According to the CIA, two-thirds of all chemical weapons ever used by Iraq during its war with Iran were fired or dropped in the last 18 months of the war.
By , U. A month later, the Iraqis used aerial bombs and artillery shells filled with sarin against Iranian troop concentrations on the Fao Peninsula southeast of Basrah, helping the Iraqi forces win a major victory and recapture the entire peninsula.
The success of the Fao Peninsula offensive also prevented the Iranians from launching their much-anticipated offensive to capture Basrah. According to Francona, Washington was very pleased with the result because the Iranians never got a chance to launch their offensive. Back then, American intelligence had better access to the region and could send officials out to assess the damage. Francona visited the Fao Peninsula shortly after it had been captured by the Iraqis.
Francona scooped up a few of the injectors and brought them back to Baghdad — proof that the Iraqis had used sarin on the Fao Peninsula. In the ensuing months, Francona reported, the Iraqis used sarin in massive quantities three more times in conjunction with massed artillery fire and smoke to disguise the use of nerve agents. Each offensive was hugely successful, in large part because of the increasingly sophisticated use of mass quantities of nerve agents.
The last of these attacks, called the Blessed Ramadan Offensive, was launched by the Iraqis in April and involved the largest use of sarin nerve agent employed by the Iraqis to date.
Until, perhaps, the strikes last week outside of Damascus. Situation report on the Iran-Iraq war, noting that each side is preparing for chemical weapons attacks July 29, Memo to the director of Central Intelligence predicting that Iraq will use nerve agents against Iran Feb.
CIA considers the consequences for chemical weapons proliferation now that Iraq has used mustard and nerve agent Sept.
Ebrahim Raisi needs a deal. Military threats from Washington would derail any remaining hopes of achieving one. Shusha was the key to the recent war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Now Baku wants to turn the fabled fortress town into a resort.
By Shane Harris and Matthew M. August 26, , AM. The remaining members, now visibly afraid, started chanting vociferous allegiance to Saddam in the hope of avoiding the fate of their colleagues. Journalist Christopher Hitchens compared the shocking scene to the Night of the Long Knives in Nazi Germany, when Hitler ordered a similar purge of his own perceived opponents in There were comparisons with Joseph Stalin , due to the way he moulded the Iraqi political structure into a one-party system, ruled by a small elite comprising close friends and family.
But his penchant for public violence would remain a notable difference. While Stalin managed to impose a fully centralised economy and forced industrialisation, Saddam opted for a mixed economy which allowed private possession of land and businesses. He soon instilled a climate of fear and perpetrated torture, kidnapping and mass murder , as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes prosecuted under the International Criminal Court.
Obsessed with security, he is said to have moved among them often, always sleeping in secret locations. In the early s, Saddam involved his country in an eight-year war with Iran, which is estimated to have taken more than a million lives on both sides. After he invaded Kuwait in , a U. Throughout the s, Saddam faced both U. With Iraq continuing to face allegations of illegal oil sales and weapons-building, the United States again invaded the country in March , this time with the expressed purpose of ousting Saddam and his regime.
Five months later, on December 13, , U. The man once obsessed with hygiene was found to be unkempt, with a bushy beard and matted hair.
He did not resist and was uninjured during the arrest. After standing trial, he was executed on December 30, Despite a prolonged search, weapons of mass destruction were never found in Iraq.
On December 10, U. Supporters of al- Sadr broke into the Green Zone and stormed Parliament. Protesters demanded a new government to fight corruption after weeks of political gridlock and turmoil because parties insisted on appointing ministers along sectarian lines.
Iraqi forces, aided by U. On June 26,the Iraqi army retook Fallujah. OnOctober 28, ISIS fighters used tens of thousands of men, women and children as human shields in Mosul to prevent Iraqi troops from advancing. The vote was unanimous. On November 15, an Iraqi interior ministry spokesman announced that one-third of eastern Mosul had been liberated. The previous spokesman, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, was killed in an airstrike at the end of August in Syria. In his first statement as spokesman, al-Muhajer urged ISIS sympathizers to carry out new attacks and for fighters to stand their ground in Iraq.
Government forces took complete control of eastern Mosul from ISIS, days after the campaign started. On February 19, U. On May 26, U. Iraqi troops captured the remains of the mosque on June 29 after an eight-month campaign.
In a regional referendum ,92 percent of Iraqi Kurds voted for independence. It was organized by Kurdistan Regional Government as a step toward statehood. The turnout was more than 72 percent. Iraqi forces launched an offensive on Hawija, one of the last territories under Islamic State. On November 2,Iraqi forces retook the Akkas gas field near the Syrian border.
On May 1,the U. Iraq held parliamentary elections. The political bloc led by al-Sadr won the majority. On June 7, Parliament ordered a nationwide recount of May election results after the emergence of widespread allegations of election fraud.
In August, the results were finalized. Protests spread throughout the Shia majority city Basra, in southern Iraq, over unemployment, shortages of clean water and electricity, and widespread corruption. Protesters burned government buildings and political offices, including the Iranian consulate. The United States ordered the evacuation of its consulate after rockets were launched in its direction. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held Iran and its allies responsible.
Parliament elected Sunni lawmaker Muhammad al-Halbusi as its new speaker. At age 37, al-Halbusi was the youngest speaker in Iraqi history.
On the following day, he asked Adil Abd al-Mahdi, a year-old economist and veteran Shia politician, to be the prime minister. The selection of Salih and Mahdi, respected technocrats, signaled a shift toward a more conciliatory and less sectarian method of governing.
The Iraqi people, however, remained skeptical about their ability to deliver reform and practical changes in their lives. The KRG held parliamentary elections. Parliament has seats, 11 of which are reserved for minority groups. Prime Minister Mahdi was sworn in with a partial cabinet of 14 ministers.
He was the first premier not affiliated with a party or political bloc when he was nominated, a significant shift for Iraq. Political factions failed to reach consensus on the remaining eight posts, which included the ministries of defense, justice and immigration and interior. During the visit, Iranian and Iraqi officials signed memorandums of understanding on oil and gas, land transport, railways, agriculture, industry, health, and banking.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unannounced visit to Baghdad hours after telling reporters that the United States was concerned about Iraqi sovereignty because of increasing Iranian activity. Amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran, the State Department ordered the departure of non-emergency U. In the first half of , unidentified militias had launched eight rocket attacks on U. Iraqi President Salih and Speaker of the Council of Representatives al-Halbusi, among other officials from Baghdad, also attended the ceremony on June Masrour Barzani, the former chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council, was named for the post of prime minister and was tasked with forming a cabinet.
To disperse the protests, reports indicate that Iraqi security forces and armed groups linked to Iran killed over protestors and injured more than 6, during the first week.
The prime minister rejected calls for his resignation and instead proposed administrative reforms, including cabinet reshuffles. Confrontations between protestors and security forces intensified, leaving more than protestors dead and thousands more wounded in the first two months. On November 27, anti-government demonstrators who opposed Iranian influence in Iraq burned down the Iranian consulate in Najaf. Kataeb Hezbollah, which is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, carried out a rocket attack that killed a U.
Two days later, the U. Kataeb Hezbollah, other Iran-backed groups, and leaders of some units of the Popular Mobilization Forces organized a siege on the U. Embassy in Baghdad. Following the attack, U. The Iraqi Council of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution to end foreign military presence in Iraq. Most Kurdish and Sunni members boycotted the vote. Operations were resumed 10 days later. In retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani, Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.
The attack damaged the facilities, but the United States initially reported that no U. In February, the U. On January 27, following a short period of de-escalation, the U. Embassy in Baghdad was hit by three rockets that landed in the embassy and its surroundings. The attack injured at least one person and was not claimed by any group. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to send delegates to Iraq to discuss mechanisms for the withdrawal of U.
A day later, the State Department said that the U. Thousands of Iraqi protesters gathered in al-Hurriyah Square in Baghdad and near the main university to protest continued U. Former Communications Minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi was appointed by President Salih as prime minister-designate to form a new cabinet.
After failing to receive a vote of confidence in parliament for his cabinet nominees, Allawi withdrew his candidacy on March 1. Former Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi continued to serve as the caretaker during the deadlock.
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