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Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani says Iraq has not received any reports or indications that missiles or drones were launched from Iraq during Irans attack on Israel.

Iraq is a rare ally of both Washington and Tehran. Iraqi airspace was a main route for Irans unprecedented drone and ballistic missile attack on Israel, and Iraqi officials say Iran informed them, as well as other countries in the region, ahead of the attack.

Our position is clear, and we will not allow Iraq to be thrown into the arena of conflict, al-Sudani says in a statement.

Yesterday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said in an English-language statement that over the weekend, Iran launched a large-scale attack on Israel. Over 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, armed drones and rockets were fired from Iranian soil as well as Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon towards the State of Israel.

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Iraq denies any drones or missiles were launched from its territory during Iran attack - The Times of Israel

Iraqi lawmakers have postponed voting on a bill that includes the death penalty or life in prison for same-sex relations a measure that diplomats from Western countries said could have serious consequences for Iraqs political and economic ties if it goes through.

Parliament was in session today, with the bill an amendment to an anti-prostitution law second on its agenda.

It imposes life imprisonment or the death penalty for anyone engaging in same-sex relations or anyone who swaps their wife with someone elses for sexual purposes.

It also bans promotion of homosexuality and violations are punishable by at least seven years in prison.

Two lawmakers in the session say the vote was postponed over time constraints and that some disagreements remained over proposed amendments.

Currently, mainly Muslim Iraq does not explicitly criminalize gay sex, but loosely defined morality clauses in its penal code have been used to target LGBT people.

Parliament was in session to vote on the bill just hours before Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani was scheduled to meet US President Joe Biden in Washington on a trip focused on pushing for more US investment.

More than 60 countries criminalize gay sex, while same-sex sexual acts are legal in more than 130 countries, according to Our World in Data.

When Uganda in May 2023 enacted a law that includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, the World Bank halted new lending to the East African nation and the US announced visa and travel restrictions against Ugandan officials.

You're a dedicated reader

Were really pleased that youve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

Thats why we started the Times of Israel eleven years ago - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we havent put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

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Iraq postpones vote on bill including death penalty for same-sex acts - The Times of Israel

STROUDSBURG, Pa. - A Monroe County man learned he's spending the rest of his life behind bars for crimes he committed in Iraq back in 2015. Those crimes included torturing a former employee and illegally exporting weapons parts. Officials say the employee raised concerns about the company's weapons manufacturing.

The Department of Justice calls it proof that the U.S. will hold perpetrators accountable, no matter where in the world deplorable acts occur.

The Department of Justice celebrated a win of accountability after a Monroe County man was sentenced to 70 years in prison for crimes committed in Iraq in 2015.

The crimes include abducting, detaining, and torturing his employee at the time and illegally exporting weapons parts.

The DOJ says 55-year-old Ross Roggio had a former employee of his company -- the Roggio Consulting Company -- abducted. Court papers detail how back in 2015, the Stroudsburg man then had the victim detained at a Kurdish military compound for 39 days. And he directed Kurdish soldiers to suffocate, tase and beat the victim, even threatening to cut off a finger.

It happened after the victim, a man from Estonia, raised concerns about what they were doing at the company.

And what they were doing, according to Roggio's conviction on 33 counts last May, had to do with exporting weapons parts and services to Iraq without the approval of the U.S. Department of State, smuggling goods, wire fraud, and money laundering, among even more counts.

The DOJ says in connection with the weapons factory project, Roggio also illegally trained foreign persons in the operation, assembly, and manufacturing of the M4 automatic rifle.

Export evasion is often not a standalone crime, said Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod of the Department of Commerces Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

Here, the same defendant who was illegally exporting weapons parts to his Iraqi weapons factory was also brutally torturing one of his employees there.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, says this sentencing follows just the second-ever conviction under the federal torture statute, which went into effect in 1994, according to the DOJ.

"Todays sentence," Argentieri said, "shows that, no matter where such deplorable acts occur, the United States is committed to holding the perpetrators accountable.

The FBI also credits the "sheer courage" of the victim to tell his story.

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Stroudsburg man sentenced to 70 years for torturing employee in Iraq - 69News WFMZ-TV

Five years ago, ISIS was defeated by a global coalition and its local partners in the controlled territory of Baghuz, Syria. This marked the final territorial defeat of the terrorist organization in its last remaining Iraqi stronghold.

Between 2014 and 2017, ISIS lost 95% of the territory it once controlled, thanks to the cooperation between the international communitys military and economic investments and Iraqi security forces. By July 2017, Mosul was once again under Iraqi government control. However, the country still had to regain stability after years under ISIS' grip.

Today, despite being almost fully liberated from the ISIS threat, Iraq still faces problems, particularly repatriating the 1.1 million people who were internally displaced by ISIS. They currently live in refugee camps or have been forced to resettle elsewhere due to continued fighting among various local militias.

In Sinjar [Iraq], Turkey and local militias, which are considered to be affiliated with the PKK, are still fighting. Other places in southwest Baghdad are still under the control of the militias, and those areas are practically depopulated. People are not allowed to go back home, and they make up about 3% of Iraqs population, Omar al Nidawi, a Middle East analyst focusing on Iraqi political, security, and energy affairs, told The Media Line.

The difficulties involved in repatriating the displaced people are partly due to the existence of unexploded munitions that remain in certain areas throughout the country, numerous cities that were completely destroyed, and pollution caused by past ISIS activities.

Another big problem for Iraq nowadays is its economic instability. More than 90% of the government's revenue comes from oil, leaving the country dependent on global prices and fluctuations within the market.

If oil prices were to drop to $60 a barrel, Iraq is going to be in deep trouble. It will be impossible to pay all the necessary state services as well as peoples wages, al Nidawi explained further.

The country's economy is still very weak. The government is the biggest employer in Iraq, and without real growth, especially within the private sector and its capacity to create jobs, it is almost impossible for the government to employ all the people in need. This is why Iraq may face another economic crisis in the next few years, he added.

In addition to the refugee repatriation issue and dire economic situation, Iraq faces another big challenge: rampant corruption. Corruption is almost entirely taking hold of the Iraqi government and civil service. This applies to the Kurdish region as well, Urban Coningham, a Research Fellow at RUSI, told The Media Line.

Despite these serious issues, ISIS has not been able to regain power in Iraq. The terrorist group has, instead, gained more strength in the Sahel region of Africa, which stretches along Niger, Mali, and some parts of Burkina Faso. ISIS is also gaining strength in Afghanistan and Central Asia.

We should never underestimate ISIS influence and ideology, but compared to the past years, we see today that Iraqs security forces are much stronger. In Iraq, the terrorist group is weaker than ever, al Nidawi asserted.

In the past, ISIS gained strength due to the civil war in Syria, the lack of US support, the corrupted environment, and the incompetent political leadership at the time. So, it is very difficult today that this scenario may return, but it is never impossible, he added.

Moreover, the militants are way less numerically speaking than in the past, and they also face shortages of weapons and resources, al Nidawi concluded.

Despite no longer having their caliphate, ISIS militants are still being recruited worldwide, especially in Western countries, as lone wolves, and this is becoming a common trend.

The power of this organization is to have influence outside the Middle East. They gain power from terrorist attacks in Europe and America, as we have seen in Moscow. Paradoxically, the threat of ISIS has to be monitored more in the West at the moment, Florian Hartleb, a political scientist and managing director of Hanse Advice in Tallinn, Estonia, told The Media Line.

Today, Iraq is aware that they need a strong ally, such as the United States, to face a potential future ISIS rebirth. Such an ally will help the country maintain control over its territory and gain expertise in intelligence and counterterrorism. It will also help them ensure economic growth.

Despite Iraqs call for US withdrawal, this cannot be possible. NATO is also in Iraq, and they want to keep their position there to counterbalance Irans influence in the country. Iraq is becoming a proxy of Iran. This is why the US wants to strengthen daily diplomatic relations with Iraq, Coningham said.

However, Iraq's government is trying to balance its ties with both the US and Iran. The government is passively allowing Iran to maximize its power among the Shia militias in the country. This is because the current conflict within the MENA region may lead to significant changes that will shape Iraqs future.

According to Coningham, There is a general turn among Middle Eastern countries towards Iran, which began even before the current war between Israel and Hamas. The elephant in the room that seems to be forgotten is that Iran is very close to acquiring nuclear weapons. This will create a domino effect and an arms race in the Middle East. This wont be only a regional problem, but an international one.

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Iraq's struggle, divided between the US and Iran - The Jerusalem Post

Iranian pro-government media said in the early hours of April 14 that it had attacked Israel on four fronts. This included attacks by Iran itself using drones and missiles, as well as threats from Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Iran has spread its proxies throughout the region. These groups pose an increasing threat to Israel and Israels partners and allies. Its important to understand who these groups are and what their capabilities may be.

Hezbollah is the largest and oldest of the Iranian partner and proxy groups in the region. Founded in the 1980s, it has played an increasingly influential role in Lebanon, essentially controlling who is elected president and controlling parts of the economy. Hezbollah has stockpiled more than 150,000 rockets over the last 30 years. Some of these are short-range rockets that threaten the northern Galilee. Other Hezbollah rockets are long-range and can threaten all of Israel, almost to Eilat. In addition, Hezbollah increasingly has precision-guided munitions, meaning it can target strategic infrastructure with precision. Additionally, Hezbollah is believed to have 2,000 drones, which it has increasingly used against Israel. Hezbollah also has anti-tank missiles and thousands of fighters. Some fighters are part of its moreelite Radwan force. Hezbollah has suffered casualties in its attacks on Israel since October 8. Around 250 of its members have been killed. This is a setback for the group. It has also carried out around 3,100 attacks on Israel.

The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have been increasingly a threat since 2015. Originally a small rebel movement, they burst on the scene in 2015 when they took over a swath of Yemen. They are based in the mountains around Sanaa, but they also threatened the coastal cities of Aden and Hodeidah. This caused Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to intervene in Yemen in 2015. The Houthis received ballistic missile and drone technology from Iran and built an impressive local industry to create long-range missiles and drones. They also developed cruise missiles. Iran used these weapons to target Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh. After October 7 the Houthis began to target Eilat using drones and cruise missiles and then ballistic missiles. Later, the Houthis began targeting ships. It has carried out dozens of attacks on commercial ships, and it has hijacked one ship. It claims to be targeting Israeli-linked and Western ships. The Houthi capabilities have expanded greatly in the last several years. Beginning in 2020, Iran also based its Shahed 136 drones in Yemen. The Houthis now can strike at southern Israel with their weapons.

Iran has been backing militias in Iraq since the 1980s. Key militia leaders such as Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Badr organization, and the late Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were close to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Abu Mahdi was active in supporting Irans terrorist causes in the 1980s, such as targeting Kuwait and other countries and groups. After the US invasion of 2003, the Iranian-backed militias began to increase their power in Iraq, feeding off the power vacuum. Abu Mahdis Kataib Hezbollah became the vanguard of these militias. It was joined not only by Badr but also by Asaib Ahl al-Haq, whose leader, Qias Khazali, had once been detained by the Americans in Iraq. Other groups popped up as well, such as Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba. In 2014, after ISIS invaded Iraq, the Iranian-backed militias formed the backbone of a paramilitary army called the Popular Mobilization Forces, which numbered more than 100,000 fighters. After the defeat of ISIS in 2017 in Iraq, the militias became an official government-paid force linked to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. In essence, they became the Iranian IRGC of Iraq. The groups then stockpiled missiles and drones. They began to operate more freely in Syria and to threaten US forces and Israel. They also carried out kidnappings, such as the kidnapping of researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov in 2023. They murdered key Iraqi intellectuals and targeted Kurds. They have targeted Israel since October 7, using long-range drones to target Iraq and other areas.

Irans IRGC operates in Syria. During the Syrian civil war, Iran recruited many groups to support the Assad regime. These included Hezbollah, Iraqi militias, and also Shiites from Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2018, Iran began to build up more bases for these groups, such as the Imam Ali base near Albukamal and also encouraged Hezbollah to open its Golan file to threaten Israel from the Golan. Iran also moved drones to Syria and tried to move air defenses to its T-4 base in 2018. The Iranian-backed militias in Syria are disparate and have varying capabilities, but most of them are relatively weak. They have targeted US forces and also Israel. They usually require close IRGC supervision and guidance.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy group that is also a Palestinian group. Unlike Hezbollah or the militias in Iraq, it is not a Shiite group. PIJ has terrorists in Gaza and participated in the October 7 attack. It had thousands of rockets and thousands of fighters in Gaza, but it has taken losses over six months of war. In the West Bank, PIJ is active mostly in Jenin, where it also has hundreds of members. It has benefited from the illegal trafficking of rifles in the West Bank and has tried to increase its stockpile of weapons and explosives and move into IED (explosive) production. The group is relatively small but has destabilized the northern West Bank and poses an increasing threat.

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Who are Iran's proxies threatening Israel? - The Jerusalem Post