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Iraq
Israeli-Russian graduate student Elizabeth Tsurkov suddenly freed from captivity in Iraq
2025-09-10
Interesting that this happened the day after Israel killed a bunch of Hamas big turbans in Doha.
[IsraelTimes] Family thanks US and Israel for helping secure Tsurkov’s release from Iran-backed militia, which says it freed her ‘to facilitate withdrawal of US forces,’ prevent ‘conflicts’ in Iraq

An Israeli-Russian graduate student from Princeton University in New Jersey who was kidnapped by a Shiite militia in Iraq in 2023 has been released from captivity and is now in US custody, US President Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
 and the student’s family said on Tuesday.

While Iraq said a "group of outlaws" kidnapped Elizabeth Tsurkov,
…one of those presumably brilliant idiots who oughtn’t be allowed out without a keeper…
Trump announced she was released by the powerful pro-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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
Kataeb Hezbollah militia group.

"As a culmination of extensive efforts exerted by our security services over the course of many months, we announce the release of the Russian citizen, Elizabeth Tsurkov," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudan
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
i said on X, without noting her Israeli citizenship.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Tsurkov "was just released" by Kataeb Hezbollah "after being tortured for many months" and was now at the US embassy in Baghdad.

Sabah al-Numan, the military front man for the Iraqi prime minister, said later in a statement that "following extensive and high-level security and intelligence efforts... authorities succeeded, on September 9, in locating and reaching the site of her detention."

Tsurkov was delivered to the US embassy to "facilitate her reunion with her sister, a US citizen," he added.

Numan also said Tsurkov was kidnapped by a "group of outlaws" without naming any party, and stated that Iraq’s security forces "will continue to pursue all those involved in this crime and ensure they are held accountable."

’ALL THE LOVE WE HAVE BEEN WAITING TO SHARE’
Tsurkov’s sister, Emma, a US citizen who has campaigned for her release, said she was in Washington for meetings this week when she heard the news from Adam Boehler, the US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

The sisters were able to connect by phone and expect to be reunited in the next 24 hours, though the details were still being worked out, Emma Tsurkov said.

"I heard her voice for the first time in 2 1/2 years and still couldn’t believe it, and I just melted on the floor," she said in an interview with The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. "I heard her voice and she heard mine, and it was the most joyous experience of my life, and we both started sobbing and screaming."

Emma Tsurkov also issued statements thanking Trump, Boehler, the US embassy in Baghdad and the non-profit group Global Reach for their roles in securing the release, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli hostage point man Gal Hirsch "for their dedication and determined leadership."

"My entire family is incredibly happy. We cannot wait to see Elizabeth and give her all the love we have been waiting to share for 903 days," she posted on social media. "If Adam had not made my sister’s return his personal mission, I do not know where we would be."

Global Reach, which works for the release of Americans held in captivity abroad, said that Tsurkov had received a medical assessment at the American embassy in Baghdad.

Netanyahu later said he called Tsurkov’s family.

"Through teamwork led by Hostage and Missing Persons Coordinator Gal Hirsch, which lasted many long months and after great efforts, we succeeded in bringing about her release," said Netanyahu.

"This evening I spoke with Emma and Avital her sisters, and in the emotional conversation I told them that all of Israel is happy to see her back home," he continued.

"We will continue to fight with strength and determination until we bring all of our hostages back home — both the living and the fallen," he said, referring to the 48 hostages still held by Paleostinian terror groups in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Hirsch issued a separate statement saying he spoke with Tsurkov and that "during her captivity she was aware of and heard about our efforts to return her. This is a priceless moment."

PHD CANDIDATE
Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University and fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, went missing in Iraq in March 2023.

She had likely entered Iraq on her Russian passport and had travelled to the country as part of her doctoral studies.

She was active on Twitter, where she has tens of thousands of followers and describes herself as "passionate about human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
In Baghdad, she had focused on pro-Iran factions and the movement of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr as part of her research on the region.

She was kidnapped as she was leaving a cafe in the Iraqi capital’s Karrada neighborhood, an Iraqi intelligence source told AFP in 2023.

Israeli authorities blamed Kataeb Hezbollah for her disappearance, but the US-designated terror group implied that it was not involved.

KATAEB HEZBOLLAH
Kataeb Hezbollah did not claim in 2023 the abduction, but a source in the group told AFP Tuesday Tsurkov was released to spare Iraq any "conflicts."

She "was released according to conditions, the most important of which was to facilitate the withdrawal of US forces without a fight and to spare Iraq any conflicts or fighting," the source said.

"She was released and not liberated. No military operation was carried out to free her," the source added.

Like other gangs trained by Iran during the war against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 group (IS), Kataeb Hezbollah were integrated into the regular security forces as part of the Hashed al-Shaabi or the Popular Mobilization force (PMF).

However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
 the faction has developed a reputation for sometimes acting on its own.

The group and other Iran-backed Iraqi factions have been calling for the withdrawal of US troops deployed in Iraq at Baghdad’s invitation as part of the anti-IS coalition.

US forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria were repeatedly targeted by Kataeb Hezbollah and other pro-Iran groups following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.

They have responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks have halted.

Report says freed student Tsurkov to return to Israel, will be treated like Gaza hostages

[IsraelTimes] Freed Israeli-Russian hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov is expected to be flown to Israel in the coming days and will undergo the same process as hostages freed or rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza, the Kan news outlet reports. Hostages brought back from Gaza have been hospitalized in special wards, where they are able to reunite with family while gradually recuperating and undergoing various medical and mental health checkups.

According to Kan, Israel was not asked to make any concessions in exchange for her release, the circumstances of which have remained murky.
Related:
Elizabeth Tsurkov 07/30/2025 Iraq thwarted 29 attempts to fire at Israel or US troops during Iran war, PM says
Elizabeth Tsurkov 07/30/2025 3 killed in Iraq clashes between armed group, security forces
Elizabeth Tsurkov 05/27/2025 Hezbollah captives may be freed as part of deal involving Israeli-Russian researcher

Related:
Kataeb Hezbollah: 2025-07-30 3 killed in Iraq clashes between armed group, security forces
Kataeb Hezbollah: 2025-05-27 Hezbollah captives may be freed as part of deal involving Israeli-Russian researcher
Kataeb Hezbollah: 2025-05-17 Elizabeth Tsurkov’s sister meets US hostage envoy: Kataeb Hezbollah, Iraqi PM ‘should consider what became of Hamas’
Link


Iraq
Iraqi protesters set fire to Swedish embassy in Baghdad, 20 arrested, Iraq severs diplomatic relations with Sweden
2023-07-21
[Iraq News] Protesters set fire to Sweden’s embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad early Thursday, an AFP journalist said, ahead of a planned burning of a Koran in Sweden.

Swedish authorities approved an assembly to be held later Thursday outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, where organisers plan to burn a copy of the Koran as well as an Iraqi flag.

Iraqis have been angered by events in Sweden, and Thursday’s protest in Baghdad was organised by supporters of the turbulent religious leader Moqtada Sadr.

Some protesters raised copies of the Koran into the air, while others held portraits of Mohammed al-Sadr, an important religious holy man and the father of Moqtada Sadr.

"We are mobilised today to denounce the burning of the Koran, which is all about love and faith," protester Hassan Ahmed told AFP. "We demand that the Swedish government and the Iraqi government stop this type of initiative."

"We didn’t wait until morning, we broke in at dawn and set fire to the Swedish embassy," a young demonstrator in Baghdad told AFP on Thursday, before chanting Moqtada’s name.

Sweden’s foreign ministry told AFP its embassy staff in Baghdad were "safe" following the incident.

"The Iraqi authorities are responsible for the protection of diplomatic missions and their staff", the ministry said, adding that attacks on embassies and diplomats "constitute a serious violation of the Vienna Convention".

Several trucks to extinguish the fire had arrived at the embassy, where skirmishes between Iraqi security forces and demonstrators had broken out, an AFP photographer said.

It was not immediately clear whether the embassy was empty at the time of the attack or if staff had been evacuated.

— ’URGENT INVESTIGATION’ —
Iraq’s foreign ministry condemned the embassy torching and called on security forces to identify those responsible.

"The Iraqi government has instructed the relevant security services to conduct an urgent investigation and take all necessary measures to uncover the circumstances of the incident and identify the perpetrators," the ministry said in a statement.

Swedish media reported that Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, had organised the event in Stockholm on Thursday.

Salwan burned a few pages of a copy of the Koran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque on June 28 during Eid al-Adha
...a major Moslem holiday, marked by animal sacrifice and ritual rioting...
, a holiday celebrated by Moslems around the world.

That incident prompted supporters of Moqtada, an influential religious leader and political dissident in Iraq, to storm the Swedish embassy in Baghdad the following day.

Moqtada has repeatedly mobilised thousands of demonstrators in the streets.

Iraq severs diplomatic relations with Sweden

[Iraq News] The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, ordered on Thursday to withdraw the Iraqi charge d’affaires in Stockholm and expel the Swedish ambassador to Iraq, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

The Iraqi government issued on Thursday a strongly worded statement threatening to sever diplomatic relations with Sweden if it allowed the Koran burner to repeat his act.

The Iraqi government mentioned in the statement that it informed the Swedish government of its intention to sever diplomatic relations if burning copies of the Holy Koran was repeated.

The decision was taken during an urgent meeting with senior military and security officials, chaired by the Iraqi Prime Minister on Thursday morning to discuss permission granted by the Swedish government to an individual to burn the Holy Book later in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, in addition to setting fire the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

The meeting condemned the setting of fire to the Swedish embassy by protesters, considered the action a security breach that must be dealt with immediately, and stressed that those responsible for the security of the embassy must be held accountable.

Iraqi protesters set fire to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad early Thursday ahead of a planned burning of a Koran in Sweden, AFP reported.

Swedish authorities approved an assembly to be held later Thursday outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, where organizers plan to burn a copy of the Koran as well as an Iraqi flag, AFP added.

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

KRG suspends representation in Sweden over Quran desecration

Link


Iraq
Israeli abducted in Iraq said to have initiated contact with her kidnappers
2023-07-17
[IsraelTimes] Elizabeth Tsurkov may have interviewed her Iraqi abductors in Baghdad for her research, Arab sources claim
The SE Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl got himself killed similarly by Al Qaeda in Karachi in 2002.
Four months after the abduction of Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov in Iraq, new details emerged Sunday on the circumstances of her disappearance.

According to unnamed Arab sources quoted by Channel 12 news, Tsurkov initiated the meeting with her kidnappers as part of her doctoral research on Shiite movements in Iraq, focused on the movement of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr.

Tsurkov has been missing since late March. Footage released by an Iraqi TV channel supposedly showed the moments before her abduction, as she was leaving the Ridha Alwan cafe in Baghdad’s Karada neighborhood, an area frequented by Westerners, in the company of a man.

Until now, it was not clear how the Shiite group accused of her abduction, the Kataeb Hezbollah militia — a distinct group from the Lebanese Hezbollah — had found out about the presence of an Israeli researcher in the country.

According to the report, it was Tsurkov herself who contacted a Shiite man named Ahmad Alawani, asking for a meeting with his cousin Muhammad Alawani, a bigwig in Kataeb Hezbollah.

During their second meeting with Tsurkov, the two men discovered that she was Israeli, and decided to kidnap her, according to the report. Following her abduction, attempts were apparently made to transfer her to Iran.

Tsurkov, a 36-year old Middle East analyst and a doctoral student at Princeton University, was said to have entered Iraq late last year on her Russian passport. She has been missing since March.

She was reportedly given personal warnings by Israeli officials about traveling to Iraq, in the months leading up to her abduction, following repeated her stays in the country.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it holds Iraq accountable for her safety and fate, and accused Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah of holding her, but the pro-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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
armed faction has implied it was not involved in her disappearance. Kataeb Hezbollah is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, dozens of mostly Shiite militias that were integrated into Iraqi security forces in recent years.

Last week, Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based Arabic daily, reported that the kidnapping was carried out to pressure Israel to release an imprisoned Iranian operative.
Link


Iraq
Iraq militia implies it was not involved in abduction of Israeli-Russian researcher, but worries about IAF air raid
2023-07-07
[IsraelTimes] Spokesperson for Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah says group is ‘working tirelessly to find out the fate of the Zionist hostage’ Elizabeth Tsurkov, who has been missing in Iraq for months.
“Please, O Russia, do not hurt us!”
According to an Iraqi intelligence source, Tsurkov was kidnapped in Baghdad "at the beginning of Ramadan," the Moslem fasting month which this year started on March 23. She was "leaving the Ridha Alwan cafe," according to the New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
, in an area frequented by Westerners "full of coffee shops, clothing stores and markets."

A Western diplomat stationed in Iraq said that Tsurkov had arrived in Baghdad "at the beginning of December 2022." According to the Times, "she had undergone emergency back surgery in Baghdad and was recovering from the operation before she was kidnapped."

Another government official confirmed on Wednesday that Tsurkov had made previous trips to Iraq, which Israel considers an enemy country. (The New York Times quoted Iraqi officials saying she had made more than 10 visits.) According to Israeli law, it is illegal for Israeli citizens to enter enemy countries, even on a foreign passport.

Tsurkov’s website said she was a fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, as well as a research fellow at the Forum for Regional Thinking, an Israeli-Paleostinian think-tank based in Jerusalem.

"Liz is very much a part of America. She works with a Washington think tank, writes for an American magazine and studies at Princeton University. She deserves America’s every effort to bring her to safety," New Lines said on Wednesday.

Witnesses who knew her said Tsurkov used to freely move around in the Iraqi capital.

She had focused on pro-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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
factions and the movement of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr as part of her research on the region, according to several journalists who had met her.

Iraq said fretting over possible Israeli strikes on pro-Iran group behind abduction
If it’s good enough for Syria, not to mention Iran... Carry on worrying, guys.
[IsraelTimes] Iraqi source tells London-based Elaph there is growing ‘anxiety’ in Baghdad over potential air raids on Kataeb Hezbollah, which Israel says kidnapped researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov.
Related:
Elizabeth Tsurkov: 2021-11-07 Khaz'ali blames PM Kazimi for the death of 2 rioters and election fraud
Elizabeth Tsurkov: 2020-03-09 Turkey continues to pour armor and soldiers into Idlib
Elizabeth Tsurkov: 2020-02-28 Group of Syrian refugees allowed to cross to Europe from Edirne
Link


Iraq
Iraq protesters briefly breach Swedish embassy over Quran burning
2023-06-30
Embassies are by millennia-long practice inviolate, and it is the job of the local government to protect the sanctity if the embassies in its midst. The Ummah, however, believes itself exempt from such practices becausethey are the beloved of Allah, and the rest of us are not.
[IsraelTimes] A few dozen Iraqi protesters briefly breach the Swedish embassy in Baghdad over the burning of the Koran by an Iraqi living in Sweden.

The demonstrators, supporters of firebrand
...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments...
 Shiite Moslem leader Moqtada Sadr, enter the building and remain inside for about 15 minutes before leaving peacefully as security forces deploy.

The protesters rallied outside the embassy in response to a call by Sadr who demanded the removal of the Swedish ambassador, echoing outrage in Moslem countries over the Koran burning
...One of the basic tenets of Islam is that once a Koran has been printed it is expected to last for all time, no matter how old, ratty, and smelly other, lesser holy books may become. Should it actually become necessary to put a Koran out of its misery there is a ritual that includes extensive charivari, featuring long drawn-wailing and head bonking, ritual wife beating, and the sacrifice of dozens of women's noses and pubic lips. When the actual disposal has been completed there is a prescribed period of celebratory gun sex with the expectation of a minimum of two hundred casualties. Should actual infidels dispose of a Koran, Islamic custom calls for three weeks of rioting and a minimum of three dozen dead, which is a holdover from the days of Moloch worship....
 yesterday in Stockholm.

Sadr’s supporters also torch rainbow flags that represent the LGBTQ community, after the powerful holy man suggested this would be "the best way to provoke" those who back Koran burnings.

Stockholm’s foreign ministry says in a statement it was "well informed about the situation. Our embassy staff are safe."

Salwan Momika, 37, who fled to Sweden from Iraq several years ago, stomped on the Koran before setting several pages alight in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque yesterday.
Link


Iraq
Iraqi security forces clash with pro-Iran protesters: AFP
2021-11-06
[AlAhram] Hundreds of supporters of pro-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 the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
groups clashed with security forces in Iraq's capital on Friday, expressing their fury over last month's election result, AFP journalists and a security source said.

The political arm of the pro-Iran Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network saw its share of legislative seats decline substantially in October's election, which the group's supporters have denounced as "fraud."

Demonstrators from groups loyal to the Hashed threw projectiles and "blocked... access to the Green Zone" on three sides, before they were pushed back by police who had gun sex, a security source said, requesting anonymity.

The Green Zone is a high security area housing the US embassy and Iraq's election commission.

The Conquest (Fatah) Alliance, the political arm of the multi-party Hashed, won around 15 of 329 seats contested in the October 10 vote, according to preliminary results.

In the last parliament it held 48, making it the second-largest bloc.

The big winner this time, with more than 70 seats according to the initial count, was the movement of Moqtada Sadr, a Shia Moslem preacher who campaigned as a nationalist and critic of Iran.

"The protesters support Assaib Ahl al-Haq and the Hezbollah brigades," the security source added.

Both these groups operate under the Hashed umbrella.

The Hezbollah Brigades dubbed last month's election as the "worst" since 2003, when dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled in a US-led invasion.

Hundreds of pro-Hashed supporters also rallied against the results on October 19.

"No to fraud, no to America," they chanted at that protest.

The Hashed demands the withdrawal of US forces from the country.

US troops remain in Iraq as part of the coalition that helped Baghdad in the fight against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 group, which the government declared defeated in late 2017.

But the Hashed, known in English as the Popular Mobilisation Forces, were themselves central in turning the military tide against IS, after Iraq's army crumbled against the jihadists' advance in 2014.

The Hashed were integrated into state security forces and the political arm rode a wave of popularity to perform strongly in the 2018 national election.

An unprecedented protest movement broke out two years ago and railed against the political class running the oil-rich but poverty-stricken country where youth unemployment is soaring.

National elections were brought forward as a concession to those protesters, who had also complained that Iraq was beholden to Iran.

Factions of the Hashed have faced accusations of targeting activists.
Link


Iraq
Iraqis rally to support protest leader for prime minister
2020-02-17
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Hundreds of Iraqis rallied Sunday to support a protest leader they want as prime minister instead of current premier-designate Mohammad Allawi, who they see as too close to the ruling class.

Appointed on February 1, Allawi has pledged to announce his cabinet lineup within the week even as he faces ongoing protests against his nomination -- and a new contender.

In the shrine city of Karbala, dozens of students erupted into the streets carrying photos of Alaa al-Rikaby, a pharmacist who has emerged as a prominent activist in the protest hotspot of Nasiriyah, further south.

"We’re here to show our support for Alaa al-Rikaby, the candidate of the people!" said Seif al-Hasnawy, a 20-year-old student.

Rikaby, who has a round face and closely-trimmed beard, began demonstrating in early October alongside others fed up with rampant corruption, lack of jobs and poor public services.

He has since risen to local fame with a series of videos posted on Twitter to his tens of thousands of followers, discussing politics and a path forward for the otherwise leaderless anti-government movement.

In one video last week, he asked protesters who gather at squares across the country to show whether they would back him for the post of prime minister, in a novel approach for a political nomination in Iraq.

"If the people decide so, I’d accept," he said in his latest video on Thursday.

"This post has no value as such for me. I don’t see it as a prize, but rather as a huge responsibility," said Rikaby, who has a tent pitched in central Nasiriyah targeted in a recent stun grenade attack.

In Karbala, university student Hassan Qazwini told AFP: "We protesters have numerous demands, and one of them is an independent prime minister without ties to parties -- like Alaa al-Rikaby."

Before Rikaby, Faeq al-Sheikh Ali, a liberal critic of the ruling class, also declared himself a candidate but has not received mass public or political backing.

Allawi was nominated on February 1 as a consensus candidate among Iraq’s fractured political parties but has only been publicly endorsed by holy man Moqtada Sadr, who has a cult-like following across the country.

Related:
Mohammad Allawi: 2020-02-06 Iraqi PM-designate reaches out to anti-government protesters
Related:
Karbala: 2020-02-14 Protesters in Karbala continue peaceful demonstrations against Iranian influence in Iraq
Karbala: 2020-02-13 Iraqi authorities reopened one of Baghdad’s major bridges shut for months by anti-government protesters
Karbala: 2020-02-13 Iraq's peaceful protests continue at #AlAhrar Square in #Karbala
Related:
Nasiriyah: 2020-02-13 #Iraq's #SWAT forces use medium weapons, practice extreme violence against peaceful #Iraqi protesters near Al-#Nasr Bridge in #Nasiriyah city
Nasiriyah: 2020-02-11 One protester was killed in #Iraq's southern city of #Nasiriyah after university security guards opened fire
Nasiriyah: 2020-02-10 For seventh time: #Iraqi protesters set fire to headquarters of the #terrorist Badr Organization in #Nasiriyah
Link


Iraq
Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr announces he is dissolving the ‘blue caps’
2020-02-12
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Link


Iraq
Clashes in Iraq's Najaf kill 6 after cleric's followers storm protest camp
2020-02-06
[AlAhram] At least six people were killed in festivities in Iraq's southern city of Najaf on Wednesday after supporters of populist holy man Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah. Formerly an Iranian catspaw, though lately he's gagged over some of their more outlandish antics...
 stormed an anti-government protest camp, medical and security sources said.

The medical sources said at least 20 more were maimed in the violence but did not provide further details.

The security sources said that supporters of Sadr, known as blue hats for the blue caps they often wear, had tried to clear the area of anti-government protesters, who in turn tried to stop them.

Fights broke out between both groups, the blue hats threw petrol bombs at protester tents and live gunfire rang out shortly afterwards, wounding and killing six people, they said.

Sadr has at different times both supported and abandoned Iraqi protesters who demand a removal of the entire ruling elite.

He urged followers last week to help authorities bring "day to day life" back to Iraq's streets by clearing roads blocked by sit-ins and ensuring businesses and schools can reopen after months of protests in which nearly 500 people have been killed in festivities between protesters and security forces.

Sadr has also urged the blue hats to allow protests to continue.
Related:
Najaf: 2020-02-02 Rejecting new PM #MohamedAllawi, a protester in #Najaf says Allawi was chosen by #Iran-backed #HadiAlAmiri
Najaf: 2020-02-02 Protesters totally block #AlNajaf bridge in #Diwaniyah
Najaf: 2020-01-31 #Iraqi demonstrators in #Najaf took to streets in mass rallies against the corrupt government and its militias
Related:
Moqtada: 2020-02-05 Anti-government demonstrators faced off against followers of influential cleric Moqtada Sadr in protest squares across Iraq
Moqtada: 2020-02-03 Al-Sadr urges his followers to help security forces clear roads blocked during months of sit-in protests
Moqtada: 2020-02-01 Iraqi cleric condemns use of force, 11 protesters wounded
Link


Iraq
Anti-government demonstrators faced off against followers of influential cleric Moqtada Sadr in protest squares across Iraq
2020-02-05
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Link


Iraq
Iraq’s Sadr reactivates famous anti-US ‘Mahdi Army’ after strike
2020-01-04
[IsraelTimes] Iraq’s militia leader turned populist politician Moqtada Sadr reactivates his Mahdi Army following a US strike that killed top Iranian and Iraqi commanders.

Taking to Twitter, Sadr orders "fighters, particularly those from the Mahdi Army, to be ready" following the strike, reactivating the notoriously anti-American force nearly a decade after he dissolved it.
Related:
Moqtada Sadr: 2019-12-24 Thousands of protesters blocked roads and bridges across southern Iraq on Monday, condemning Iranian influence
Moqtada Sadr: 2019-12-10 Armed drone attacks Sadr's home in Najaf. Sadr out of country.
Moqtada Sadr: 2019-12-04 Talks in Iraq capital as violence hits shrine cities
Related:
Mahdi Army: 2019-12-30 Abu Ali al-Khazali was a close associate of Qassem Suleimani - killed by USAF.
Mahdi Army: 2019-11-04 Security sources confirm clashes in Sabha
Mahdi Army: 2019-06-24 Iraqi militiamen foil Islamic State plot to infiltrate into Salahuddin
Link


Iraq
Thousands of protesters blocked roads and bridges across southern Iraq on Monday, condemning Iranian influence
2019-12-24
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Officials say Iran wants to install Qusay al-Suhail, who served as higher education minister in the government of Abdel Mahdi.

A former key member of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr’s movement, Suhail rejoined the State of Law Alliance of former premier Nuri al-Maliki, who is close to Iran and an enemy of Sadr.

While pro-Iran factions and parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi are pushing for Suhail, a source in the presidency says Saleh has vetoed his proposed appointment.

Demonstrators categorically reject Suhail’s candidacy and that of anyone from the wider political establishment.
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