After the last cycle of violence stopped
The fire of conflicts is still burning under the ashes in Iraq
Mourners carry the bodies of the victims of the recent confrontations.
Reuters
Armed manifestations in the Iraqi street during the recent events.
AFP
Al-Sadr seeks to convey a specific message by declaring his retirement from political work.
Reuters
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After Iraq witnessed one of the worst armed confrontations in years, some people thought that no one could stop this cycle of violence and that the country was inevitably heading towards a civil war that would neither remain nor end. And hundreds of wounded.
The two sides, the two main camps that control the political scene, and even have the ability to mobilize in the street, called on their supporters to stop the fighting, end all manifestations of sit-ins and gatherings in the streets and squares, and return to their homes in an attempt to prevent bloodshed and extinguish the fire of sedition.
Indeed, Sadr's supporters withdrew from the Green Zone in Baghdad after their leader gave them 60 minutes to stop all protests, and threatened to disavow them if they did not stop the confrontations with the security forces and members of the popular crowd.
Immediately after the withdrawal began, the Iraqi army lifted the curfew that it had announced with the outbreak of confrontations in which automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades were used, after al-Sadr's supporters took to the streets in anger, after declaring his "permanent" retirement from political action.
Supporters of the coordination framework also ended their sit-in in Baghdad, to calm the situation relatively, amid talk of undeclared understandings between the conflicting parties regarding the paths through which they can get out of the current political crisis, and the state of stalemate that Iraq has been experiencing for nearly a year.
The American newspaper "Washington Post" saw in what al-Sadr did a calculated gamble through which he wanted to deliver a specific message.
The newspaper says that al-Sadr's "maneuvering is part of the developing Shiite rivalry in the country that threatens to further destabilize the weak state, and complicates the equation of the Iranian religious regime, which has exercised its influence on Baghdad for a long time."
While the American newspaper "The Wall Street Journal" considered that "the political crisis in Iraq indicates the weakness of Iran's influence in Baghdad," and considered that the Shiite factions in Iraq have become deeply divided.
The British newspaper "The Guardian" did not stop much at the efforts to calm down and began to recall the hours of terror experienced by the Iraqis, which said that some of them feared the scenario of armed confrontations developing into a civil war, and said that Iraq has been on a collision course for several months after the deepening of political tensions between the Shiite parties The conflict, which led to the failure to form a new government, despite the passage of 11 months since the parliamentary elections.
This apparent calm, as described by observers, did not hide the deep chasm between the parties in Iraq. Despite al-Sadr's announcement of his final retirement from political work, only a few days passed since the two violent confrontations, until a close associate of him, Saleh al-Iraqi, presented several proposals to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi, Among them is the change of the head of the pro-Iranian Popular Mobilization Committee, Faleh al-Fayyad.
In a statement, al-Iraqi described al-Fayyad as “a partisan and the head of a bloc, and this is what politicizes the Mujahideen crowd,” considering that he “does not possess a strong personality and even does not possess a military mentality, and in general, he is not qualified for this position.”
Al-Iraqi also suggested "issuing a firm and strict order to disband the factions that claim resistance and are killing the people, and to remove all the factions and even the popular crowd from the Green Zone, provided that the heroic national security forces take control of them."
He considered that "their survival poses a security risk to the commander of the armed forces himself, as well as to the rest of the institutions, especially the judiciary and pressure on him."
Amidst fears of renewed confrontations, the Secretary-General of the Dawa Party, Nuri al-Maliki, appealed to the leaders of the national forces in Iraq, saying, “My voice and my position are with you, advocates of religion, prudence and responsibility, and I always stand by the call for calm and stability.”
Al-Maliki warned, in a statement, of “the feelings of relieving bloodshed,” noting that “blood, if it is unjustly shed, leaves a grudge and a rift that is difficult to treat and has a long impact, so come to a common word that Iraq is the meeting table and the Iraqi is our goal.”
An invitation that coincided with its counterparts from several regional and international powers, as Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi received a phone call from US President Joe Biden on Wednesday after the recent events in Iraq.
Al-Kazemi's media office said that Biden confirmed his support for an "independent and sovereign Iraq", as stated in the "strategic framework agreement" signed between Iraq and the United States.
The White House said in a statement that Biden "welcomed the return of security to the street and called on all Iraqi leaders to start a national dialogue aimed at building a common solution, within the framework of the constitution and Iraqi laws."
Away from the Iraqis who are affiliated with the various political camps, a significant segment of the people of Iraq remain afraid of things getting out of control as they recall the chaos that swept the streets of Baghdad in the aftermath of the US invasion in 2003, where “there was no security, no protection, and no state,” he says. some.
In this regard, says the Guardian newspaper «Nearly 20 years after the US invasion, Iraq is still struggling to achieve peace.
The recent crisis has once again exposed the weakness of its institutions and the fragility of the political situation.”
This apparent calm, as described by observers, did not hide the deep chasm between the Iraqi factions. Despite al-Sadr's announcement of his permanent retirement from political work, only a few days passed since the two violent confrontations until a close associate of him, Saleh al-Iraqi, presented several proposals to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Among them is the change of the head of the pro-Iranian Popular Mobilization Committee, Faleh al-Fayyad.
Nearly 20 years after the US invasion, Iraq is still struggling for peace. The recent crisis has exposed once again the weakness of its institutions and the fragility of the political situation.
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