US Defense Secretary arrives in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi leaders

• Hagel arrived in Baghdad Tuesday on unannounced visit to meet with Iraqi leaders over fighting against IS.

• Hagel's visit is his first to Iraq as Pentagon chief since he took office in February 2013.

• The security situation began to drastically deteriorate in Iraq on June 10, 2014.

 

BAGHDAD, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Tuesday on unannounced visit to meet with Iraqi leaders over fighting against the Islamic State (IS) militant group, an official television reported.

Hagel is due to discuss the campaign of the U.S.-led coalition against the extremist IS group with the Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and to be briefed by U.S. military commander in Iraq, the state-run Iraqiya channel said.

Hagel's visit is his first to Iraq as Pentagon chief since he took office in February 2013.

On Nov. 24, U.S. President Barack Obama announced resignation of Chuck Hagel as the United States' defense secretary. Hagel said that he would stay on the job until his successor Ashton Carter to be confirmed by the Senate.

The security situation began to drastically deteriorate in the country on June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between the Iraqi security forces and the IS group, an al-Qaida offshoot, who took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.

Earlier, the United States sought to build a coalition of both world and regional countries to push back against the IS's quick expansion.

So far, the U.S.-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the armed Islamist group in both Iraq and Syria.

Related:

U.S., partners continue military airstrikes on IS in Syria, Iraq

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. and partner-nation military forces have continued to attack Islamic State (IS) forces over the last four days, according to a statement released by the U.S. Defense Department.

Fighter and bomber aircraft have conducted 15 airstrikes in Syria since Dec. 5, the statement said. Separately, U.S. and partner-nation military forces conducted 31 airstrikes over the same period in Iraq, using fighter, bomber, attack, and remotely piloted aircraft. Full Story

33 killed in clashes and bombings in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- A total of 33 people were killed in bombings and clashes with the Islamic State (IS) militant group in central Iraq on Saturday, security source said.

In the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a huge explosion hit a house in Palestine Street area in eastern Baghdad, leaving at least seven militiamen killed, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua without giving further details about the militia group. Full Story