This week’s headlines: Candidates, Election Officials Targeted Ahead of May 12 Elections ▪ ISIS Claims Responsibility for Attack North of Baghdad ▪ U.S. Closes Land Component Headquarters, Shifting More Responsibility to ISF ▪ World Bank Program Supports Job Creation; IOM Releases Report on Social Cohesion Challenges ▪ Washington Post: Intercepted Messages Detail Qatari Ransom Payments to Militias

This week’s headlines: Election Official Assassinated; Two Officials Kidnapped in Unrelated Incidents ▪ Campaign Coverage: Video Scandal, Fake News, Abadi Visits Kurdistan, and a Sunni President? ▪ Iran-Backed Militias in Syria Target US Troops, Raising Concern Over PMUs in Iraq ▪ Iraq Conducts Airstrikes on ISIS Positions in Syria ▪ Oil Ministry Awards New Contracts; 1991 Gulf War Reparations to Kuwait Resume

This week’s headlines: Iraqi Foreign Minister, Protesters Condemn U.S. Airstrikes on Syrian Government Targets ▪ Candidates for Parliament Attacked in Basra, Baghdad, Kirkuk, Anbar ▪ Arab Summit Calls for Turkey to Respect Iraqi Sovereignty ▪ World Bank Forecasts Positive GDP Growth in Iraq for 2018 ▪ Campaign Spending Criticized ▪ HRW, NYT Report on Sham Trials of Suspected ISIS Sympathizers

This week’s headlines: Attack on Political Party Headquarters in Anbar Prompts Conversation on Election Security ▪ Diyala Security Chief Transferred to Basra Amid Protests ▪ Baghdad Security Tightened During Shia Pilgrimage ▪ Peshmerga Return to Disputed Areas Remains in Dispute; Trump, Abadi Speak About Syria ▪ UNAMI, UNICEF Issue Humanitarian Response Plans for Iraqi Kurdistan

This week’s headlines: Reports Conflict on PKK Presence in Sinjar ▪ Abadi Rejects Peshmerga Redeployments to the Disputed Territories ▪ Council of Ministers Approves Five Year National Development Plan ▪ Electronic Voting Machines Prepared Ahead of May Elections ▪ Abadi Visits Japan to Solicit Investments

This week’s headlines: PKK Withdraws from Sinjar, Erdogan Continues to Threaten Turkish Intervention ▪ Kurdistan Teachers, Civil Servants Demand Salary Payments ▪ Candidates, Coalitions Sign ‘Electoral Charter of Honor’ Ahead of May Elections ▪ Interior Ministry Touts Improvements in Baghdad Security ▪ Iraq, Saudi Arabia Sign Air Transportation Agreement

This week’s headlines: Baghdad Pays Kurdish Salaries; Kirkuk-Erbil Road Reopens ▪ Turkey Continues Attacks on PKK in Northern Iraq, Erdogan Threatens Escalation ▪ Yazidi MP: Sinjar Children Still Held by ISIS in Syria; Missing Indian Laborers Identified ▪ Seven U.S. Servicemembers Killed in Helicopter Crash Near Qa’im ▪ FIFA Lifts Ban on Official Soccer Matches in Iraq ▪ World Bank Assists in Reconstructing Mosul’s Bridges, UAE Offers to Rebuild al-Nuri Mosque

This week’s headlines: Abadi Seeks to Further Consolidate PMUs; General Killed in Clash ▪ Abadi Reopens Airports in Iraqi Kurdistan ▪ President Masum Will Not Ratify Federal Budget ▪ Turkey Toughens Stance on PKK in Northern Iraq ▪ Eleven Thousand Remain Missing from Mosul ▪ OPCW Certifies Iraq Has Met Chemical Weapon Commitments

This week’s headlines: Federal Budget Adopted in Parliament Amid Strong Kurdish Objection ▪ Amid Reconstruction, ISF Continue to Target ISIS Militants in Mosul ▪ Iraq’s Tank Fleet In Trouble as Contractors Pull Out ▪ Turkish, Iranian Delegations Visit Baghdad ▪ Iraqi Government, UN Launch Joint Humanitarian Plan

This week’s headlines: Integrity Commission Issues Arrest Warrants for Ninewa Governor, Others ▪ According to Foreign Minister, Iraq Considering Purchase of Russian Defense System ▪ Rumors Cause Alarm in Kirkuk; KRI Airports Will Remain Closed ▪ IRC Publishes Report on IDP Returns ▪ Oil Drilling Resumes in KRI; Bidding for Majnoon Discussed at Iraq Petroleum Conference

This week’s headlines: Popular Mobilization Units Attacked Near Hawija ▪ Russian Tanks Delivered to Iraq While the U.S. Wants Theirs out of the Hands of Militias ▪ Flooding in Diyala Raise Concerns of Water-Borne Illness ▪ UNOCHA Releases 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan; Kubis Addresses UN Security Council ▪ Fewer Candidates Campaigning Than in 2014

This week’s headlines: Much Anticipated Kuwait Reconstruction Conference Falls Short of Goals ▪ Pentagon Presses NATO to Ramp Up Training Missions in Iraq ▪ IED Clearing in Mosul to Take “Over a Decade” ▪ Electoral Commission Extends Party Affiliation Deadline ▪ Turkey, PKK Militants Exchange Fire in Dohuk