IRAQ \ Developments

The latest developments in Iraq:

Iraq’s prime minister appeared to clear the way Monday — with a last-minute push from the U.S. ambassador — for a crisis council that seeks to save his crumbling government. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has struggled over the past days to pull together a summit of Iraq’s main religious and ethnic groups. The meeting finally appeared likely after U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker called on Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the lone Sunni Arab invited to the talks that are scheduled for today. Al-Hashemi’s attendance had been in question.

The U.S. military announced a third major operation since additional U.S. troops arrived and said it would target al-Qaida in Iraq and Iranian-allied Shiite militia fighters nationwide. The U.S. military named its new offensive “Operation Phantom Strike” and said it would seek to build on the successes of recent offensives in Baghdad and surrounding areas. The statement singled out Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaida in Iraq and Shiite extremists the U.S. military claims are backed by Iran.

Iraqi judicial authorities said the third trial against former officials with Saddam’s ousted regime would begin Aug. 21. Saddam’s cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali,” and 14 other defendants will face charges in the brutal crushing of a Shiite uprising after the 1991 Gulf War.

Source: Associated Press