Iraq

DIWANIYAH (Iraq), Dec 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of protesters blocked roads and bridges in southern Iraq on Monday, condemning Iranian influence and political leaders who have missed another deadline to agree on a new prime minister.

Anti-government demonstrators burned tyres in major cities across the south, forcing the closure of schools and government buildings.

23 December 2019; AFP: Thousands took to the streets in Iraq's capital and across the south Sunday to protest against Iran's kingmaking influence, as the latest deadline for choosing a new prime minister loomed.

Anti-government rallies have rocked Baghdad and the Shiite-majority south since October 1, with demonstrators calling for a complete overhaul of a regime they deem corrupt, inefficient and overly beholden to Tehran.

Diwaniyah (Iraq), Dec 22 (AFP/PTI) Thousands of protesters blocked roads and public buildings in southern Iraq Sunday, as the latest deadline for choosing a new prime minister loomed.

Anti-government rallies have rocked Baghdad and the Shiite-majority south since October 1, with demonstrators calling for a complete overhaul of a regime they deem corrupt and inefficient.

22 Dec 2019; MEMO: Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights called on Friday for the Interior Ministry to put an end to the assassination and kidnapping of activists protesting against the government and its politicians, Anadolu Agency reports.

21 Dec 2019; MEMO: Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, called on Friday for holding early parliamentary elections, after the enactment of a fair election law and formation of an independent electoral commission.

BAGHDAD, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi leaders on Thursday held meetings with visiting U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale over bilateral relations and the political situation in Iraq.

During a meeting between Iraqi President Barham Salih and Hale at the presidential palace in the capital Baghdad, Salih confirmed that the solutions to the Iraqi situation "should agree with the Iraqi national decision to be away from external interference," said a statement by the media office of the presidency said.

BAGHDAD (AP) — With wisps of smoke still rising from the remnants of another night of violence, the workers came in the morning to salvage what merchandise they could from the torched warehouses in Baghdad’s central commercial district.

Boxes upon boxes of clothes, cosmetics and household goods stored by traders in the country’s most thriving market were hurled onto pick-up trucks to be taken away from Rasheed Street, a historic avenue that for weeks has been scene of ongoing violence between anti-government protesters and security forces.

BAGHDAD, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. forces on Thursday conducted an operation and captured a leader of a paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters over participating in rocket attack on an air base housing U.S. troops in Iraq's western province of Anbar, an official and a security sources said.

18 Dec 2019; MEMO: Iraq has paid back more than $20 billion in foreign debt, the head of the parliamentary finance committee Haitham Al-Jubouri said on Monday.

“Iraq’s foreign debt amounted to more than $50 billion. More than $20 billion was paid back over the last period,” Al-Jubouri told the Iraqi news agency.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Abbas Ali spends most of his free time camped out in Tahrir Square — the epicenter of Iraq’s anti-government protests — going home only at 3 a.m. to catch few hours of sleep, change his clothes and check on his family. He is determined to stay in the square until the end, whatever that may be.

Ali was only 13 when the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein. He only vaguely remembers life under the dictator. What he knows clearly is that life in post-Saddam Iraq is a daily, often humiliating struggle for survival.