BAGHDAD: The Iraqi government released more than 300 prisoners held under anti-terrorism laws on Monday as a goodwill gesture to Sunni demonstrators staging protests against Shiite Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki.
Three weeks of demonstrations, mainly in Sunni-dominated Anbar province, have evolved into a tough challenge for the Shiite premier, increasing worries that Iraq risks sliding back into the sectarian confrontation of its recent past.
As one condition, Sunni leaders had demanded the release of detainees held under anti-terrorism law many believe authorities use unfairly to target their minority sect.
A committee reviewing cases freed 335 detainees whose jail terms had already finished or whose cases were dismissed because of a lack of evidence.
“In name of the Iraqi State, I apologize to those who were arrested and jailed and were later proven to be innocent,” said Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Al-Shahristani, a senior Iraqi Shiite figure heading the committee.
Thousands of protesters are still camped out in Anbar, once the home of Al-Qaeda’s campaign against US troops in Iraq, where they have blocked a major route to Jordan and Syria near the Sunni heartland city of Ramadi.
Detainee releases were just one condition from protesters. Other demands range from the more radical calls for Maliki to step down, to the end of a campaign to track down former members of Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath party.
Since the fall of strongman Saddam in 2003, many Iraqi Sunnis feel they have been sidelined by the country’s Shiite majority. The country’s government, split among Shiite, Sunni and ethnic Kurds, is deadlocked over how to share power.
Iraq frees prisoners in gesture to end Sunni protests
Iraq frees prisoners in gesture to end Sunni protests
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
