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Iraq

Iraqi security source: Two martyrs,147 wounded, Nasiriyah protests toll

2021-02-27

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

#Iraqi security source: Two martyrs,147 wounded, Nasiriyah protests toll. pic.twitter.com/FlVcaYO8jr
— Alghadeer English (@alghadeertv_eng) February 26, 2021

An Nahar has the details:

Three anti-government protesters were shot dead Friday in clashes with Iraqi security forces in Nasiriyah, medics said, the deadliest day in a week of violence in the southern city.

Protesters have defied a second wave of coronavirus infections and renewed lockdown measures to vent their anger at the government over poor public services. Similar protests, also over unemployment and corruption, erupted in late 2019 and morphed into an unprecedented anti-government movement across southern Iraq and Baghdad. But while they faded elsewhere in the country, rallies have continued to grip Nasiriyah.

This week, demonstrators have gathered outside the main governorate building to demand the dismissal of governor Nazem al-Waeli over a deterioration in public services.

On Friday, three protesters were shot dead by security forces, medics in the city told AFP.

"Another 47 people were wounded but the hospitals are all full of coronavirus patients. We're struggling to find places to treat them," one medic said.

- FLARING VIOLENCE -
Protesters were trying to block off some of Nasiriyah's main bridges throughout the day, but security forces were responding by firing live rounds.

One protester was killed in similar confrontations on Monday and another on Thursday.

Decades of war, government graft and a dearth of investment have left Iraq's water, electricity and other public works in a pitiful state. Many households have only a few hours of mains electricity per day and complain of polluted tap water.

Nearly 600 people have been killed in protest-related violence since late 2019, including in mass violence at demonstrations but also in targeted assassinations. One of the bloodiest incidents was in November 2019 in Nasiriyah, when more than three dozen demonstrators were killed at the city's Zeitun (Olive) Bridge. The incident sparked outrage across Iraq and prompted the resignation of then-prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, replaced by current premier Mustafa al-Kadhemi.

Kadhemi, as commander-in-chief of Iraq's armed forces, has repeatedly ordered security forces not to fire on crowds. He has even ordered the removal of top security officials there but to no avail.

Kadhemi has also pledged to bring the perpetrators of all protest-related violence to justice. Earlier this month, he announced the arrest of four members of a suspected "cell" that carried out assassinations of activists and journalists seen as sympathetic to the anti-government movement.

The renewed violence comes less than two weeks before Pope Francis is set to visit Dhi Qar province, of which Nasiriyah is the capital, as part of the first-ever papal trip to Iraq.

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Iraq

Iraq’s political factions were in high-stake talks to name a new prime minister, after the president set a February 1 deadline to replace Adel Abdel Mahdi

2020-01-31

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Iraq’s political factions were in high-stake talks to name a new prime minister, after the president set a February 1 deadline to replace Adel Abdel Mahdi.#BaghdadPost #IraqProtests #saveIraqipeople #FreeIraq #Save_the_Iraqi_people https://t.co/JCfn4CjGH5
— The Baghdad Post (@BaghdadPostPlus) January 31, 2020

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Iraq

Trump insists no plans to pull US troops out of Iraq, for now

2020-01-10

[IsraelTimes] White House and Pentagon deny intention to withdraw forces as Iraq premier says he’s received mystery US letter signalling pullout.

The United States has no plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq, the White House and Pentagon insisted Tuesday, as Iraq premier Adel Abdel Mahdi said he had received a US letter signalling a pullout.

President Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
said withdrawing the more than 5,000 US troops in Iraq would be the "worst thing" for that country..

Defense Secretary Mark Esper underscored that US policy has not changed, dismissing as a mere "draft" the unsigned letter from a US general to Iraq’s government saying Washington would redeploy troops "in due deference to the illusory sovereignty" of the country.

"At some point we want to get out, but this isn’t the right point," Trump said. "It’s the worst thing that could happen to Iraq."

"Our policy has not changed. We are not leaving Iraq," Esper told news hounds.

"There is no signed letter, to the best of my knowledge," Esper added.

MYSTERY LETTER
But its existence continued to ripple through Iraqi and US politics, with no explanation of why it was circulated.

"It was an official letter written in such a manner," Abdel Mahdi told a televised cabinet meeting Tuesday.

"It’s not a piece of paper that fell off the printer or reached us by coincidence," he said.

The letter discussed "redeploying with an aim to withdraw from the country. The expressions were very clear," he said.

But Trump warned that a US departure would leave a gap that would be filled by Iran, whose powerful political influence in Iraq was spearheaded by Soleimani.

"If we leave, that would mean that Iran
Iran

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Iraq

Iraq PM Says Iran Warned Them of Missile Attack Ahead of Time

2020-01-09

[EpochTimes] "We received an official verbal message from the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran
Iran

had begun or would begin shortly, and that the strike would be limited to where the US military was located in Iraq without specifying the locations," Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi’s office said in a statement, reported the AFP news agency.

Reeeally? How utterly fascinating.

His office said it was contacted by the United States at the same time. It came as missiles hit the Ain al-Asad military base in western Iraq and another base in the north.

Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. and other coalition troops late on Tuesday after an American dronezap killed Soleimani, a top Revolutionary Guards commander, last week in Baghdad.

"We immediately warned Iraqi military commanders to take the necessary precautions," Mahdi’s office added.

He said no Iraqi forces were hurt or killed in the attack. "Iraq rejects any violation of its illusory sovereignty and attacks on its territory," the premier’s office also said, but didn’t elaborate.

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Iraq

Iraqi protesters rally after night of arson attacks

2019-12-26

[AlAhram] Iraqi anti-government protesters again hit the streets Wednesday, angered by an activist's death and an attempt on the life of a popular TV satirist.

The latest rallies in Baghdad and cities including Basra and Karbala came after a night of unrest that saw protesters torch the headquarters of two pro-Iran
Iran

...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
militias in the country's south.

The demonstrators have rallied for almost three months to demand the ouster of the entire political class that has run the oil-rich yet poverty-ridden country in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion which overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein. The mostly youthful activists accuse Iraq's leaders of enriching themselves, mismanaging the economy and being beholden to powerful neighbour Iran, an influential actor in Iraqi politics.

Passions were inflamed when popular TV satirist Aws Fadhil was targeted Tuesday by unknown assailants, with three bullets hitting his car.

Fadhil posted footage of the bullet holes on social media and declared: "They are targeting those who support the revolution, to silence them ... But we are continuing our revolution."

He added that "we have already achieved a goal", referring to a parliamentary vote Tuesday to approve an electoral reform law, in line with the demands of the protesters.

Lawmakers will from now be elected in first-past-the-post contests within electoral districts, rather than through a complex system using provincial party lists and proportional representation. Constituencies will also be redrawn, though it was unclear how and critics feared the new boundaries could be biased toward major parties and tribal groups.

ARSON ATTACKS
Despite the reform steps, protesters again rallied Wednesday -- including in the city of Diwaniyah, where they marched under a large Iraqi flag to mourn a prominent activist, Thaer al-Tayeb.

A suspicious explosion hit Tayeb's car on December 15, badly wounding him and fellow activist Ali al-Madani, in Tayeb's hometown 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Baghdad.

After Tayeb's death in hospital was announced Tuesday, crowds of demonstrators rushed to the two headquarters of pro-Iran militias in Diwaniyah and torched them.

First they set fire to the building of the powerful Badr organization, run by the parliamentary head of the pro-Iran paramilitaries, Hadi al-Ameri.

Then they burnt the headquarters of Assaib Ahl al-Haq, a group whose head Qais al-Khazali is subject to sanctions by the United States, accused of "kidnapping, murder and torture".

Protesters also blocked roads with burning car tyres in the southern city of Basra.

POLITICAL DEADLOCK
Around 460 people have been killed, most of them protesters, since the start of the demonstrations in early October and 25,000 have been maimed.

But rallies have continue despite the campaign of intimidation, assassinations and abductions of activists, which the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
blames on militias.

After dwindling in recent weeks, the protest campaign has recovered its vigour at a time when political factions are wrangling over a replacement for outgoing premier Adel Abdel Mahdi.

He quit in November but still serves as caretaker. Negotiations to fill the premier's post have remained deadlocked since the latest in a series of deadlines expired at midnight on Sunday.

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Iraq

Anti-Iran protesters demonstrate in Iraq

2019-12-24

[IsraelTimes] Protesters in Iraq are blocking roads and bridges in southern Iraq, condemning Iranian influence and politicians who have missed another deadline to agree on a new prime minister.

Anti-government demonstrators burn tires in major cities across the south, forcing the closure of schools and government buildings, AFP correspondents report as political paralysis deepens in Baghdad.

Negotiations over a candidate to replace premier Adel Abdel Mahdi, who quit in November in the face of protests against corruption and unemployment, remains stalemated after a midnight Sunday deadline expired.

While a pro-Iran
Iran

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Iraq

Thousands protest in Iraq as deadline for new PM looms

2019-12-23

[DAWN] Thousands erupted into the streets in Iraq’s capital and across the south on Sunday to protest against Iran’s kingmaking influence as the latest deadline for choosing a new prime minister loomed.

Anti-government rallies have rocked Baghdad and the Shia-majority south since October 1, with demonstrators calling for a complete overhaul of a regime they deem corrupt, inefficient and overly beholden to Tehran.

"The revolution continues!" shouted one demonstrator at a protest encampment in central Diwaniyah.

Protesters blocked off public buildings one by one in the southern Iraqi city, and put up banners reading "The country is under construction ‐ please excuse the disruption".

Sunday marks the latest deadline ‐ already pushed back twice by President Barham Saleh ‐ for parliament to choose a new premier to replace Adel Abdel Mahdi, who tendered his administration’s resignation last month.

Parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbussi on Sunday travelled to Arbil, capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq, to discuss who could become the next premier, the presidency there said.

Officials say Iran
Iran

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Iraq

US slaps sanctions on 3 Iran-linked Iraqi militia heads over protest abuses

2019-12-07

[IsraelTimes] The three officials are part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a Shiite militia movement close to Tehran.

The United States on Friday announced sanctions on three Iranian-linked Iraqi militia leaders for allegedly assisting the crackdown on demonstrations that have swept the country.

"The Iraqi people want their country back. They are calling for genuine reform and accountability and for trustworthy leaders who will put Iraq’s national interests first," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

The United States imposed sanctions on three Iraqis ‐ Qais al-Khazali, Laith al-Khazali, and Hussein Falil Aziz al-Lami ‐ who are part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashed al-Shaabi, a Shiite militia movement close to Iran.

Some 430 people have died across Iraq as authorities cracked down on protests, which eventually led to the resignation of prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, a close ally of Iran.

The three militia leaders were designated under a US law that will ban them from travel to the United States and seize any assets they have in the country.

The United States also placed sanctions on an Iraqi politician, Khamis Farhan al-Khanjar al-Issawi, on bribery charges.

David Schenker, the top US diplomat for the Middle East, warned that more sanctions could come, including against government officials.

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Iraq

Pro-paramilitary demonstrators flood Iraqi protest camp, 15 stabbed

2019-12-06

[AlAhram] Several thousand men backing a paramilitary force close to Iran

...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
flooded the Iraqi capital's main protest camp on Thursday, worrying anti-government demonstrators who have denounced Tehran's role in their country.

The men arrived in Tahrir (Liberation) Square in apparently coordinated marches from different parts of the capital, waving sticks, Iraqi flags and the logo of the Hashed al-Shaabi armed network. Some carried portraits of Hashed fighters killed in fighting against jihadists as well as pictures of the country's top Shiite holy man, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

The Hashed had backed the Iraqi government but after a dramatic intervention by Sistani last week, it dropped its support. The embattled prime minister, Adel Abdel Mahdi, resigned at the weekend.

Many units within the Shiite-majority force have been trained or equipped by Iran.

The demonstrators occupying the square for weeks have explicitly criticised Iran for backing an Iraqi political elite they see as corrupt and inept. They have insisted that all current figures in power are tainted with graft and have been wary of political parties seeking to coopt the youth-dominated movement.

The new arrivals on Thursday mixed in with thousands of other protesters in the square, who appeared worried although no confrontation or skirmishes took place.

"They've ruined it," one protester said, as another muttered, "It's going to get messy."

Mass rallies have rocked the capital and Shiite-majority south since early October, first denouncing government graft and a lack of jobs before moving to broader demands for deep-rooted regime change.

Nearly 430 people have been killed and 20,000 maimed since demonstrations erupted, according to an AFP toll compiled from medics, police and a national commission. The victims' families have been demanding justice for their loved ones, and many of them hit the streets of Iraq's southern Diwaniyah on Thursday. They joined thousands of other protesters, mostly teachers and students taking part in a general strike, AFP's correspondent said.

"The authorities are putting off the issue of who killed our sons and brothers in the protests," said Assaad Malek, whose brother died in protest-related violence.

"They should take a tough stance and severely punish the officers and SWAT forces who killed my brother," he added.

A verdict for security force members accused of violence against protesters in Diwaniyah was scheduled for Thursday, but the session was indefinitely postponed.

In the southern hotspot of Nasiriyah, hundreds hit the main protest camp in the city centre, joined by delegations from the province's powerful tribes.

Tribal dignitaries intervened last week to tamp down tensions between protesters and security forces after more than two dozen people were killed in a bloody crackdown.

15 stabbed in Baghdad as pro-Iran group joins protest

[IsraelTimes] Anti-government protesters say at least 15 people have suffered stab wounds in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of their movement, after political parties and Iran-backed militia groups briefly joined them, raising fears of infiltration by authorities.

Lawmakers convened a parliament session Thursday to amend laws governing compensation to include victims of military operations, according to the session agenda seen by The Associated Press.

There were over a dozen knife attacks by the late afternoon when protesters aligned with political parties and Iran-backed militias withdrew from Tahrir, three demonstrators and a witness say. There were no fatalities.

Another protester who requests anonymity says the attacks, “might have been perpetrated by the parties or someone who wants to ignite problems with the parties.”

Iraqi officials have repeatedly warned of infiltrators within the peaceful protesters seeking to coopt the movement.

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Iraq

Still in Streets, Iraqis Say Problem is Poverty

2019-12-06

[AnNahar] Chants demanding complete regime change have echoed across Iraq for weeks, but what first brought demonstrators onto the street was the profound poverty of one of the world's most oil-rich countries.

Iraq is ranked the 12th most corrupt country in the world. A recent government probe found over $450 billion in public funds were lost to embezzlement, fake contracts or salaries for so-called ghost employees since 2003.

And that is what has kept them there, with protesters brushing off the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi as failing to root out the rampant corruption that denies them jobs and public services.

In the southern protest hotspot of Diwaniyah, one of the poorest agricultural areas in the country, Umm Salah has joined rallies every day outside the provincial council.

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Iraq

Talks in Iraq capital as violence hits shrine cities

2019-12-04

[AlAhram] Iraq's politicians gathered in Baghdad on Tuesday to discuss a way out of two months of protests that brought down the previous government, as violence hit two Shiite shrine cities.

In Najaf, seat of Iraq's Shiite religious leadership, anti-government demonstrators gathered late into the night around the tomb of a holy man who founded a Shiite party, an AFP correspondent reported.

Armed men in civilian clothes who were guarding the tomb were seen firing shotguns and tear gas at protesters, but medics could not provide an immediate casualty toll.

It is part of a larger complex that has been surrounded for days by demonstrators denouncing the rule of an entrenched political elite.

Najaf has been a flashpoint since protesters torched the Iranian consulate in the city last Wednesday, accusing Iraq's eastern neighbour of propping up a corrupt government in Baghdad.

Around two dozen protesters have died since, and the governor has called on the central government to put an end to the violence.

Influential tribal dignitaries have also tried to mediate and on Tuesday they called on populist holy man Moqtada Sadr and his Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades) to intervene, according to a statement by Sadr's office.

He has yet to respond.

Sadr was a key sponsor of outgoing prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi after having won the lion's share of seats in parliament in a May 2018 general election.

But he backed the protests early on and instructed his fighters to "protect" demonstrators from security forces.

In the shrine city of Karbala, renewed street festivities between protesters and security forces raged late into the night, an AFP correspondent reported.

Riot police fired live rounds and tear gas at the crowds.

Protests also continued in other parts of the south against the central government and Iran, whose pointman for Iraqi affairs Qasem Soleimani is in Iraq for talks.

Political factions were meeting on Tuesday to find a replacement for Abdel Mahdi and to hash out a new electoral law to oversee a snap general election.

The protesters, who have thronged the streets since early October, say they want more than just a premier and new elections.

They have also called for a new constitution and the abolition of the parties that have dominated Iraqi politics for more than a decade.

Link

Iraq

Embattled Iraqi PM bows out

2019-12-03

[DAWN] The government of Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi ended on Sunday after two months of violent unrest that has left more than 420 people dead and thousands mourning them in nationwide marches.

As anti-government demonstrators across the strife-torn country massed to honour the fallen activists, parliament met to accept the resignation which the 77-year-old had offered two days before.

While Abdel Mahdi stays on initially to lead a caretaker government, President Barham Saleh will now be asked to name a successor to face the challenge of resolving the political chaos that has engulfed the nation.

The protest movement is Iraq’s biggest since the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein and installed a democratic system in the oil-rich but poverty-plagued nation.

Tens of thousands have vented their anger at a governing class they despise as inept, corrupt and beholden to foreign powers, especially Iran, whose consulate in the city of Najaf was torched last Wednesday.

Some protesters cautiously welcomed the departure of the premier, who came to power just a year ago based on a shaky alliance between rival parties, but they demanded far more deep-rooted change. "Abdel Mahdi should go ‐ and so should parliament and the political parties and Iran!" said one young demonstrator in the capital.

Observers said Iraq’s fractured political scene will struggle to reach a consensus on a new premier.

With the parliament’s main Shia blocs "fragmented, no largest faction exists", wrote Dlawer Ala’Aldeen, president of the Arbil-based Middle East Research Institute.

Even if they agreed on a candidate, he or she would also need the backing of the emboldened street. "Demonstrators are hard to please," said Ala’Aldeen. "The carnival goes on and, meanwhile, violence continues." Just before the parliamentary session began, another protester was rubbed out in the capital, medical sources said.

But, in a victory for the movement, an Iraqi court sentenced a police officer to death after convicting him of killing demonstrators, the first such sentence in the two months of deadly civil unrest. The Kut criminal court sentenced the police major to be hanged and it jugged
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
a police lieutenant colonel for seven years over the deaths of seven protesters in the southern city on Nov 2, judicial sources said.

Iraq’s constitution has no provision for the resignation of a premier, and politician Sarkawt Shamsaddin said on Sunday that the body did not actually hold a vote.

"The speaker said that the Federal Court was consulted and the understanding is that [there is] no need to vote," he said. The speaker had then asked if any politician was against the resignation and "nobody objected".

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