BAGHDAD: A security agency controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region said on Wednesday that they had uncovered a plot to assassinate PUK leader Bafel Talabani, sharing a video that purported to show six guards saying they had received an order to kill him.
The video, broadcast by a PUK-affiliated security service in the Kurdistan region, showed the fighters describing plans to rent an apartment in a high-rise building near the PUK leader’s headquarters. Footage included snipers with silencers positioned near a window overlooking the party leader’s office.
The guards in the video say they received their orders from Lahur Talabani, a prominent Kurdish politician who is the cousin of Bafel Talabani and leader of the rival People’s Front party.
Lahur Talabani’s office was not immediately available for comment. A member of the People’s Front accused the PUK of using judicial and security institutions to suppress political rivals.
Lahur Talabani was arrested on Friday by PUK-controlled forces after they raided a hotel in Sulaymaniya late on Thursday and clashed for four hours with fighters loyal to him. Police and hospital sources said three PUK commandos and two of Lahur Talabani’s fighters were killed in the fighting.
Security officials said more than 160 of Lahur Talabani’s loyalists were detained alongside him.
A court in Sulaymaniya had issued an arrest warrant for Lahur Talabani on charges of attempted murder and destabilizing the city’s security, judicial officials said. Sources familiar with the situation said the arrest was part of a broader struggle for control over Sulaymaniya, a key stronghold of the PUK.
Lahur Talabani was previously joint president of the PUK until a power struggle led to his ousting in 2021.
“Deploying tanks and hundreds of armored vehicles to arrest a party leader is absolutely unrelated to legal or democratic methods,” said the People’s Front representative, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of arrest.
The confrontation marks the most serious internal armed conflict among Kurdish factions in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The escalation has raised concerns among regional officials and analysts that violence could threaten the relative stability long enjoyed by Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which has largely remained insulated from the broader unrest affecting other parts of the country.
Iraqi Kurdish PUK security force alleges plot to kill party leader
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Iraqi Kurdish PUK security force alleges plot to kill party leader
- The escalation has raised concerns among regional officials and analysts that violence could threaten the relative stability long enjoyed by Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region
Syria’s growth accelerates as sanctions ease, refugees return
- Economy grows much faster than World Bank’s 1% estimate, fueling plans for currency’s relaunch
NEW YORK: Syria’s economy is growing much faster than the World Bank’s 1 percent estimate for 2025 as refugees flow back after the end of a 14-year civil war, fueling plans for the relaunch of the country’s currency and efforts to build a new Middle East financial hub, central bank Governor AbdulKader Husrieh has said.
Speaking via video link at a conference in New York, Husrieh also said he welcomed a deal with Visa to establish digital payment systems and added that the country is working with the International Monetary Fund to develop methods to accurately measure economic data to reflect the resurgence.
The Syrian central bank chief, who is helping guide the war-torn country’s reintegration into the global economy after the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime about a year ago, described the repeal of many US sanctions against Syria as “a miracle.”
The US Treasury on Nov. 10 announced a 180-day extension of the suspension of the so-called Caesar sanctions against Syria; lifting them entirely requires approval by the US Congress.
Husrieh said that based on discussions with US lawmakers, he expects the sanctions to be repealed by the end of 2025, ending “the last episode of the sanctions.”
“Once this happens, this will give comfort to our potential correspondent banks about dealing with Syria,” he said.
Husrieh also said that Syria was working to revamp regulations aimed at combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which he said would provide further assurances to international lenders.
Syria’s central bank has recently organized workshops with banks from the US, Turkiye, Jordan and Australia to discuss due diligence in reviewing transactions, he added.
Husrieh said that Syria is preparing to launch a new currency in eight note denominations and confirmed plans to remove two zeroes from them in a bid to restore confidence in the battered pound.
“The new currency will be a signal and symbol for this financial liberation,” Husrieh said. “We are glad that we are working with Visa and Mastercard,” Husrieh said.
