Irak

Attacks this week underscore the challenges to forming a government away from ethno-sectarian power-sharing arrangement.

[…] The chaotic meeting ushers in what is likely to be a lengthy period of political wrangling among rival groups to choose a new president and prime minister.

The Iraqi armed forces mark their 101st anniversary on Thursday while embarking on a new chapter in their tumultuous history after the United States formally concluded its combat mission in Iraq on December 31, 2021.

The 2,500 troops currently in the country will remain to "advise, assist and enable" Iraqi security forces, at the government's invitation. The coalition expressed confidence that the partnership would ensure IS did not reconstitute and threaten Iraqis.

The United States will continue to provide assistance, advice and training to Iraqi forces, Iraqi and US officials say.

At least three civilians and seven Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been killed in northern Iraq in an attack blamed on the Islamic State jihadist group, the forces said Friday.

Following “hard-earned” parliamentary elections on 10 October, Iraqis of all political stripes must exercise restraint, eschew violence and await the outcome’s final certification by the Federal Supreme Court, the senior UN official in the country told the Security Council on Tuesday. Jeanine Plasschaert, Special Representative and Head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said clashes erupted in the weeks following the vote, with demonstrations and sit-ins escalating into violence and casualties reported.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has said he escaped unhurt after a drone attack on his home inside Baghdad's high-security Green Zone. A drone laden with explosives struck the building, injuring six of his bodyguards in an apparent assassination attempt, officials said.

The groups blamed parties such as the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Independent High Electoral Commission for their loss, as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi due to — in their words — his "suspicious" role in organizing the elections.

Hundreds of Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi supporters protest against ‘fraud’ and call for a recount of the October 10 vote.