NAJAF, IRAQ: Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, the big winner in initial results from Iraq’s election last month, on Thursday called on the “losers” not to disturb the war-scarred country’s democratic process.
His appeal came after weeks of tensions that peaked in early November when an explosives-laden drone hit the residence of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi, in what his office called an assassination attempt.
Final results of the October 10 legislative ballot have still not been announced. But the Conquest (Fatah) Alliance, the political arm of the pro-Iran Hashed Al-Shaabi, suffered a decline in seats from 48 to around 15, leading it to denounce the outcome as “fraud.”
The Hashed is a paramilitary network now integrated into the regular forces.
Sadr, who campaigned as a nationalist and critic of Iran, was the big winner with more than 70 of the 329 seats, according to the initial count.
At a press conference, he addressed “political forces who consider themselves the losers of these elections” and said their defeat “should not open a path to the ruin of Iraq’s democratic process.”
What they are doing, he added, “will only accentuate the people’s rejection of you.”
No group claimed responsibility for the drone attack in which Kadhemi was unhurt.
It occurred two days after security forces clashed with supporters of Iran-backed parties near the high-security Green Zone, where Kadhemi lives.
Despite their electoral losses, the Hashed will remain a political force as the country’s myriad of factions engage in marathon negotiations to form alliances and name a new prime minister.
Sadr, however, reiterated the necessity of forming a majority government, saying: “Our options, as an individual or entity, are either as a majority government or opposition.”
Since the election Sadr, who once led a militia against American and Iraqi government forces, has repeatedly said that the future prime minister should be from his party.
Experts say he could try to build a parliamentary majority by allying with groups outside of the Shiite community.
The new government, elected in a ballot with record-low turnout, will take power in a country mired in corruption and economic crisis.
Iraq Shiite leader Sadr cautions vote ‘losers’
https://arab.news/bnngj
Iraq Shiite leader Sadr cautions vote ‘losers’
- Sadr, who campaigned as a nationalist and critic of Iran, was the big winner with more than 70 of the 329 seats, according to the initial count
Turkiye detains 110 suspects in operation targeting Daesh after deadly clash
- In Tuesday’s operation, police carried out raids on 114 addresses in Istanbul and two other provinces, arresting 110 of the total 115 suspects that they sought
ISTANBUL: Turkish police detained 110 suspects in an operation against Daesh on Tuesday, a day after three police officers and six militants were killed in a gunfight in northwest Turkiye, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said.
Police conducted an eight-hour siege at a house in the town of Yalova, on the Sea of Marmara coast south of Istanbul, a week after more than 100 suspected Daesh members were detained in connection with alleged plans to carry out Christmas and New Year attacks. Eight police officers and another security force member were wounded in the raid on the property, which was one of more than 100 addresses targeted by authorities on Monday.
In Tuesday’s operation, police carried out raids on 114 addresses in Istanbul and two other provinces, arresting 110 of the total 115 suspects that they sought, the prosecutor’s statement said. It said various digital materials and documents were seized.
Turkiye has stepped up operations against suspected Daesh militants this year, as the group returns to prominence globally. The US carried out a strike against the militants in northwest Nigeria last week, while two gunmen who attacked a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach this month appeared to be inspired by Daesh, Australian police have said. On December 19, the US military launched strikes against dozens of Daesh targets in Syria in retaliation for an attack on American personnel.
Almost a decade ago, the jihadist group was blamed for a series of attacks on civilian targets in Turkiye, including gun attacks on an Istanbul nightclub and the city’s main airport, killing dozens of people. Turkiye was a key transit point for foreign fighters, including those of Daesh, entering and leaving Syria during the war there.
Police have carried out regular operations against the group in subsequent years and there have been few attacks since the wave of violence between 2015-2017.
