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This photo, released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows bloodied streets and damaged buses after a bombing in Damascus on Saturday. SANA via AP hide caption

This photo, released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows bloodied streets and damaged buses after a bombing in Damascus on Saturday.

Two explosions killed more than 40 people in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Saturday in an attack that seemed to target Shiites visiting holy sites from Iraq.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but there are a number of militant groups in Syria who target Shiites, including the Islamic State and the Syrian affiliate of al-Qaida.

Syrian State TV showed footage of blood-soaked streets after the bombing, according to The Associated Press, as well as damaged buses in a parking lot near Bab al-Saghir cemetery. The cemetery is near one of the seven gates of the old city of Damascus, and many prominent religious figures are buried there, including family members of the Prophet Muhammad.

"The normally secure area is home to a number of Shiite shrines, which continue to draw religious pilgrims," reports NPR's Alison Meuse. "Sunni extremists like Islamic State consider Shiites heretics and blame Shiite militias for propping up Bashar al-Assad's government."

It was unclear whether both explosions were the result of suicide attacks, or if a bomb was placed in the cemetery itself. Iraq's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that at least 40 of those killed were Iraqi, as well as 120 more wounded. Shiites from across the middle east and Asia often visit shrines in Syria, according to the AP.

The number killed is expected to rise, as many people were transported from the scene in critical condition.

The second blast went off 10 minutes after the first, causing harm also to people tending to the wounded, a Damascus correspondent told a TV station, according to Reuters.

Attacks are not uncommon elsewhere in Syria, but they've become rare in the Syrian capital where President Bashar al-Assad has mostly solidified control.

Assad told a Hong-Kong-based TV station on Saturday that his military priority now, as the war in Syria is in its seventh year, is reaching the Islamic State's de-facto capital of Raqqa, according to the AP:

Assad said that "in theory" he shares the same priority with U.S. President Donald Trump of fighting terrorism but that they have had no formal contact yet. He said Russia, a major ally, hopes it can urge the U.S. and Turkey to cooperate with Moscow and Damascus in the fight against terrorism in Syria. Assad's government views all armed opposition as terrorist groups.

As NPR's Merrit Kennedy reported earlier this week, the United States announced a decision to send about 400 more Marines to Syria to help wrest control of Raqqa from ISIS as well. That brings the number of Americans on the ground in that country to about 900.

Originally posted here:
Explosions in Damascus Target Shiites From Iraq, Kill At Least 40 - NPR

Columbus Crew player Justin Meran, also a member of the Iraq national team, wont represent the country in upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches because of President Donald Trumps travel ban.

The player is concerned about his possible re-entry into the United States after matches with Australia and Saudi Arabia later this month.

The Iraq soccer federation posted a message on Facebook and on Twitter about Merams decision and his concern.

Trumps ban, which suspended the refugee program and entry into the U.S. for people from six predominantly Muslim countries, originally included Iraq. The countries in the latest executive order from the president lists Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Iran.

With Iraq off the list, logic would lead one to believe that he shouldnt have any trouble representing the country and coming back, but he isnt even taking the chance.

Meram, 28, was born in Michigan but is of Iraqi heritage. He has represented the national team 22 times, scoring two goals.

(H/T SB Nation)

Continued here:
MLS player to miss World Cup Qualifying with Iraq due to fear of Trump travel ban - CBSSports.com

SOUTHWEST ASIA, March 11, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, conducting 28 strikes consisting of 111 engagements against ISIS targets yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterdays strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 19 strikes consisting of 25 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two pieces of engineering equipment and a vehicle.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, eight strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed two wellheads; and damaged four supply routes and a crane.

-- Near Raqqa, nine strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; destroyed four fighting positions, two ISIS-held buildings, two watercraft, two weapons factories, a tunnel, a vehicle and a vehicle-borne bomb; and damaged a supply route.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 86 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraqs government:

-- Near Asad, a strike destroyed two tactical vehicles.

-- Near Bayji, a strike suppressed an ISIS heavy machine gun team.

-- Near Kirkuk, a strike destroyed a vehicle and a mortar system.

-- Near Kisik, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle, an ISIS-held building and a mortar system.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units, an ISIS heavy machine gun team and an ISIS sniper team; destroyed six fighting positions, two heavy machine guns, two rocket-propelled grenade systems, two vehicle-borne bombs, two vehicle-borne bomb factories, two mortar systems, a command-and-control node, a tactical vehicle, a roadblock, a supply cache and an ISIS-held building; damaged eight supply routes and an ISIS-held building; and suppressed 17 ISIS mortar teams and ten ISIS tactical units.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed a vehicle-borne bomb and weapons cache.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect. For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

Read more here:
Officials Release Details of Latest Counter-ISIS Strikes in Syria, Iraq - Department of Defense

Common Dreams

Iraq Is Off the Travel Ban List, But Iraqis Most in Need Not Helped by Trump's New Order Common Dreams In its revised executive order, the Trump administration dropped Iraq from the list of Muslim-majority countries for whom travel to the United States is suspended for 90 days. The move came after heavy lobbying from the Iraqi government, plus an outcry ... and more »

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Iraq Is Off the Travel Ban List, But Iraqis Most in Need Not Helped by Trump's New Order - Common Dreams

Iraqi paramilitary forces said Saturday that they had uncovered a mass grave with the bodies of hundreds of people who were executed by "Islamic State" (IS) militants at Badush prison near Mosul.

It is the latestdiscovery in Iraq as the country's paramilitary forcescontinue to take back territory captured by IS three years ago. Iraqi forces have uncovered dozens of mass graves containing hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies, as they push back IS forces after more than two years of heavy fighting, including the current initiative to retake Mosul.

IS militants reportedly slaughtered as many as 600 people after taking control of Badush in 2014. The militants are also accused of kidnapping hundreds of Yazidi women and holding them at the prison.

The Hashed al-Shaabi, an umbrella group of pro-government fighters made up primarily of Iranian-backed Shiite militias, were among the forces that recaptured the prison fromjihadists, according to the Iraqi military.

Hashed forces found "a large mass grave containing the remains of around 500 civilian prisoners in [Badush]prison who were executed by [IS]gangs after they controlled the prison during their occupation of Mosul," the military said Saturday.

It was not immediately clear how the Hashed reached that figure, which could not be independently verified, but it is in keeping with accounts of IS militants killing hundreds of inmates from Badush.

Lamiya Bashar was forced into sexual slavery by IS militants, and badly injured by a landmine while escaping her captors

Mass graves and sex slaves

Human Rights Watchhas reported that IS gunmen executed as many as 600 inmates at the prison on June 10, 2014, forcing them to kneel along a nearby ravine and then shooting them with assault rifles, an account also contained in a United Nations report.

Most of those executed were believed to have been members of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, whom IS considers heretics.

IS abuses at the jail extended beyond the execution of its inmates. Iraqi lawmaker Vian Dakhil said in 2014 that the jihadists held more than 500 Yazidi women at Badush.

Members of the Yazidi religious minority werevictims of a vicious campaign of executions, kidnapping and rape. The jihadists killed the men and used the women and girls as sex slaves.

This is not the first time a mass grave has been uncovered on territory formally held by IS. Iraqi forces found one grave last November that appeared to have more than two dozen bodies. It was in the Hamam al-Alil area south of Mosul.

Earlier this year Iraqi forces found a sinkhole known as the Khasfah, which could be the largest mass grave of the war with IS.

Local residents said IS used it as an execution site and a mass grave where they would dispose of victims.

bik/jlw(AFP, dpa)

Original post:
Iraq's pro-government forces discover mass grave in Mosul - Deutsche Welle