Iraq

Since July 20, Iraq has been swept by a spontaneous wave of anti-Turkish actions after the night missile strike of the Barakh resort zone in the Zakhu district of the Northern Iraq province of Duhok, a city at the border of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Turkey. According to the information available, eight tourists were killed…

Last month, Shiite populist leader Muqtada al-Sadr called for his supporters to resign from the Iraqi parliament. Out of 73 deputies, 64 members bound by party discipline resigned immediately and were quickly replaced by others from other parties. The unprecedented for Iraq, but quick move could turn the entire electoral map over in favor of Sadr’s rival, the Coordination…

For the past two years, the US has been actively trying to rally the Arab world around Israel, to solve the “Palestinian issue” in American terms and to force Palestine to resolve the conflict with Israel through Donald Trump’s “deal of the century,” which has a clear bias in favor of the Jewish state. Washington does not support the Palestinian…

Reaching a quorum in Iraq’s presidential election remains an insurmountable obstacle so far for Iraqi leader Muqtada al-Sadr and his tripartite parliamentary alliance.  The last round of voting for the president, which went nowhere, showed this quite clearly. Negotiators and political leaders believe, local media reported, that the influential Shiite cleric and his political allies…

Since Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr won Iraq’s widely boycotted elections last October, there has been a steady stream of news reports, forecasts and analyses claiming that this could be the beginning of the end of Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs. While such estimates are certainly optimistic, they are perhaps somewhat naive and misguided. Iran remains the most…

Even though the US has been seeking to withdraw from the Middle East to relocate its sources to the Indo-Pacific region to tackle China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia, extricating itself from a region the US has been dominating since the end of the Second World War has proved to be a lot harder than the US policy makers might have expected when they decided to revive…

The daring assassination attempt on Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at his residence in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone came as no great surprise, according to many observers. As al-Kadhimi himself said a few hours later, the perpetrators are known and will be punished. The fact is that, throughout the time since the early legislative election results…

Iraqis voted for a new parliament in the October 10 election, but it could be weeks or months before a viable new government takes office. This is why locals didn’t go dancing in the streets at all after the last election. Still, a healthy democratic process seems to have resulted in the best possible outcome, which nevertheless leaves most parties dissatisfied. It was a free…

The upcoming October 10 parliamentary elections in Iraq can lead to real changes in the country only if there is a high voter turnout, especially among young people. This opinion is expressed by many international analysts and political scientists. If the apathy observed in society and calls for a boycott of the electoral process persist, the chances of reform remain slim…

After Washington’s announcement of its decision to withdraw American troops from Iraq, the question of establishing the sincerity of the USA’s declared step remains at the center of attention for the international community. Yes, on the one hand it was confirmed that the USA would reduce the contingent at two military bases in Iraq…

French President Emmanuel Macron’s two-day visit to Iraq, during which he visited several cities and was the special guest at a regional conference in Baghdad, ended on August 30. The president of France previously visited Baghdad In September 2020, where he met with Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and President Barham Salih. At the press conference…