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Military working dog handlers in Iraq have set up a walking blood bank for their four-legged partners who help secure bases, hunt explosives and assist in combat missions such as the raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last year.

The bank will allow for rapid treatment of injured working dogs, Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led coalition battling ISIS in Iraq and Syria, said on Twitter Wednesday.

Boni, Bubo and Rexo, all patrol explosive detector dogs at Al Asad Air Base, were among the pups who had their blood drawn and tested earlier this month to identify their blood types, online photos show.

This is the first time [Operation Inherent Resolve] has established a mobile blood bank for military working dogs ... and multi-purpose canines, said Army Col. Wayne Marotto, a coalition military spokesman.

The canine blood bank was started in response to a policy the Army Medical Command surgeon generals office issued that requires the services veterinarians to record blood types for all working dogs, Marotto said. For human casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military has long relied on walking blood banks in which prescreened donors can be called up to give blood at a medical facility in case of a mass casualty event or a trauma patient in need of numerous transfusions.

Blood loss is one of the top preventable causes of combat death. Earlier this year, the Marine Corps also began testing a program in the Middle East modeled on one used by Army Rangers in Afghanistan last year that enables lifesaving transfusions on the battlefield.

The 994th Medical Detachment Veterinary Services Support and medical personnel has set up emergency response capabilities and trained health care providers to ensure the animals receive the highest level of emergency care, Marotto said.

Inherent Resolve did not have military canine casualty data, he said. But at least two working dogs in the U.S. Central Command area of operations were medically evacuated following injuries this year, including one from Iraq that suffered cardiac arrest, according to military statements.

Military working dogs like Conan, a Belgian Malinois who was wounded during the mission that killed ISIS leader Baghdadi last October, are critical members of our forces, U.S. Central Command boss Gen. Frank McKenzie said last year. Conan had accompanied special operations troops on some 50 missions.

In hot Middle Eastern weather, the availability of donor blood also can be critical for canines off the battlefield. In June, an Air Force pup named Cvoky was rushed by helicopter from Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia to Kuwaits Camp Arifjan after its body temperature reached nearly 110 degrees.

At 104 degrees, dogs begin suffering heat stroke, the Humane Society of the United States website says. Heat injuries can cause internal organ damage and hemorrhage, and few dogs survive if they reach as high a body temperature as Cvoky, a military veterinarian said in a statement after the incident.

But in that case, a pint of blood from a Navy dog named Army helped save his life, the statement said.

We got the call that my dog, Army, might be a match, it quoted dog handler Petty Officer 2nd Class Sera Tamez as saying. It feels really good to help one of our own!

garland.chad@stripes.comTwitter: @chadgarland

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Jorgensen, right, a veterinarian technician with the 994th Medical Detachment Veterinary Service, shows how to identify the cephalic vein on a dog to Spc. Mezghan Akbar, left, a medical laboratory specialist with the 466th Medical Company, Area Support, New York National Guard, before she draws blood from Boni, a patrol explosive detector dog assigned to the K9 Task Force at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Oct. 7, 2020. Boni, a German Shepherd, was scheduled to have blood drawn so that the veterinary clinic can identify her blood type and initiate a walking blood bank for military working dogsARMANDO VASQUEZ/U.S. ARMY

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Military working dogs in Iraq get a blood bank like their humans have - Stars and Stripes

Many people also generally imagine the work of international NGOs like MSF, in Iraq and throughout the region, being done by foreigners, which sometimes raises suspicion. Suhaibs colleague Yasmine Mohammed, who works as a watchwoman in the centre, explains that the acceptance of humanitarian organisations was not very high when they started working in Mosul after the battle to retake the city from Islamic State group.

It wasnt very favourable for Iraqis to work with organisations at first. The community did not welcome the idea of us working with foreigners, considering the events Iraq has witnessed for more than a decade, Yasmine says. But the perception changed when these organisations started providing much needed services; Mosul wouldnt have started recovering if it wasnt for that.

Over time, people coming in for services could also witness that, just like Yasmine or Suhaib, most of the organisations employees were actually Iraqis.

In fact, Iraqis make up for more than 90 per cent of the 1,700 people who work for MSF in Iraq. Their roles are diverse, from driver to doctor, from cleaner to biomedical technician, from pharmacist to supply officer, and many more.

Yet each persons role is considered vital for the functioning of the project. Everyone works very hard to accomplish their tasks, and these efforts form a butterfly effect that has a great impact when it comes to the bigger picture. Without the Iraqi staff, MSFs activities wouldnt come to life and stay alive.

For Yasmine, the contribution consists in searching female staff, patients, and visitors before they enter the facility, for the security of all. When doing so, she generally also asks them how theyre doing and welcomes them with great warmth. She loves her job because it gives her a chance to boost peoples morale, people who might be looking for positive energy every now and then.

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Humanitarians behind the scenes in Iraq - Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) International

WASHINGTON - Iraqi officials say they have found a new mass grave that contains the remains of several dozen people who appear to have been executed on the spot by Islamic State in the disputed northern province of Kirkuk.

Yehia Rasool, military spokesperson for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, announced Tuesday on Twitter that Iraqi forces found the corpses of more than 50 people by chance as they were pursuing the IS remnants in the Dawud Aluka village in Riyadh subdistrict.

They were executed by Daesh terror gangs during their rein over the village, he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Rasool didnt provide further details on the identities of the victims.

Thousands of Iraqis have gone missing since 2014 when IS took control of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, along with a large swath of territory in other parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Missing peshmerga soldiers

Among the missing in Kirkuk are several dozen Kurdish peshmerga fighters who were last seen in an IS propaganda video in 2015. The footage showed the soldiers in orange jumpsuits atop the beds of pickup trucks in a parade through the streets of Kirkuks Hawijah district.

Months after the videos release, Kurdish authorities requested U.S. assistance for a joint commando raid on an IS prison where the peshmerga fighters were believed to be held.

Though they didnt find any of the peshmerga fighters in that facility, the rare joint operation freed dozens of Iraqi army soldiers and civilians. A 39-year-old American officer, Joshua L. Wheeler, was killed in the operation after he voluntarily assisted his Iraqi partners who had come under enemy fire, according to the Pentagon.

Kurds are now looking to see if any of the newly found remains match the identities of their missing loved ones.

Its possible that peshmerga remains are among those found in the mass grave, GeneralMohammed Regr, a Kurdish commander in Kirkuk, told VOA.

More mass graves

Those desperate for news about the fate of their loved ones in Iraq may never know what happened to them, according to human rights groups that have criticized the way Iraqi authorities handle exhumations.

In my experience over the last few years in Iraq, the government has failed in most instances when they discover mass graves to properly manage the site by marking it off and then proceeding with exhumations carrying out the forensic work needed to identify the remains and returning the remains to family members, Belkis Wille, a senior crisis and conflict researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, told VOA.

In November 2018, the United Nations published a report that documented the existence of 202 mass graves containing as many as 12,000 victims in IS territories across the provinces of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Anbar. The report cited myriad challenges facing the Iraqi governments attempts to dig up mass graves, including a lack of resources, security issues and a lack of technical expertise.

The majority of these sites, the U.N. report said, have not yet been excavated. Some are secured by the presence of Iraqi armed forces. Some have been enclosed by fencing. And some are contaminated by the presence of explosive devices.

The report urged the international community to assist Iraq in the exhumation process to ensure the realization of a meaningful truth and justice.

With the help of the U.S.-led international coalition against IS, Iraqi and Syrian forces have captured most of the territory that IS once held under its so-called caliphate. They are now engaged in what they call the clearing phase against IS remnants.

The group continues to mount surprise hit-and-run attacks and plant explosive devices targeting security forces and civilians in both Iraq and Syria.

In areas disputed between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan region, such as Kirkuk, experts say the IS threat remains serious.

VOA Kurdish Services Dilshad Anwar contributed to this report from Kirkuk, Iraq.

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Iraq Discovers Remains of More Than 50 IS Victims in Mass Grave - Voice of America

Turkey has made a new challenge, this time against the Greek Foreign Minister on Wednesday night after his return from Iraq.

Turkey held for 20 minutes in the air the plane that was transporting Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias after his productive trip to Iraq.

The incident took place over the Turkish-Iraqi border, as Ankara refused to grant an overflight permit to the aircraft.

The Greek aircraft was returning from Baghdad to Athens and the pilots had normally received the required permits from the Turkish authorities.

After 20 minutes, the aircraft resumed its normal course in the airspace of Turkey to return to Athens.

Ankara however has categorically denied that it tried disturbing the Greek Foreign Minister.

The Greek embassy in Ankara was ordered to protest to the Turkish Foreign Ministry over yesterdays incident with the government plane.

According to diplomatic sources quoted by Proto Thema, the Turkish side, on its own initiative, provided explanations to the Greek Embassy in Ankara, before the protest was made, attributing the incident to a technical error by Turkish air authorities.

However, in a recent statement, Hami Aksoy, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, changed Turkeys story and said it was not true that Dendias plane was deliberately delayed.

Aksoy, one day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan threatened Greece with war, claimed that Turkey was supposedly interested in the safety of Dendias and refused entry initially because Greece had not submitted a flight plan.

It simply came to our notice then. They had not submitted a flight plan. It was necessary for us to react in this way for the safety of the Greek minister, Aksoy claimed.

Responding to the Turkish allegations, sources in the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that of course a flight plan was submitted.

For his part, Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas, when asked about this during the briefing to journalists, said that the necessary actions have been taken, referring to another challenge.

Various explanations were given from the Turkish side and we hope it will never be repeated in the future, Petsas added, although this remains highly unlikely, especially as Turkey increases its war rhetoric against Greece in the East Mediterranean.

Despite Turkeys provocations, it proved to be a fruitful trip for Dendias as he met with Iraqi President Barham Salih, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and other officials.

This was the first trip a Greek Foreign Minister has made to Iraq in 22 years, and as reported by Greek City Times, the visits will become far more frequent now.

A dialogue between two friendly states that can flourish on the solid basis of common commitment to peace and stability. To a common commitment to prosperity of our people. Our ties, as His Excellency mentioned, are historic. Greece has been a historic friend of Iraq. Greece has been a historic friend of the Arab world, Dendias said during his statement alongside Hussein.

During the statement, he would also not hide away from highlighting Turkeys aggression all across the region.

I believe it is now more evident than ever that Turkey is acting as a disruptor of peace and stability in the greater region. Virtually, every crisis, and every problematic situation in the region, namely Nagorno-Karabakh, Libya, Syria, Cyprus, South-Eastern Mediterranean, but also Iraq, has a common denominator: Turkey, Dendias stressed.

Turkey certainly did not prove Dendias wrong by intentionally leaving the Greek aircraft waiting unnecessarily for 20 minutes before it could continue its flight back to Athens.

The Turkish military frequently violate Iraqs sovereignty by conducting unauthorized airstrikes against Kurds, in which in some cases leads to Turkish airstrikes against the Iraqi military.

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Turkey Refused Aircraft Carrying Greek Foreign Minister To Enter Its Airspace When Returning From Iraq - GreekCityTimes.com

CAIRO The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Iraq are holding a tripartite summit in Cairo on Tuesday that will likely focus on coordination mechanisms and how to forge mutual economic cooperation.

The ministers are also expected to discuss the implementation of agreements reached during a previous top-level trilateral summit, which was held in the Jordanian capital Amman on August 25.

At the Amman summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi , Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Jordanian King Abdullah II agreed to boost cooperation in economic, political, energy and security affairs.

Ahead of the expected tripartite summit, Sisi received Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein Monday and discussed with him means of boosting bilateral relations and regional issues of mutual interest, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

During the meeting, Sisi reiterated Egypts stance that supports Iraq and enhances its Arab national role, the statement said.

The president also stressed Egypts commitment to backing Iraqs efforts to combat terrorism and preserve its stability and security by maintaining and diversifying cooperation at all levels, the statement added.

The Iraqi foreign minister hailed the bilateral ties, adding that Egypts supportive role gives strategic depth to help them face common challenges, especially terrorism.

He added that Baghdad looks forward to learning from Egypts experience in developing projects, substructure and electricity fields.

At a joint news conference later, Egypts top diplomat Sameh Shoukry said there is a political willingness and strong ground from both sides to serve mutual ties.

Shoukry highlighted Egypts full commitment to helping maintain the sovereignty of Iraq against foreign intervention.

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Economic cooperation discussed by Egypt, Jordan and Iraq | | AW - The Arab Weekly