Four people were killed in clashes between rival Shiite militias in the southern Iraqi city of Basra overnight and this morning, local security officials said. It is the latest violence to hit the country in a political crisis between followers of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and parties and paramilitary groups close to Iran. Security […]
Tag: Iraq
President Biden calls Iraqi leaders to a ‘national dialogue’ to resolve the crisis
US President Joe Biden today called on Iraqi political leaders to start a “national dialogue” to resolve the current political crisis. This call was made on the occasion of the telephone conversation that the American president had with the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kazimi, as announced by the White House. The two leaders “welcomed […]
Iraq: Sadr’s supporters leave the Green Zone
Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has given his supporters, who have been clashing since yesterday with rival pro-Iranian Shiite groups and the military in Baghdad, a deadline of “60 minutes” to leave the Green Zone, threatening to disown them if they don’t. Already the Sadrists have begun to withdraw from the Green Zone, according to […]
Iran closes borders, halts flights to Iraq amid violence
Iran has closed its border with Iraq and urged its citizens to avoid travel to the country, a senior official said today, amid an outbreak of violence after powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said he would retire from politics. At least 20 people were killed in heavy clashes in Baghdad yesterday, Monday, when, after Sadr’s […]
Iraq: The dead have reached 23, while the clashes in Baghdad are rekindling
LAST UPDATE: 09.58 Iraqi security forces announced today that four rockets landed in Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone, damaging a residential area. Meanwhile, according to the latest medical source count, 23 supporters of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have been killed by bullets since yesterday Monday. At the same time, at least 380 people have […]
Moqtada Sadr reportedly on hunger strike to end violence in Baghdad
Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has reportedly announced he will go on hunger strike until the violence and use of weapons in Iraq stops, state news agency INA and the country’s public television reported late tonight. There is currently no confirmation of this information from Sadr’s office. Earlier today, after Sadr announced his retirement from […]
‘Aroma’ of civil war in Iraq: Twelve dead and 270 injured from the riots in Baghdad
LAST UPDATE: 22:12 Twelve supporters of Moqtada Sadr were killed and dozens wounded in Baghdad’s Green Zone today, where clashes erupted after the Shiite cleric announced he was “finally withdrawing” from politics, according to the latest tally from medical sources cited by AFP. . About 270 protesters were injured – some by bullets, others by […]
Borrell hopes the US will respond to the proposal on Iran’s nuclear program this week
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said today he hoped the United States would respond positively as early as this week to an EU proposal aimed at saving a 2015 deal with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program. Josep Borrell also said Iran had given a “reasonable” response to the proposal, which followed intermittent, indirect […]
Egypt: Five-day meeting of Arab leaders on energy and food security
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi today welcomes the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Bahrain and Jordan, for a summit dedicated to regional and international developments. In addition to Sisi, the five-day meeting that will be held in El Alamein is attended by the president of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed, the prime minister […]
Iraq: Two more bodies recovered from the rubble of a Shiite shrine
Two more bodies were recovered today from the rubble of a Shiite shrine in Iraq, part of which collapsed after falling rock, raising the death toll from the crash to seven, rescue services said. “Unfortunately we found two bodies this morning, a man and a woman,” under the Shrine of Imam Ali, located near Karbala […]