Iraq Oil Report's Daily Brief compiles the most important news and analysis about Iraq from around the web.
Sameer N Yacoub reports for the Associated Press:
Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church enthroned a new patriarch during a ceremonial mass Wednesday that was held amid tight security in Baghdad.
The mass at St. Joseph's Chaldean church in downtown Baghdad marked the final step as Louis Sako, 64, replaced Emmanuel III Delly, who has retired.
Omar al-Shaher reports for Al-Monitor:
The Iraqi Ministry of Education said that one of its universities has surrendered to overwhelming pressure and agreed to sign contracts with several employees based on a daily wage system. They have settled on a salary of $8 per month. The employees hope to obtain permanent positions as they become available. Some of them have leaked information to the media to increase the pressure on their employers.
A job in the government has become the dream for millions of Iraqi university graduates, as the private sector plays a declining role in the job market.
Blake Hounshell reports for Foreign Policy:
Iraq's national security advisor, Faleh al-Fayyad, said Monday that Qatar and other Arab countries, along with nongovernmental groups, are financing Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian jihadi group, with the acquiescence of Turkey.
"These are the same sources that finance al Qaeda," Fayyad said through a translator. "In times of crisis, some countries use al Qaeda; some countries make peace with al Qaeda," he said.
Qassim Abdul-Zahra reports for the Associated Press:
Iraqi security officials say at least 42 Syrian soldiers and several Iraqis have been killed in an ambush in western Iraq.
The officials say the Syrians had sought refuge in northern Iraq during recent clashes with rebels and were being escorted back to Syria through a different border crossing farther south. They say the ambush occurred Monday near the area of Akashat, not far from the Syrian border, but it's not clear who the attackers were.
Sinan Salahaeddin for the Associated Press:
Officials say a suicide attacker has driven a car laden with explosives into a police checkpoint in northern Iraq, killing five policemen and wounding 12 other people.
A police officer says four civilians were among those wounded in Monday's attack near a grocery market in the northern city of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad. A health official confirmed the causality figures.
Patrick Cockburn reports for The Independent:
Iraq is disintegrating as a country under the pressure of a mounting political, social and economic crisis, say Iraqi leaders.
They add that 10 years after the US invasion and occupation the conflict between the three main communities – Shia, Sunni and Kurd – is deepening to a point just short of civil war. “There is zero trust between Iraqi leaders,” says an Iraqi politician in daily contact with them. But like many of those interviewed by The Independent for this article, he did not want to be identified by name.
A suicide bomber struck in an area between major shrines in the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Karbala on Sunday, wounding 10 people, while other attacks left five dead, officials said.
Jamal al-Din Shahristani, an official at the Imam Hussein shrine, said an engineer working on a project between the site and the Imam Abbas shrine blew himself up, causing casualties.
Ali Abel Sadah reports for Al-Monitor Iraq Pulse:
The so-called Sahwa forces in Iraq are undergoing significant changes. Sahwa recently elected a new leadership, following a series of defections in recent years.
The Sahwa forces are a military formation of Sunni fighters, established by the US Army to confront al-Qaeda. The multinational force that entered Iraq following the 2003 invasion provided financial and logistical support to Sahwa forces. The withdrawal of American troops in 2011 left the Sahwa forces in a state of political and administrative chaos.
Kareem Raheem reports for Reuters:
Militants killed 136 Iraqis in February, fewer than the previous month, as the country continues to grapple with insurgents just over a year after U.S. troops withdrew, health ministry figures showed on Saturday.
The country's precarious sectarian and ethnic balance has come under growing strain from the conflict in neighboring Syria, which is whipping up tensions between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims in Iraq and the wider Middle East.
Four wounded Syrian regime soldiers were being treated at a north Iraq hospital on Saturday, during clashes with rebels on the Syrian side of the border, the Iraqi defence ministry's spokesman said.
"Four wounded Syrian soldiers were moved to Rabia Hospital, which is close to the Yaarubiyeh border crossing" from Syria into Iraq's Nineveh province, Mohammed al-Askari told AFP by telephone.
Beyond the Headlines features a raw translation of Cabinet decisions, as made public in Arabic by the media office of the Council of Ministers.
