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Iran has resumed electricity export to Iraq after it halted supply in the beginning of the year, according to a Friday report by Mehr News Agency. The report purported that supplies are back to normal after the government in Baghdad paid $350 million as part of its debt for power imports from Iran which has piled up to $1.3 billion. Reportedly, an Iraqi delegation traveled to Tehran last week for talks with power officials that culminated in the resumption of electricity export to the neighboring Arab country. According to an unnamed official at the Energy Ministry, the contract to sell power to Iraq has been renewed until the end of 2017. The official did not give details of the new contract. "Based on the terms of the contract, if Iraq's Energy Ministry fails to repay its debts, power export will be discontinued again," the official added, noting that Iraq is obliged to open a letter of credit to pay for the power it imports." Arash Kordi, managing director of Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir), said last month that the power export deal between the two governments expired at the end of 2016, refuting claims that Iran had cut supplies due to Iraq's mounting debt. Iran's Energy Ministry said last year that Iraqi authorities had agreed to repay the debt by paying $100 million per month. However, the payments ended hardly after three installments. A spokesman for Iraq's electricity ministry, Mus'ab al-Mudaris, confirmed in January that the last $100-million payment was made in May "but since then no further payments were made." According to reports, Iran had previously cut power supplies to Iraq in April 2015 because of unpaid dues. But exports returned to normal several weeks later after Baghdad pleaded with Tehran to resume supplies as the country faced day-long power outages which had led to nationwide protests. War-ravaged Iraq is grappling with a chronic shortage of electricity that has caused lengthy blackouts and mass protests against its government, particularly during the hot summer season when electricity demand for cooling soars. The country also depends on Iranian gas to feed three power plantsRumaila, Shattal-Basra and al-Najibiyahto partially offset the blackouts. Iran is the largest exporter and importer of electricity in the Middle East and exports electric power to Armenia, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, and Afghanistan, especially during periods of peak demand. Azerbaijan and Armenia supply electricity to Iran under a swap agreement.

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Iran Reportedly Resumes Electricity Export to Iraq - Financial Tribune

Defense Officials Say Mosul Operations Restart; 85 Killed in Iraq

The Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that troops began advancing on western Mosul. Officials warned the estimated 800,000 residents living there by dropping informative leaflets on the western neighborhoods still within Islamic State control. Maj. Gen. Rupert Jones, a British deputy commander, believes capturing west Mosul will take more than 100 days. The capture of east Mosul, which was expected to be easier, took over three months.

At least 85 were killed and 84 more were wounded:

In Mosul, a jet bombed a medical building that the Coalition claimed is being used by ISIS/Daesh. The Coalition reported killing 24 militants; however, Daesh claimed 18 civilians were killed and 47 were wounded. Without independent journalists in the city, it is impossible to know who is telling the truth. It is even possible that both sets of figures are correct.

Three women were killed and 10 others were wounded when a drone dropped explosives on a market in Mosuls Hayy al-Intisar neighborhood. A Katyusha rocket attack in Hayy al-Jazair left four civilians dead and nine wounded.

In the Tal Afar region, militants attacked militiamen stationed in several villages. Fifteen militiamen were killed, and 12 more were wounded. Twenty militants were killed.

A bomb killed one person and wounded three more in Madaen.

An I.E.D. in Sharqat killed one militant and wounded three more.

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Defense Officials Say Mosul Operations Restart; 85 Killed in Iraq - Antiwar.com

President Trump is spending his third consecutive weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, arriving Friday evening in advance of the campaign-style rally he has scheduled Saturday. The meaning of membership at the luxurious property is the subject of a Saturday feature from one of Trump's media arch-nemeses, The New York Times, which examines the unique circumstances of the "Winter White House":

Historically, of course, American presidents have often been rich men with mansions, who sometimes conducted the people's business in weekend haunts of the wealthy ... But Mr. Trump's weekend White House appears to be unprecedented in American history, as it is the first one with customers paying a company owned by the president, several historians said.

"Mar-a-Lago represents a commercialization of the presidency that has few if any precedents in American history," said Jon Meacham, a presidential historian and Andrew Jackson biographer. "Presidents have always spent time with the affluent," he added. "But a club where people pay you as president to spend time in his company is new. It is kind of amazing." [The New York Times]

Most Mar-a-Lago memberships predate Trump's entrance into politics, and the club only accepts 20 to 40 new members per year, each of whom must be sponsored by a current member. The entry fee is currently $200,00 it has doubled since Trump's election plus $14,000 in annual dues. "It enhances [membership] his presidency does," the Mar-a-Lago's managing director, Bernd Lembcke, told the Times. "People are now even more interested in becoming members. But we are very careful in vetting them."

Trump's middle child, Eric, in an interview "rejected suggestions that his family is offering access to his father and profiting from it," pointing out that the wealthy and well-connected do not need to join the Mar-a-Lago if they wish to lobby the federal government. To presume unethical motives in the president's fondness for conducting state business at his resort "assumes the worst of us and everyone," Eric said, "and that is unfair."

Read the full Times profile here. Bonnie Kristian

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In Mosul, a divided Iraq in microcosm - The Week Magazine

Iran should invest in the Iraqi cement industry to have a sustained share in the neighboring market, the head of Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce said. During a meeting with Iraqs minister of industry and minerals, the Iraqis said they intend to make their industries self-sufficient and that they do not want to be a sole importer of goods [such as cement] from Iran, Yahya Al-e Eshaq added. He noted that the French are securing their foothold in the Iraqi cement market by investing in the sector, hence Iran must follow suit. Close to 70% of Iraqs cement plants are working below capacity and can be revitalized through investments, he said. The improvement in Iraqs security condition is a hopeful sign. We can turn the country into one of our main technical and engineering service export markets for the next 10-15 years, if we can improve bilateral trade relations. Al-e Eshaq emphasized that Iranian investors have to move fast, since improved conditions in Iraq will definitely attract other global competitors. In July 2010, Iraqs Industries Ministry signed a contract with the French company Lafarge to renovate Karbala Cement Factory and raise output from 300,000 tons to 1.8 million tons per year. The French company also invested in three other factories in the province of Sulaymaniyah. In the same year, the firm created Lafarge Iraq as a subsidiary of the Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim Group, a world leader in the building materials industry. It was formed by a merger in 2015 of cement companies Holcim and Lafarge. For years, Iraq was the main destination of Iranian cement and clinkerthe raw material used in the first stage of cement manufacturing. The neighboring country once used to account for nearly 65% of Irans overseas cement shipments. However, since 2015, the rise of IS terrorist group in Iraq and falling oil prices reduced demand for cement in the country. Further exacerbating the situation, the Iraqi government slapped heavy tariffs on Iranian cement and clinker imports, and eventually banned it in 2015, citing poor quality as well as dumping on the part of Iranian producers. Iran is currently the worlds seventh largest cement producer after it dropped three steps last year due to reduced production. Production stood at 58.6 million tons in 2015, down 12% year-on-year, according to Cement Employers Associations data.

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Iranians Urged to Make Iraq Cement Investment - Financial Tribune

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Feb. 17, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 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

Coalition military forces conducted 34 strikes consisting of 35 engagements in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, five strikes destroyed seven oil tanker trucks, three oil refinement stills and two oil wellheads.

-- Near Bab, a strike destroyed a decoy tactical vehicle.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, 11 strikes destroyed 20 oil tanker trucks, six oil wellheads, two artillery systems, an oil storage tank and a crane.

-- Near Raqqa, 17 strikes engaged two ISIS staging areas and an ISIS tactical unit; and destroyed four tunnels, three fighting positions, three ISIS-held buildings, two weapons storage areas, two ISIS headquarters, a vehicle bomb storage facility, a fuel station and a bridge.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 27 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraqs government:

-- Near Kisik, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed four watercraft, three front-end loaders, two shipping containers, a mortar system, an artillery system, a vehicle bomb facility, a vehicle and an ISIS-held building; damaged 11 supply routes and a tunnel; and suppressed a mortar team and an artillery team.

-- Near Tal Afar, three strikes destroyed an improvised bomb facility, a weapons storage facility and a fuel storage area.

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.

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Officials Provide Details of Latest Counter-ISIS Strikes in Syria, Iraq - Department of Defense