Iraq

BAGHDAD, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iraq announced on Saturday that it had received 50 prisoners who were militants of the Islamic State (IS) captured earlier in Syria.

"Through joint understandings and agreements, Iraq received 50 IS members, who are Iraqi citizens, from the Syrian side," tweeted the Security Media Cell (SMC), a media outlet affiliated with Iraq's armed forces.

The handover of the prisoners was carried out at the Rabia border crossing in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, according to the SMC.

13 August 2022; MEMO: During Friday Khotba, an imam close to Shia religious cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr warned of the continuous attempts to divide power in Iraq, news agencies reported.

For the second Friday, Al-Sadr supporters have been camping inside the Green Zone, the compound for government offices and foreign embassies, protesting the premiership nomination by the rival alliance of Iran-backed parties – the Coordination Framework.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Supporters of Iran-backed Shiite groups rallied in Baghdad on Friday to denounce their rivals, followers of an influential Shiite cleric who stormed the parliament last month and have since been holding a sit-in outside the assembly building in the Iraqi capital.

BAGHDAD, Aug 11 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi powerful Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, yesterday, called on the country’s judiciary, to dissolve parliament by the end of next week, due to the expiry of the constitutional deadlines for the formation of a new government.

Parliament does not need to convene to dissolve itself, because some parliamentary blocs adhere to the quota system, continue to engage in corruption, and refuse to bow to the people’s demand to dissolve parliament, Al-Sadr tweeted.

05 August 2022; MEMO: UN special envoy for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert met prominent Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr in Najaf today to discuss the country's political crisis, state media reported.

According to the official Iraqi News Agency, Plasschaert said her meeting with the leader of the Sadrist movement "went well".

Plasschaert is meeting Iraqi political figures to promote dialogue and end the deadlock over the formation of a national government.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Khalil Ibrahim’s four sons are among thousands of followers of an influential Shiite cleric staging a sit-in outside Iraq’s parliament after storming the building last week in a stunning move that threw the country into a new era of political instability.

Ibrahim is behind them all the way, he says — as are practically all his neighbors in Sadr City, the huge Baghdad district of millions of largely impoverished Shiites that is the heart of support for the cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis heeded the call of an influential Shiite cleric to gather in a show of strength for a mass prayer in the heart of Baghdad’s government zone on Friday. The gathering took place amid an escalating political crisis that has put the country’s capital on edge.

04 August 2022; MEMO: Rising temperatures in Iraq have promoted eight out of the country's 18 provinces to suspend work at government offices today, Thursday.

The capital, Baghdad, as well as the provinces of Wasit, Najaf, Babil, Basra, Diwaniya, Muthanna and Diyala will witness a day off across government offices, due to high temperatures that are reaching 50 degrees Celsius today.

BAGHDAD, Aug 4 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi prominent Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, called for dissolving parliament and holding early elections, urging his followers to continue their open sit-in, in the parliament building until their demands are met.

“Most of the Iraqi people are tired of the ruling class, including some faces of the Sadrist Movement,” al-Sadr said in a televised speech.

“The revolution (protests for comprehensive reform) began by the Sadrist, and it will not exclude the corrupters from the Sadrist Movement,” al-Sadr said.

04 August 2022; MEMO: The leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, Muqtada Al-Sadr, called yesterday for parliament to be dissolved and an early election to be held. Al-Sadr made his call in a televised speech, in which he also told his supporters to maintain their sit-in at the parliament building for the fifth consecutive day until their demands are met.