Iraq has officially reopened the Qaim border crossing with Syria for trade and passenger traffic, a spokesman for the Iraqi border authority said on Saturday, marking a key step in efforts to normalise relations and revive economic ties between the two countries.

The price of oil initially increased more than 4% when news of the US evacuation broke, in anticipation of regional insecurity potentially leading to supply problems. Around 2,500 US troops are based in Iraq, according to the defence department.

Global airlines on Friday cancelled flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and other Middle East destinations, or rerouted planes, as airspaces

Middle East leaders and their Western allies have been warning that Islamic State could exploit the fall of the Assad regime to stage a comeback in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, where the extremist group once imposed a reign of terror over millions.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq has reopened its al-Qaim border crossing with Syria, more than half a year after it was closed during a rebel offensive that toppled the Syrian regime, Iraqi state media reported on Saturday.

A Connecticut senator traveling in the Middle East this week was stuck in Iraq after Israel launched an attack on Israel Thursday, heightening tensions in the area.

Italy's Eni is closely monitoring the security situation in Iraq, a spokesperson for the energy group said on Thursday after the United States decided to evacuate its embassy in the country.

In the mountains of eastern Iraq, a hunter stumbled upon a black-tongued predator. Instead of killing the dangerous animal, the hunter captured it to show to scientists — and for good reason. It turned out to be a first-of-its-kind record.

A system of thousands of ridges and canals across a floodplain in southern Iraq has long been believed to be the remnant of a massive agricultural system built by slave labor.

The Zanj, enslaved people largely from Africa, rebelled at the same time they were ordered to build a massive system of canals in what is now Iraq, a new study finds.