PM lauds raid in phone call with Pompeo; Tehran denounces move, while Moscow urges restraint from both sides; Kataeb Hezbollah vows revenge

Foreign Minister Katz lauds attacks, calling them a 'turning point in the regional response to Iran & its proxies'

Drone attacks on Kataeb Hezbollah carried out in retaliation for Friday's rocket assault on a US base that killed an American military contractor

US defense chief tells Iraq's outgoing PM that rocket attacks blamed on Iran-backed militias 'not good for anybody'

No casualties in overnight attack, the 10th since late October and days after another assault wounded six members of Iraq's elite US-trained counterterrorism force in same camp

Qais al-Khazali, head of a pro-Iran armed faction, laments he wasn't given 'honor' a long time ago; political figure Khamees al-Khanjar's party says restrictions are 'illogical'

The 77-year-old veteran politician was seen as a unifying figure among Iraq's divided factions and international allies, but popular rage at endemic graft doomed his government

US vice president stays out of Baghdad for security reasons, speaks to Iraqi PM by phone after he declines to visit him on military base

US influence has plummeted while Iranian Revolutionary Guards General Soleimani is now seen brokering deals among political forces in Baghdad

Hundreds already dead in crackdown against growing protests over rampant corruption and clientelism; UN calls for 'maximum restraint,' including no use of live ammunition