accepted as refugees have already been implicated in the alleged fraud.

The minister said he is hopeful the coming months will bring signed contracts to develop key projects that could boost Iraq's gas capacity.

In the last year and a half, there have been about 300 attacks by Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militias on U.S. interests in Iraq.

The Biden administration should immediately review whether there is any legitimate basis for continuing to detain Omar Ameen, a resettled Iraqi refugee in the U.S., who has roots and a family with four children in Sacramento, or to continue to push for his deportation.

If Americans want to protect religious freedom globally, they will take a stand for Yazidis.

"If the United Nations does not clean it up, we will do it as a UN member," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. A refugee camp in Iraq, Makhmour, is believed to be used by the Kurdistan Workers Party as a safe haven and logistics center.

Congress should use its power of the purse to assert its authority in foreign policy.

Hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets of the capital city to protest a rise in targeted killings of prominent activists and journalists.

Unlike predominant groups, independent Assyrian parties heavily rely on expatriate voters to secure their seats in Iraq's parliament.

Rear Admiral Marc Aussedat, the head of a task force that features the Charles de Gaulle nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, said reconnaissance flights are being carried out to help French forces on the ground observe the Islamic State and that weapons will be used if needed.

Tannab Raslan, which was available on the local Asia TV as a special during the Ramadan holy month, followed Iraqi celebrity guests and invited them to a "charity event" that turned out to be a staged ambush by actors playing militants.