US Embassy attacked in Iraq - Trump blames Iran[Post #6]

[MenInG]

Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr bloc wins Iraq elections

An alliance headed by the former Shia militia chief Moqtada Sadr has won the parliamentary elections in Iraq.

Final results released by the electoral commission give his Saeroun bloc 54 seats, with current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in third place with 42.

Mr Sadr, a long-term adversary of the United States, cannot become prime minister himself as he did not stand as a candidate.

But he is expected to play a major role in forming the new government.

Mr Sadr has reinvented himself as an anti-corruption champion after making his name as a militia chief fighting US forces after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

He is also a fierce critic of Iran.

These elections were the first since Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State group in December.

Some 5,000 American troops remain in Iraq supporting local forces, which were fighting IS.

Sunnis and Shia: Islam's ancient schism
The war against ‘Islamic State’ in maps and charts
Iraq country profile
The Saeroun (Marching Towards Reform) list is an alliance between Mr Sadr's Istiqama (Integrity) party and six mostly secular groups, including the Iraqi communist party.

It pushed the pro-Iranian Fatah (Conquest) alliance into second place with 47 seats.

Fatah combines the political wings of militias in the Shia-led paramilitary Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) force and is led by former Transport Minister Hadi al-Amiri.

The defeat of Mr Abadi's Nasr (Victory) alliance came as many voters expressed dissatisfaction with corruption in public life.

Despite Mr Abadi's poor showing, he may yet return as prime minister after negotiations which must now be completed within 90 days to form a new government.

Whoever is named prime minister will have to oversee the reconstruction of Iraq following the battle against IS, which seized control of large parts of the country in 2014.

International donors pledged $30bn (£22bn) at a conference in February but Iraqi officials have estimated that as much as $100bn is required. More than 20,000 homes and businesses were destroyed in the second city of Mosul alone.

More than two million Iraqis are still displaced across the country and IS militants continue to mount deadly attacks despite having lost control of the territory they once held.

Turnout at the 12 May election was only 44.5% - much lower than in previous polls.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44178771

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Iraq is in an economic and social mess and looks like many are blaming Iran for it.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Iraqis Rise Against a Reviled Occupier: Iran <a href="https://t.co/mJMtMiU2c4">https://t.co/mJMtMiU2c4</a></p>— Idrees Ahmad (@im_PULSE) <a href="https://twitter.com/im_PULSE/status/1191568333444796416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Angry at Iran: Protesters in Iraq mock Iran's leaders, firebomb the offices of its local political allies and threaten its diplomatic missions, revealing long-simmering anger at Tehran across Iraq's Shiite heartland. By <a href="https://twitter.com/qabdulzahra?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@qabdulzahra</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/josephkrauss?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@josephkrauss</a>. <a href="https://t.co/Z6s3F6CZa2">https://t.co/Z6s3F6CZa2</a></p>— AP Middle East (@APMiddleEast) <a href="https://twitter.com/APMiddleEast/status/1191964101452476423?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The shoes are coming off again in Iraq. <a href="https://t.co/jWZjO3Ml4F">https://t.co/jWZjO3Ml4F</a></p>— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) <a href="https://twitter.com/inquirerdotnet/status/1192043028036407296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

There seems to be a suggestion that gulf states are involved in the anti-Iran aspect of these protests.

 

[MenInG]

At least 24 people have been killed in Iraq, on one of the bloodiest days since anti-government protests began last month, medics and officials say.

At least 20 people were killed when security forces opened fire to clear bridges occupied by protesters in the southern city of Nasiriya.

Another four protesters were killed on the strategic Ahrar Bridge in Baghdad.

Iraqis have been taking to the streets to demand more jobs, an end to corruption, and better public services.

Protesters also set fire to the Iranian consulate in the holy city of Najaf late on Wednesday.

The Iraqi military has announced it is setting up military "crisis cells" to quell unrest. The military command said an emergency unit had been created to "impose security and restore order".

At least 350 people have been killed and thousands wounded since the unrest began.

What happened in Nasiriya and Baghdad?
The military had sent reinforcements to tackle unrest in Nasiriya, the birthplace of Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and a hotspot for protests.

Troops used live fire and tear gas to clear sit-ins on two bridges, medics and security sources reported, with protesters responding by torching a police station.

Sources told the BBC that the demonstrators in Nasiriya were now "in control" of the situation in the city and were "chasing the police in the streets and alleys".

Agence France-Presse, quoting Iraqi state media, said Mr Abdul Mahdi had now sacked Gen Jamil Shummary, one of the commanders sent to restore order in Nasiriya.

Live rounds were also fired at the Ahrar Bridge in Baghdad, sources said, as protesters tried to cross towards the so-called Green Zone that hosts the country's parliament.

As well as the four who died there, more than 20 people were wounded.

What happened in Najaf?
Wednesday's attack saw protesters set fire to the Iranian consulate in the city - the seat of Iraq's Shia religious authority and the location of the revered Imam Ali shrine, where the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad is buried.

Protesters chanted "Iran out of Iraq" as flames engulfed the building.

Reports say staff at the consulate managed to flee just before protesters broke in. Iran swiftly condemned the attack and said that the Iraqi government was responsible for protecting its consulate.

This is the second attack on an Iranian consulate in Iraq this month after an office in the Shia holy city of Karbala was targeted three weeks ago.

Although Iraq's anti-government protests have been directed mainly at the country's political leaders, many of those taking part have also expressed anger at Iran's influence over Iraq's internal affairs, which has steadily grown since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Protesters accuse Iran of complicity in what they see as Iraq's governance failure and corruption.

What's the background to the protests?
Mr Abdul Mahdi took office just over a year ago, promising reforms that have not materialised.

Young Iraqis angered by his failure to tackle high unemployment, endemic corruption and poor public services took to the streets of Baghdad for the first time at the beginning of October.

After the first wave of protests, which lasted six days and saw 149 civilians killed, Mr Abdul Mahdi promised to reshuffle his cabinet and cut the salaries of high-ranking officials, and also announced schemes to reduce youth unemployment.

But the protesters said their demands had not been met and returned to the streets in late October.

The demonstrations escalated and spread across the country after security personnel responded with deadly force.

President Barham Saleh has said Mr Abdul Mahdi will resign if parties can agree on a replacement.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50584123

 

[MenInG]

Protesters angered by recent deadly US air strikes targeting an Iran-backed Iraqi militia have attacked the US embassy compound in Baghdad.

US troops fired tear gas to disperse a crowd that breached the outer wall of the compound, which is in the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone.

One of the guard towers was also apparently set alight.

At least 25 fighters died when the US bombed bases associated with Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria on Sunday.

The US blamed the militia for a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk on Friday that killed an American civilian contractor.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said the air strikes had violated his country's sovereignty and would force it to review its relations with the US.

Kataib Hezbollah's commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, warned that the militia's response "would be very tough on the American forces in Iraq".

Iran described the attacks as a "clear example of terrorism".

Tuesday's protest took place after funerals were held in the capital for militia fighters who were killed in the US strikes.

Thousands of mourners - including several senior Iran-backed paramilitary and militia leaders - marched towards the Green Zone, where many Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies are located.

They were allowed by Iraqi security forces to enter the zone and gather on a street outside the US embassy compound.

Waving Kataib Hezbollah and other militia flags, and chanting anti-American slogans, the protesters threw stones at the compound's main gate, pulled down security cameras, attacked empty guard posts, and started several fires.

The situation then escalated when the compound's wall was breached.

The Associated Press reported that a gate at a side-entrance to the compound was smashed open and that hundreds of people pushed about 5m (16ft) into a corridor leading to the main embassy building before being forced to retreat by tear gas fired by US troops.

It was not clear whether there were any staff inside the embassy at the time. There was an unconfirmed report that the ambassador had been evacuated.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50956111

 

[IMMY69]

There seems to be a suggestion that gulf states are involved in the anti-Iran aspect of these protests.

By Gulf states you mean the USA?

A proxy war just like when they used Sadam Hussein who killed millions of young Iranian boys by deploying them poison gas.

 

[MenInG]

President Donald Trump on Tuesday blamed Iran for planning an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and promised to hold Tehran “fully responsible.”

“Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible.”

“In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!” he added.

Trump’s tweet came after dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad and set fire to a reception area on the grounds earlier in the day.

The Iraqi supporters, many dressed in military apparel, pushed into the compound using cars to break through its gate. The protesters hung a poster on the wall saying, “America is an aggressor.”

Though the mob stopped short of entering the main building of the compound, many shouted “Down, Down, USA!” and flung water and rocks over the embassy walls. About 30 Iraqi soldiers in armored vehicles arrived near the embassy hours after the violence, according to an Associated Press report.

The attack followed deadly U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, carried out in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that American officials blamed on the militia.

“The President is in close touch with his national security team and is receiving regular updates,” said White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham. “As the President said, Iran is orchestrating this attack and they will be held fully responsible. It will be the President’s choice how and when we respond to their escalation.”

Later Tuesday, U.S. officials told Reuters that additional marines would be temporarily sent to the embassy in Baghdad. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it would be a small number and would be coming from the region.

The U.S. strikes over the weekend were the latest to target the Iraqi state-sanctioned and Iranian-backed militia and appear to mark the start of a more fierce power struggle between the U.S. and Iran throughout the Middle East.

While Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday’s strikes were designed to convey that the White House will not turn a blind eye to actions taken by Iran that jeopardize American lives, the Iraqi government deemed the attack a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty and said it will reexamine its relationship with the U.S.-led coalition.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/31/tru...ble-for-attack-on-the-us-embassy-in-iraq.html

 

[MenInG]

US President Donald Trump has issued a threat to Iran, after blaming the nation for an attack on the US embassy in neighbouring Iraq.

The American compound was attacked by a crowd of angry demonstrators furious over the deaths of militia members killed by US air strikes.

President Trump tweeted on New Year's Eve that Iran "will pay a very big price" for any damage or loss of life.

"This is not a warning, it is a threat," he said.

US defence secretary Mark Esper later announced that about 750 soldiers would immediately be deployed to the region, bolstering the 5,000 troops who are already stationed in Iraq.

"The United States will protect our people and interests anywhere they are found around the world," he wrote in a tweet.

The angry crowd set a guard post in the street on fire and breached a reception area in the compound, forcing US troops to fire teargas on the protesters.

Iran, meanwhile, denied Mr Trump's accusation that it had somehow orchestrated the incident, condemning the "audacity" of the claim.

The militia targeted by the US air strikes was an Iranian-backed force, the Kataib Hezbollah militia in western Iraq and eastern Syria.

At least 25 fighters died in the US bombing of their bases on Sunday, which Washington said was a retaliation for the death of an American civilian worker killed during a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said the strikes had violated his country's sovereignty. The leader of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, warned that its response "would be very tough on the American forces in Iraq".

Mr Trump has said he expects Iraqi forces to protect the embassy and its staff, and thanked Prime Minister Mahdi for the action already taken during the attack.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50959574

 

[MenInG]

About 750 US soldiers are being deployed to the Middle East in response to violent protests at the country's embassy in Iraq, Defence Secretary Mark Esper has said.

Additional forces from the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division are also prepared to deploy in the next several days.

He said: "This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today.

Spoiler

"The United States will protect our people and interests anywhere they are found around the world."

Asked about the possibility of war with Iran, US President Donald Trump said: "Do I want to? No. I want to have peace. I like peace.

"And Iran should want to have peace more than anybody. So I don't see (war) happening."

Earlier on Tuesday, protesters, many of them in militia uniforms, had marched outside the embassy compound, shouting slogans against the US, Israel and President Trump.

Gunfire was heard and there were reports of tear gas, with the Reuters news agency saying 12 people involved in the protests were injured.

The State Department has said all American personnel are safe and that there are no plans to evacuate the embassy.

Mr Trump blamed Iran for the protests and called on Iraq to protect the diplomatic mission, tweeting: "Iran is orchestrating an attack on the US Embassy in Iraq.

"They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!"

Iran has rejected accusations it was behind the violent protests.

The protests began after Iraq condemned Washington for the strikes that killed more than two-dozen fighters from an Iran-backed militia over the weekend.

US officials said the move was in response to rocket attacks on a military base in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Friday, which left a US contractor dead.

https://news.sky.com/story/us-deploys-750-troops-after-attack-on-its-embassy-in-iraq-11898873

 

[MenInG]

Protesters who have been demonstrating outside the US embassy in Iraq for a second day have withdrawn from the area after a tense standoff.

On Tuesday, the embassy was attacked by a crowd angered by US air strikes targeting an Iran-backed militia.

Clashes continued on Wednesday as demonstrators hurled stones while US forces fired tear gas.

The hostilities came amid escalating tension between the US and Iran - the two main Iraqi government sponsors.

Tuesday's attack - which sparked a war of words between US President Donald Trump and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - had threatened to escalate, with the US defence secretary announcing the deployment of additional troops to the region.

But by Wednesday evening, the Iraqi government announced that all groups had withdrawn from the perimeter of the US embassy in Baghdad following an appeal for calm.

A small group of protesters however began to set up a camp in front of a nearby hotel.

President Trump has threatened Iran after blaming it for Tuesday's attack, in which no US personnel were injured. Mr Trump tweeted that Iran "will pay a very big price" for any damage or loss of life. "This is not a warning, it is a threat," he said.

But Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded by saying the US "can't do a damn thing". Anti-American sentiment was widespread in Iraq, he added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50966958

 

[Abdullah719]

Hundreds gather in Baghdad in new round of anti-gov't protests

Hundreds of Iraqis have gathered in central Baghdad for fresh anti-government protests demanding better living conditions and an overhaul of the country's political system, just days after the formation of a new government.

The gathering in Tahrir Square on Sunday came after Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the country's new prime minister, promised to release demonstrators arrested during the mass protests that erupted in October last year.

Spoiler

Following his first cabinet meeting, al-Kadhimi on Saturday also pledged justice and compensation to relatives of more than 550 people killed since the start of the popular demonstrations.

The prime minister was Iraq's spy chief when the protests - the bloodiest in Iraq's recent history - broke out, and his pledges came as calls spread on social media for renewed demonstrations on Sunday.

Sunday's protests stretched to other areas, including Iraq's southern city of al-Nasriya.

Al Jazeera's Simona Foltyn, reporting from central Baghdad, said the gathering was the "most significant" since March 17, when a curfew was imposed in an attempt to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

"Since then, Tahrir Square has been virtually empty, with a few dozen people remaining in the tents that have been set up here," she said.

Foltyn reported that "a few hundred people" had gathered in Tahrir Square as of 10:00 GMT, with some manning the barricades on top of Republican Bridge.

"It's pretty small compared to what we saw in the early days of the protests ... but people are still flocking to Tahrir Square so the numbers may rise throughout the day," she added.

The formation of the new government came some six months after former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who has been leading a caretaker administration, resigned in the face of the mass protests calling for the departure of Iraq's ruling elite accused of driving the country into dysfunction and economic ruin.

The battle over government portfolios since Abdul Mahdi's resignation in November last year prevented two previous nominees for prime minister from forming a cabinet and deepening the country's political crisis.

To earn a vote of confidence in Parliament, al-Kadhimi had to appease the main political parties by letting them pick ministers in his cabinet - an informal yet deeply entrenched power-sharing system known as apportionment.

"Protesters still have demands that go well beyond the appointment of a new prime minister," Foltyn said.
"They still demand a complete overhaul of the political system and they say that the political parties that are responsible for the failures of the past government are still controlling Parliament."

Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi novelist, believes that the protests will continue, mainly because al-Khadhimi is the "product of the very same system" that the protestors have been rallying against.

"While releasing the detainees is good, these gestures and any other cosmetic changes are not going to fool the protesters nor quell the protests," Antoon told Al Jazeera.

"The protests are against decades of corruption and criminality and against a political class beholden to foreign influence and al-Kadhimi is an insider," he said.

In his speech, al-Kadhimi also promised that all pensions would be paid out in the coming days, rescinding a decision taken by the previous government just before it stepped down that blocked all state spending, including civil servants' salaries and pension payments - relied on by one in five Iraqis.

"The announcements were quite bold for his first cabinet meeting," Foltyn said. "It was clear that al-Khadimi was wasting no time to try to mend the rifts between the demonstrators and the government."

To date, oil-rich Iraq has reported 2,679 confirmed coronavirus cases and 107 related deaths.

An implosion of oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic has raised concerns that Iraq will have little option but to impose austerity policies that could give rise to renewed demonstrations.

"Protesters are saying that the will try to mobilise the protest movement again to see actual results," Foltyn said.

"What remains to be seen is whether the protests will once again gain momentum and reach the same numbers as last year."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...aghdad-anti-gov-protests-200510095037978.html