Thursday, 16 May 2013 14:16
Posted by Parvez Jabri
BAGHDAD: General Lloyd Austin, the officer who oversaw the US military withdrawal from Iraq, visited Baghdad for talks on defence cooperation and security issues including Syria, the US embassy said on Thursday.Austin, who now heads the US Central Command, "visited Baghdad May 14 to 16, 2013 to discuss US-Iraq defence cooperation and regional security issues, including the situation in Syria," the embassy said in a statement.Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are battling rebels in neighbouring Syria in a conflict that has spilled over into Iraq on several occasions and reportedly killed more than 94,000 people.The US general met with officials including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, acting defence minister Saadun al-Dulaimi, national security advisor Falah al-Fayadh and top Iraqi military officer General Babaker Zebari.Austin was the final commander of United States Forces - Iraq, overseeing the withdrawal of US troops from the country, which brought to a close an almost ...
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BAGHDAD: General Lloyd Austin, the officer who oversaw the US military withdrawal from Iraq, visited Baghdad for talks on defence cooperation and security issues including Syria, the US embassy said on Thursday.Austin, who now heads the US Central Command, "visited Baghdad May 14 to 16, 2013 to discuss US-Iraq defence cooperation and regional security issues, including the situation in Syria," the embassy said in a statement.Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are battling rebels in neighbouring Syria in a conflict that has spilled over into Iraq on several occasions and reportedly killed more than 94,000 people.The US general met with officials including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, acting defence minister Saadun al-Dulaimi, national security advisor Falah al-Fayadh and top Iraqi military officer General Babaker Zebari.Austin was the final commander of United States Forces - Iraq, overseeing the withdrawal of US troops from the country, which brought to a close an almost ...
HARUR: A first group of Kurdish fighters pulling out of Turkey under a truce arrived in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq on Tuesday to handshakes and embraces after a gruelling week-long journey.But the Iraqi government slammed the movement of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters into its territory as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty and said it would complain to the UN Security Council."We are the first group to reach the safe area in ...
ABU DHABI: Five Arab countries and Turkey have reiterated that President Bashar al-Assad should have no role in the future of Syria, as Russia and the United States proposed a peace conference.The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as that of Turkey -- all supporters of the Syrian opposition -- expressed their stand at a meeting late Monday in Abu Dhabi, WAM Emirati news agency said.The ministers backed ...
TACOMA: A military judge ruled on Monday that a US soldier who shot and killed five fellow servicemen at a combat stress clinic in Iraq acted with premeditation, a decision that will almost surely get him life in prison.US Army Sergeant John Russell, in a deal that spared him the death penalty, pleaded guilty last month to killing two medical staff officers and three soldiers at Camp Liberty in Baghdad in a 2009 shooting that ...
BEIRUT: Syria's key National Coalition opposition group will meet May 23 to discuss a US-Russian proposal for an international conference on a political solution to the Syrian conflict."The meeting will take place in Istanbul and last three days... to take a decision on the Kerry-Lavrov proposal and our participation," Coalition spokesman Sonir Ahmed told AFP, referring to US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.The US-Russian proposal, announced in Moscow last ...
BAGHDAD: Gunmen shot dead four women in Baghdad and killed three men north of the capital on Sunday, security and medical officials said.The women were killed in a house in the Karrada area of central Baghdad, while the men were shot dead while walking on the main road in the Mishahada area, they said.It was not immediately clear why the victims were attacked. Shootings in Iraq often target security forces or government employees.Violence in Iraq ...
UNITED NATIONS: Qatar played a key role negotiating the release of four Filipino peacekeepers seized by Syrian rebels in the UN patrolled Golan Heights ceasefire zone, UN officials and diplomats said on Sunday.UN leader Ban Ki-moon praised Qatar's role as he welcomed the release of the four who had been held for five days.Ban "appreciates the assistance of Qatar and of others involved in securing their safe release," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.It is the ...
