{"id":23424,"date":"2018-11-27T08:22:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T08:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=23424"},"modified":"2018-11-27T08:22:36","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27T08:22:36","slug":"iraqi-parliament-to-vote-on-remaining-ministers-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=23424","title":{"rendered":"Iraqi Parliament to vote on remaining ministers today"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nCairo, Najaf: Iraq\u2019s Parliament will vote in its next session scheduled on Tuesday on whether to approve the remaining eight candidates for Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi\u2019s Cabinet, the speaker\u2019s office said on Monday.<\/p>\n

\nLawmakers last month confirmed only 14 out of the 22 ministers Abdul Mahdi initially presented but granted his government confidence, allowing him to become prime minister.<\/p>\n

\nEight ministries, including the vital defense and interior portfolios, remain vacant. Parliament initially said it would vote on the remaining ministers earlier this month but the vote was delayed due to political disagreements over nominees.<\/p>\n

\nThe new government faces the daunting task of rebuilding much of the country after a devastating war against Daesh, as well as solving acute economic problems as well as power and water shortages.<\/p>\n

\nIranian influence<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nThe head of a powerful Iraqi militia wants a formal role for Shiite paramilitaries in securing the border with Syria, a move that could deepen US worries about Iran\u2019s growing sway over a strategic corridor of territory from Tehran to Beirut.<\/p>\n

\nIraq\u2019s Shiite militias, many of which are supported by Iran and oppose the presence of US troops in the region, have sent reinforcements to the frontier after fighting flared between US-backed Kurdish forces and Daesh militants on the Syrian side.<\/p>\n

\nQais Al-Khazali, the leader of Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, urged the government to provide a more formal, long-term border protection role for the militias.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSecuring Iraq\u2019s borders with Syria is among the most important duties of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) right now,\u201d he said in an interview with Reuters at his office in Najaf on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\nAsaib Ahl Al-Haq is part of the PMF, an umbrella grouping of mostly Iran-backed and trained Shiite paramilitary groups. The PMF was made formally part of the security forces this year after helping the military defeat Daesh in Iraq in 2017.<\/p>\n

\nIt remains separate from the military and police, however, raising questions over whom the militias will answer to and what their exact role will be if they are fully integrated into Iraq\u2019s security structure.<\/p>\n

\nAl-Khazali said paramilitary commanders should retain leadership positions and that \u201cthe government needs to provide bases and weapons depots.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe growing presence of Iran-backed militias on the frontier has caused tensions with Washington, which has special forces on the Syrian side to back Kurdish-led fighters battling Daesh.<\/p>\n

\nA formal PMF border role would exacerbate that friction as Washington seeks to counter Iran\u2019s sway over territory stretching from Tehran to the Mediterranean via Iraq and Syria. Iran\u2019s allies in that territory include Iraqi and Lebanese fighters and politicians, and Bashar Assad.<\/p>\n

\nThe risks of having Shiite fighters and US forces in close proximity were laid bare in July when the PMF vowed to \u201cnot be quiet\u201d over an alleged US airstrike it said killed 22 of its members inside Syria.<\/p>\n

\nThe US denied involvement in the strike.<\/p>\n

\nIraq\u2019s military relied on the PMF support to defeat Daesh. It says the militias are now crucial to securing the sprawling Syrian border.<\/p>\n

\nIraqi Sunni and Kurdish politicians have called for disarming the PMF. They say the militias are responsible for widespread abuses including extra-judicial killings and displacing non-Shiite populations, and in effect report to Tehran, not the government in Baghdad.<\/p>\n

\nThe PMF, estimated at 150,000 members, includes groups which fought the US military after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, and individuals against whom Washington has imposed Iran-related sanctions.<\/p>\n

\nMembers of Congress have sought sanctions against Al-Khazali\u2019s group. Al-Khazali denied it is currently receiving support from Iran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cairo, Najaf: Iraq\u2019s Parliament will vote in its next session scheduled on Tuesday on whether to approve the remaining eight candidates for Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi\u2019s Cabinet, the speaker\u2019s office said on Monday. Lawmakers last month confirmed only 14 out of the 22 ministers Abdul Mahdi initially presented but granted his government confidence, allowing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":23425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23424","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\/23424","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=23424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}