Nuri al-Maliki

Iraqi Vice President Nuri al-Maliki, who was widely criticised for sectarian policies during his time as premier, said Jan. 4 that politicians are to blame for the country's Sunni-Shiite strife.

Iraqi President Fuad Masum's visit to Saudi Arabia is aimed at patching up long-strained relations between the two countries as Baghdad battles jihadist militants, a senior official said Nov. 12.
      
Masum arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and met with King Abdullah, the highest-level contact between the neighbouring countries in years.
      

Saudi Arabia has inaugurated a multilayered fence along its northern borders, as part of efforts to secure the kingdom's vast desert frontiers against infiltrators and smugglers, state media said.    
 

Amnesty International on Sept. 2 accused Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) fighters of "systematic ethnic cleansing" in northern Iraq, as Iraqi troops, Kurdish fighters and Shiite militiamen backed by U.S. air strikes fought back against the jihadists.

Iran, which is helping Iraq in its fight against jihadist-led militants, sent its foreign minister to Baghdad Aug. 24, as gunmen made a renewed push for the country's main oil refinery.
      

Iraq's caretaker premier Nuri al-Maliki said Wednesday it will take a court ruling for him to leave power, defying the president's decision to task a rival with forming a government.
      
"I confirm that the government will continue and there will not be a replacement for it without a decision from the federal court," Maliki said in his televised weekly address.
      

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki not to cause trouble as he threw his weight behind newly-elected President Fuad Masum to help fight Islamic militants.
      

Kurdish forces attacked Islamic State fighters on Aug. 6 just 40 kilometers southwest of the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil in northern Iraq, a senior Kurdish official told Reuters.

Iraq accused Kurdish forces of seizing two northern oil fields near the disputed city of Kirkuk July 11, as relations between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region hit a new low.

Iraq's Kurds said July 10 Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was "hysterical" and not fit to run the country, further dimming the prospect of a new leadership uniting to face jihadist fighters.