The multiple attacks that hit Iraqi cities last week represented a shift in the scene as they were directed at civilian targets, following Muqtada al-Sadr’s insistence on forming a majority government that might exclude Iranian loyalists, according to the American Wall Street Journal.
The militias loyal to Iran are fighting to assert their influence after the blow they received in the parliamentary elections, where they suffered a resounding loss by obtaining only 17 seats.
In its report, the American newspaper linked this violence to Iran and the United States entering a sensitive phase of negotiations over the nuclear agreement in Vienna.
On January 9, the Iraqis woke up to the tragedy of the assassination of the prominent leader of the Sadrist movement, Muslim Idan. His body was found with traces of 11 gunshot wounds in the Chechnya area in the central Bisan province of Iraq.
Four separate attacks targeted political parties opposed to the militias’ influence, last Thursday and Friday, respectively, including two attacks that targeted the headquarters of the Sunni Progress Party led by Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi.
On Thursday, 3 missiles struck the US embassy in Baghdad, and on the same day, men riding motorcycles threw bombs at the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Baghdad.
After midnight, gunmen threw hand grenades at the office of the Progressive Bloc, north of Baghdad, and the office of parliamentarian Abdul Karim Abtan, a member of the Progress Alliance, was attacked with a grenade.
At dawn on Saturday, the Iraqi authorities thwarted an attempt by 3 drones to target Balad Air Base in Salah al-Din Governorate, which houses US forces.
Regarding the timing of these attacks, Iraqi political analyst Ihsan Al-Shammari said that the targeting of party headquarters is carried out by groups that seem to have been excluded from forming the government, so they are using the bombings as pressure cards, which indicates the escalation of assassinations and bombings in the Sunni provinces.
Al-Shammari, head of the Center for “Political Thinking” in Iraq, added in exclusive statements to “Sky News Arabia”: “We are facing open scenarios after political factions pledged difficult days for the Iraqis,” stressing that the goal of the strikes “is to pressure the political forces to return from their alliance with the Sadrist movement.” “.
The security official of the pro-Iranian “Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades”, Abu Ali al-Askari, had warned last Monday of what he called “the difficult days that will pass over Iraq, if the Shiite factions leave the government formation.”
Regarding such threats, Al-Shammari explained: “Armed confrontation is the slogan of Iran’s allies, for their fear of undermining their influence, as well as being pursued by the security forces.”
Party, presidential and international condemnations
These attacks were met with widespread international and partisan condemnations, accusing the perpetrators of terrorism and working for suspicious foreign agendas.
The “Progress-Azm” coalition condemned the political targeting of its leaders and offices, calling for the prosecution of the terrorists and bringing them to justice.
The coalition affirmed, in a statement on Sunday, that “these methods will not deter us from building a sovereign state away from suspicious agendas and free from terrorism and uncontrolled weapons.”
For its part, the United Nations Mission in Iraq, “UNAMI,” called on the Iraqi authorities to “confront these blatant attempts to destabilize and intensify dialogue.”
As for Iraqi President Barham Salih, he commented that they are “condemned criminal terrorist acts.”
Saleh wrote in a post on Twitter: “The bombings come at a suspicious time targeting civil peace and constitutional entitlement by forming a capable government that will protect the Iraqis and guarantor of the independent national decision.
Muqtada al-Sadr, in turn, repeated his phrase about the formation of the government as: “Neither Eastern nor Western… a national majority government,” stressing that “we are moving forward for a majority government and we will not allow our partners or civil peace to be threatened.”
no-state scenario
The threat of the Iraqi Hezbollah with “difficult days” coincided with the filing of a lawsuit by parties of the armed factions affiliated with the so-called “coordinating framework” for the unconstitutionality of the outcomes of the Iraqi parliament session, and the election of Muhammad al-Halbousi as its president, as the Federal Supreme Court set, next Wednesday to consider the case.
On the goals of this escalation, the Iraqi political analyst, Ali Al-Sahib, said in statements to “Sky News Arabia” that “the political scene is in a state of confusion due to the intersections between the political blocs that do not listen to the language of dialogue and adhere to their factional demands.”
He continued, “Unfortunately, the political forces are far from the spirit of democracy, which may be behind the attack on the headquarters of the parties and the US embassy in Baghdad.”
And he added: “The contradictions caused a confusion of cards and go from state to non-state, because there are internally and externally driven parties trying to play the chord of abhorrent sectarianism that the Iraqis rejected.”
Regarding the norm prevailing in Iraq after 2003 that the position of the President of Iraq goes to the Kurds, the prime ministership to the Shiites, and the parliament to the Sunnis, the Iraqi political science professor Essam Al-Faili explained that “there are conditional movements within the political forces (the Sadrist movement and the Alliance of Progress and Azm) To involve the rest of the parties in the next stage, but there is still a rejection of the majority government.”
And he stated, in statements to “Sky News Arabia,” that “the issue has become as if groups within the political parties are leading the political movement, and this variable may be the most appropriate during the stage to build a real state.”
Regarding the involvement of pro-Iranian militias in these attacks, he explained, “These factions made threats, but immediately after the attacks, they denied this for fear of prosecution. Iran is under international pressure at the present time, which is pushing it to leave a space of understanding with the ruling parties in Iraq in the future.”
Muqtada al-Sadr seeks to form a national majority government through an alliance with the Sunni and Kurdish blocs, which is rejected by the forces of the “Shiite Coordination Framework.”
The Iraqi president officially submitted papers for his candidacy for a second presidential term, after a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Hoshyar Zebari, submitted papers for his candidacy for the same position.
This dispute between the two main Kurdish parties, and their struggle for the presidency of Iraq, foreshadows the return of the 2018 scenario, when the two parties entered the electoral battle with two candidates.
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