Author: Diyadin Cavres

Ukraine and Russia will not be able to achieve their goals by military means – reaching the 1991 borders and defeating the Ukrainian Armed Forces, respectively. According to him, as quoted by the Ukrainian media, many in Russia believe that they have another year and a half to two years for the war in Ukraine, after which “unpredictable processes” may begin within the Russian Federation under the weight of problems. Russia understands that they will not be able to capture the entire territory of Ukraine within this period, judging by the current rate of advance of the Russian army. Therefore, in…

The president of the Kurdistan Region’s importers and exporters union told Rudaw on Wednesday that gold is being smuggled to Iran from Sulaimani province, revealing that 95 percent of transportation companies have left the Bashmakh border due to customs problems. “Gold is officially exported to Turkey and traders are charged $900 per kilogram of gold ingot, but it is smuggled to Iran,” Sheikh Mustafa Abdulrahman, president of the Kurdistan Region’s Importers and Exporters Union, told Rudaw’s Shiraz Rauf. “The amount of gold smuggled [to Iran] is unknown because the routes taken are unofficial,” he added.There are two types of gold that are…

Iraq’s central holy shrine city of Karbala is packed with pilgrims from Iraq and all around the world as it prepares to mark the holy Shiite Muslim commemoration of Arbaeen, remembering the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, Imam Hussein.  A Rudaw team is in Karbala to document Arbaeen – a Shiite ritual marking the end of a 40-day mourning period for the death of the Shiite leader and grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, Imam Hussein, in 680 AD. The number of pilgrims flocking to Iraq for the Arbaeen pilgrimage is increasing yearly, with many opting to enter the country from…

Iraqi and Kurdish anti-narcotic forces on Friday announced seizing over 50 kilograms of narcotics in Sulaimani in an operation which also resulted in the arrest of three suspected drug dealers. “Based on an intelligence effort, active follow-up, and exchange of information for nearly two weeks, a dangerous international drug-trafficking network has been disbanded. These efforts have resulted in the arrest of three suspects and the seizure of 51 kilograms of crystal,” said the anti-narcotic forces in a joint statement. Ahmed al-Zirgani, head of the Iraqi interior ministry’s directorate-general for narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances affairs, in a joint presser in…

The Ukrainian military destroyed the Russian T-62 tank. The Drone Army had a hand in this. This was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to the Telegram of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov. “The Russian tank with a flying turret is the work of the UAV strike company of the 79th airborne assault brigade of PERUN GROUP in the Donetsk region,” he noted. According to Fedorov, the fighters skillfully hit the ammunition load of the T-62 tank with an FPV drone. “Then there was a powerful detonation and the Russian rubbish was completely destroyed,” the minister added. Russian losses in Ukraine…

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine is allegedly already thinking about negotiations with the Russian Federation. Source: Putin at a press conference following his visit to China Putin’s direct speech: “We hear now that they seem to be ready for some kind of negotiations. The responsible persons who are in charge of the issue of foreign policy and who just recently said that it is necessary to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield, now the stink is already “They have spoken in a different voice and are already saying that these problems need to be resolved through peaceful…

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Friday said Baghdad’s failure to pay suitable fees to oil producers is one of the main obstacles to resuming oil exports through Turkey. “Now Baghdad is really the issue because Turkey has announced that it is ready and willing to accept” resuming exports, Barzani told Rudaw’s Alla Shally during a press conference in Paris on Friday. Export of Kurdistan Region’s oil through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline has been halted since March 23 when a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying Turkey had breached a 1973 agreement by allowing Erbil to…

French superstar footballer and former Balon d’Or winner Karim Benzema arrived in Erbil with his team al-Ittihad on Saturday ahead of an important match in the Asian Champions League.  Benzema, along with 2018 world champion N’golo Kante and the rest of the Saudi team, were received by local officials including Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw at the city’s airport. The 2022 Balon D’or winner was warmly received by his fans who jumped at the chance to greet the star and take selfies with him. Al-Ittihad will face one of Iraq’s oldest and most decorated teams al-Quwa al-Jawiya on Monday for what…

The UAE-based Crescent Petroleum has the capabilities to provide 75 percent of the Kurdistan Region’s electricity demands and its gas production exceeds 500 million standard cubic feet per day, its executive director said.  “We are proud that we can provide about 75 percent of the quantities of electricity present in the Kurdistan Region,” Abdullah al-Qadi, executive director of Crescent Petroleum, told Rudaw’s Mohammed Sheikh Fatih in an interview last week, noting that the oil and gas company’s produce supplies power plants in Erbil and Sulaimani with gas. Crescent Petroleum and its affiliate, Dana Gas, struck an agreement with the Kurdistan…

With the coming of fall and concerns over renewed flash floods, Erbil and Sulaimani provinces have already taken precautionary measures for possible episodes of flooding caused by heavy rainfall, while Halabja and Duhok are set to begin preparations in the coming days, according to officials. Rising water levels and flash floods during the rainy seasons of fall and winter have become a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region in recent years, at times reaching disastrous levels and resulting in casualties and great damages. Aras Jabbar, a climate expert, told Rudaw’s Soran Hussein on Sunday that the Region was facing a…