Iraq Stresses Significance of Ties with US  

Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Shia al-Sudani speaks during a vote in Sudani's cabinet at the parliament in Baghdad, Iraq, October 27, 2022. (Iraqi Prime Minister Media Office/Handout via Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Shia al-Sudani speaks during a vote in Sudani's cabinet at the parliament in Baghdad, Iraq, October 27, 2022. (Iraqi Prime Minister Media Office/Handout via Reuters)
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Iraq Stresses Significance of Ties with US  

Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Shia al-Sudani speaks during a vote in Sudani's cabinet at the parliament in Baghdad, Iraq, October 27, 2022. (Iraqi Prime Minister Media Office/Handout via Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Shia al-Sudani speaks during a vote in Sudani's cabinet at the parliament in Baghdad, Iraq, October 27, 2022. (Iraqi Prime Minister Media Office/Handout via Reuters)

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani stressed on Friday the importance of his country’s ties with the United States. 

Iraq is seeking balanced ties with its regional and international environment in a way that preserves national sovereignty, he said as he welcomed a US Congress delegation headed by Senator Mark Takano 

Iraq is committed to supporting the stability and security of the region, he added according to a government statement. 

Sudani and the American officials discussed bilateral relations between Baghdad and Washington, the war on terrorism and the Iraqi forces’ crackdown on ISIS remnants. 

They discussed bolstering relations and the partnership in line with the strategic agreement, including in combating climate change and water scarcity. 

Iraq is struggling with water shortages due to Türkiye and Iran reducing supplies from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which are having an impact on its agricultural production and increasing desertification. 



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Gaza as War Grinds Into the New Year

A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Gaza as War Grinds Into the New Year

A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian child wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli strikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, officials said Wednesday, as the nearly 15-month war ground on into the new year with no end in sight.

One strike hit a home in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, the most isolated and heavily destroyed part of the territory, where Israel has been waging a major operation since early October, The Associated Press reported.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says seven people were killed, including a woman and four children, and that at least a dozen other people were wounded.
Another strike overnight into Wednesday in the built-up Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed a woman and a child, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.

A third strike early Wednesday in the southern city of Khan Younis killed three people, according to the nearby Nasser Hospital and the European Hospital, which received the bodies.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times.
Hundreds of thousands are living in tents on the coast as winter brings frequent rainstorms and temperatures drop below 10 degrees Celsius at night. At least four infants have died of hypothermia.