BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Gorran, a main opposition party to Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, called on Sunday for his resignation, and for a "national salvation government" to be formed to deal with crisis pitting the Kurds and the central Iraqi authorities.
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari will meet in Moscow on Oct. 23 to discuss the situation in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Following the Iraqi army's move into the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq this week, some have argued forcefully that the United States should intervene to protect the Kurds and even aid in their aspirations for an independent state.
BAGHDAD -- Military operations in Iraq this past week were one-sided, with Iraqi government forces using superior numbers and firepower to reclaim disputed areas that had been controlled by separatist Iraqi Kurds since 2014.
It is hard to find a better symbol of America's bewildering fortunes and tough choices in the Middle East than in Kirkuk -- the strategic Iraqi city where troops from Baghdad, joined by Shiite militias commanded by Iran, did battle this month with the Kurds who had secured the contested city.
When the guns fell silent on the Kirkuk-Erbil road, just after noon on Friday, a fresh border had been scythed through the oil-rich soil -- and a new line of influence carved across northern Iraq.