{"id":20803,"date":"2018-11-02T10:23:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T10:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=20803"},"modified":"2018-11-02T10:23:55","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T10:23:55","slug":"iran-backed-forces-threaten-iraqi-prime-minister-over-minister-standoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=20803","title":{"rendered":"Iran-backed forces threaten Iraqi prime minister over minister standoff"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBAGHDAD: Iran-backed political forces in Iraq are preparing to launch mass demonstrations in Basra to pressure the new prime minister to choose their candidates for the key security ministries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nAdel Abdul Mahdi, who was sworn in as prime minister alongside 14 ministers last week, failed to win the required parliamentary support for his full cabinet. Eight out of 22 ministries, including interior and defense, are still vacant.<\/p>\n

\nThe Iraqi parliament has given Abdul Mahdi until Tuesday to change his candidates or persuade the opposition parliamentary blocs to ratify them.<\/p>\n

\nAn agreement at the end of September between the two main rival Shiite-led parliamentary blocs to back Abdul Mahdi and his cabinet broke a political deadlock that had gripped the country since elections in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nBut the divisions between the US-backed Reform Alliance, sponsored by the powerful cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, and the pro-Iranian Al-Binna\u2019a, resurfaced during a session to approve the government last week.<\/p>\n

\nReform refused to vote on the candidates of Al-Binna\u2019a and walked out of the session after just 14 ministers and the government program had been approved.<\/p>\n

\nSince then, tension between the two parties has been at a high and frantic negotiations by Al-Binna\u2019a have been underway to gain the necessary support for their candidates inside parliament. They have also made preparations to mobilize street protests in Basra, 600km south of Baghdad, to put pressure on Abdul Mahdi, MPs and security officials told Arab News.<\/p>\n

\nSmall protests took place on Thursday but more are expected in the coming days.<\/p>\n

\nThe Shiite-dominated city is home to the largest oil fields in Iraq and provides the backbone to the country\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\n——<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n——<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nBut it is also impoverished and has been rocked by violent protests through the summer against poor government services. The demonstrations have been fueled by parties exploiting the political stalemate in Baghdad.<\/p>\n

\nAny further protests that threaten the oil institutions or companies in Basra could cause serious damage to the Iraqi economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nRenewed demonstrations fueled by pro-Iran factions in Basra would aim to force Abdul Mahdi and his backers to accept the candidates of Al-Binna\u2019a. The alliance is led by Hadi Al-Amiri, the commander of Badr Organization, a powerful Shiite armed faction.<\/p>\n

\nThe alternative would be a risk of fighting between pro and anti-Iranian Shiite groups, security officials and observers said.<\/p>\n

\nBloody clashes erupted in September between Iraqi forces and demonstrators. At least 14 protesters were killed and dozens of people were wounded, including members of the security forces. During the violence, demonstrators attacked and burned a number of government and party headquarters, including the Iranian consulate in Basra.<\/p>\n

\nMPs from Al-Binna\u2019a, including from the armed factions Badr and Assaib Ahl Al-Haq, have called on people in Basra to participate in the demonstrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe political protests are timed to coincide with demonstrations demanding an improvement in basic services, in particular clean drinking water. Tens of thousands of people have fallen ill during the past two months from the water, local activists told Arab News.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAdel Abdul-Mahdi deliberately rejected to hand over a ministerial portfolio to Basra and ignored its people\u2019s demands in the government program,\u201d Udai Awad, an MP from Assaib Ahl Al-Haq said last week.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe will re-organize the demonstrations again … and we will stand in the face of anyone who tries to suppress the demonstrations and silence the voice of Basra.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nBut a prominent Shiite leader involved in the talks between the two alliances told Arab News that Al-Binna\u2019a \u201care trying to blackmail Abdul Mahdi and Al-Sadr to force them to accept some of their candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAl-Binna\u2019a have been pushing for Faleh Al-Fayadh, a former national security adviser, to be interior minister and had previously wanted Faisal Fener, a\u00a0former commander of dictator Saddam Hussein’s private jet squadron, to be defense minister. Both men are supported by General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of\u00a0 Iran\u2019s Quds Force. Reform strongly objects to both.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe pressure is great. We succeeded in excluding Fener and replacing him, but Fayadh is still a candidate,\u201d a key Shiite negotiator from Reform told Arab News.<\/p>\n

\nHe said Soleimani had been \u201cinvesting all his influence in Iraq\u201d to support Fayadh.<\/p>\n

\nAl-Binna\u2019a have also already attempted to topple some of Abdel Mahdi\u2019s ministers. Mohammed Halbousi, the speaker of the parliament and one of the key leaders of Al-Binna\u2019a on Monday ordered background checks on all the new ministers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nAt least three will now probably lose their positions due to links with Saddam\u2019s Baath Party, corruption and Al-Qaeda, Al-Binna\u2019a leaders told Arab News.<\/p>\n

\nLocal activists in Basra who have taken part in protests against the government said they were helpless to stop fresh\u00a0 protests being hijacked by the pro-Iran factions.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe know this and we cannot stop it. What we care about is access to clean water, services and jobs, the rest we can\u2019t deal with it and we can\u2019t stop because of it too,\u201d Kadhim Al-Sahlan, a local activist told Arab News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BAGHDAD: Iran-backed political forces in Iraq are preparing to launch mass demonstrations in Basra to pressure the new prime minister to choose their candidates for the key security ministries.\u00a0 Adel Abdul Mahdi, who was sworn in as prime minister alongside 14 ministers last week, failed to win the required parliamentary support for his full cabinet.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":20804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}