Iraq

A U.S. jury has awarded $42 million to three former detainees of Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, holding a Virginia-based military contractor responsible for contributing to their torture and mistreatment two decades ago.

A U.S. military operation Thursday in Iraq killed at least 15 Islamic State militant group fighters, and several U.S. soldiers suffered injuries, three U.S. defense officials said, according to NBC News.

Several U.S. personnel are believed to be injured following a suspected rocket attack on U.S. and coalition forces at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a defense official confirmed to NBC News.

Human rights groups and diplomat have criticized a law that was quietly passed by the Iraqi parliament over the weekend that would impose heavy prison sentences on gay and transgender people. Although homosexuality is taboo in the largely conservative Iraqi society and political leaders have periodically launched anti-LGBTQ campaigns, Iraq did not previously have a law that explicitly criminalized it.

A Kataib Hezbollah commander was killed in a U.S. drone strike Wednesday in Baghdad in response to an attack on American forces, a U.S. official confirmed to NBC News

The strikes came hours after the U.S. said militants fired two one-way attack drones at al-Asad Air Base, injuring U.S. service members and damaging infrastructure.

President Joe Biden has ordered retaliatory strikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three U.S. service members injured in a drone attack in Northern Iraq.

An Iraqi security official said 14 Katyusha rockets were fired on Friday, of which some struck near one of the U.S. Embassy’s gates.

Coalition forces were slightly injured in Iraq in a spate of drone attacks over the last 24 hours at U.S. bases in Iraq as regional tensions flare following the deadly bombing of a hospital in Gaza.

A fire that raced through a hall hosting a Christian wedding in northern Iraq killed at least 100 people and injured 150 others, authorities said Wednesday, warning the death toll could rise higher.

Two U.S. senators are urging the Biden administration to appeal to the Iraqi government to help secure the release of a Princeton University graduate student believed to have been abducted by an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq six months ago.