Published by Al-Araby Iraq still needs airstrikes from the US-led coalition to snuff out what remains of the Islamic State group, a military spokesperson said a few days after combat troops from the coalition left the country. The Iraqi forces need strengthening and support “especially in the air force, air defense, army aviation and intelligence system fields,” The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported spokesman Yehia Rasool as saying. Iraq particularly needs the coalition’s aviation to carry out strikes on IS remnants of the Iraq-Syria border, Rasool said. The Iraqi government said We…

Published by Al-Araby Iran said on Friday the current US administration is now “responsible” for the assassination two years ago of its revered commander Qassem Soleimani, as the Islamic Republic started commemorations to mark his death. Former US president Donald Trump sent shock waves through the region on 3 January 2020 with the targeted killing of General Soleimani, who was commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards. He was killed along with his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis in a US drone strike in Baghdad ordered by Trump, infuriating Iran and its alli…