{"id":42018,"date":"2019-12-21T07:22:19","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T07:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=42018"},"modified":"2019-12-21T07:22:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T07:22:19","slug":"attacks-target-3-oil-and-gas-facilities-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=42018","title":{"rendered":"Attacks target 3 oil and gas facilities in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nBAGHDAD: Iraq\u2019s top Shiite cleric called on Friday for the speedy formation of a government and early elections as ongoing political wrangling caused Parliament to miss a deadline to name the next premier. That has sparked concerns of protracted political crisis and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\nBlast walls were erected by security forces on a bridge leading to the presidential palace in the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq\u2019s government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe move came in anticipation of future demonstrations there as discontent over President Barham Saleh\u2019s inability to name the next premier mounts among anti-government protesters.<\/p>\n

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\nProtesters currently occupy three bridges leading to and near the Green Zone \u2014 Jumhuriya, Sinak and Ahrar \u2014 in a standoff with security forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe demonstrations engulfed Baghdad and southern Iraq on Oct. 1, when thousands took to the streets to protest government corruption, poor services and rising Iranian influence in state affairs. At least 450 protesters have died as security forces used live fire and tear gas to disperse crowds.<\/p>\n

\nPressure from the demonstrations led Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to resign after Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Iraq\u2019s most powerful religious authority, withdrew support for his government.<\/p>\n

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\nProtesters follow an Iraqi Inline skating group that was performing a stunt by jumping over a motorcycle, during the ongoing protests in Tahrir square in Baghdad, Iraq, on Dec. 20, 2019. (AP Photo\/Nasser Nasser)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\nAl-Sistani, in his weekly sermon delivered by a representative in Najaf, called for political blocs to form the government quickly.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe hope that there won\u2019t be a long delay in the formation of the new government, and it must be an uncontroversial government that responds to the requirements of the current stage, and be able to gain back the state authority and calm down the situation,\u201d Al-Sistani said.<\/p>\n

\nThe constitution requires Parliament\u2019s largest bloc to name a candidate for the premiership within 15 days of its acceptance of Abdul Mahdi\u2019s resignation, which expired on Dec. 19. The deadline was extended until Dec. 22, two lawmakers said.<\/p>\n

\nThe head of Iraq\u2019s Chaldean Catholic Church said Friday there will be no Christmas Eve masses in Baghdad for security reasons.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIn light of the current sensitive security situation in Baghdad, the patriarchate has decided to cancel Christmas midnight masses at all Baghdad churches,\u201d Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\nBut mass will take place on Christmas Day, the cardinal said, \u201cin order to pray for a solution to the crisis … and in memory of the victims, both protesters and security forces.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BAGHDAD: Iraq\u2019s top Shiite cleric called on Friday for the speedy formation of a government and early elections as ongoing political wrangling caused Parliament to miss a deadline to name the next premier. That has sparked concerns of protracted political crisis and uncertainty. Blast walls were erected by security forces on a bridge leading to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":42019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42018","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\/42018","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=42018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}