Iraq Cracks Down on ISIS Remnants in 3 Cities

Iraqi soldiers during a mission to crack down on ISIS remnants. (Iraq Defense Ministry)
Iraqi soldiers during a mission to crack down on ISIS remnants. (Iraq Defense Ministry)
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Iraq Cracks Down on ISIS Remnants in 3 Cities

Iraqi soldiers during a mission to crack down on ISIS remnants. (Iraq Defense Ministry)
Iraqi soldiers during a mission to crack down on ISIS remnants. (Iraq Defense Ministry)

Iraq’s national security service announced on Thursday the arrest of 20 members of an ISIS cell in the Nineveh, al-Anbar and Kirkuk regions.

During interrogation, four of the detainees in Nineveh disclosed the location of their hideout where several light and medium weapons and explosive devices were found.

In Kirkuk, the security forces arrested a prominent ISIS terrorist.

The agency said he played an influential role in Iraq when the “terrorist gangs controlled some parts of the country.”

On Tuesday, Iraq received 185 relatives of ISIS members who were held in Syria's al-Hol camp that holds extremists.

The relatives have been moved to a rehabilitation center in the al-Jadaa region, said Nineveh MP Sherwan Al-Doberdani.

The return of relatives of ISIS terrorists is a contentious issue in Iraq, which waged three years of war against the extremists from 2014 to 2017 that ended with ISIS’ defeat.

At the height of its power, the group had seized nearly a third of Iraq. Remnants of the group remain active in the country despite the defeat.

Iraqi authorities often make announcements of the arrest of its members and cells.

In early 2024, Iraq erected a border fence with Syria to tighten security along the porous border that Iraq has said has been easily infiltrated by terrorists.

The wall stretches 160 kms from the al-Qaim region and rises up to three meters.



World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

The World Bank has presented a $1 billion program for the reconstruction of Lebanon, the Lebanese prime minister's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The program would include $250 million as a loan, with the rest of the financing to come from international aid, it added.

The cost of reconstruction and recovery for Lebanon following the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war is estimated at $11 billion, the World Bank said in a new report Friday.
The war killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands and caused widespread destruction in the nation.
The report by the World Bank’s Lebanon Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment covered damage and losses in ten sectors across the country from Oct. 8, 2023 until Dec. 20, 2024.
A US-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November.