Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
VOA – The U.S.-led coalition to defeat Islamic State says local forces have retaken 87% of the territory once held by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But as the terror group’s defeat becomes imminent in Iraq, Iraqis are starting to shift their focus to a more complicated dispute: Iraqi Kurds’ desire for independence. As VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports, the dispute between two close U.S. allies could allow a U.S.-enemy, Iran, to strengthen its influence on its neighbor.
A Kurdish flag waves from the top of a new watertower built by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan political party Monday, Aug. 15, 2005 in the village of Shwan, outside Kirkuk, Iraq. Since 2003, there has been a steady influx of Kurdish returnees to the area around Kirkuk leading to the rebirth of villages such as Shwan, reversing Saddam Hussein's decades long policy of Arabization. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)
