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The Trump administration attempted to thwart the efforts of the Iraqi parliament to expel foreign military forces from the country in the wake of the killing of a top Iranian military commander and an Iraqi militia leader by US forces inside Iraqi territories, Axios reported on Sunday, citing two unnamed US officials and an Iraqi official.One way or another, the Americans will get out of Iraq eventually. The Axis of Resistance is vowing to force them out. Here's Nasrallah's speech. And here's Soleimani's successor Qaani: "We promise to continue martyr Soleimani's path with the same force... and the only compensation for us would be to remove America from the region." And Sheikh Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Asaib Ahl al-Haqq movement, a key faction of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Unit:
The three officials told Axios that the Trump administration tried to convince the Iraqi government to block its parliament from passing the resolution, which will force the US military out of Iraq. One US official reportedly said that the exit of US troops from the country would "be catastrophic for Iraq".
"It's our concern that Iraq would take a short-term decision that would have catastrophic long-term implications for the country and its security. But it's also what would happen to them financially if they allowed Iran to take advantage of their economy to such an extent that they would fall under the sanctions that are on Iran," the official reportedly said. "We don't want to see that. We're trying very hard to work to have that not happen."
Axios also cited an unnamed senior Iraqi official who claimed that many Kurdish and Sunni members of the Iraqi parliament, who are supporting the US presence in Iraq, did not attend the parliament vote on expelling all foreign military forces, including US-led international coalition, from Iraqi territories.
"This is a temporary victory for the parties which are pro-Iranian, but it's also a clear message from the Sunnis and from the Kurds [who didn't vote] and from some Iraqi Shia, for the Americans to tell them we want you to stay in Iraq," the Iraqi official said, according to the website.
The Iraqi government is reportedly already at work on implementing Parliament's decision:
- We will take revenge for Hajj Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and his companions and we will not accept anything less than the expulsion of US forces from Iraq
- the Iraqi parliament decision today is one of the most important decisions it has taken throughout its history
- We tell the Americans that Trump is an idiot who will cause nothing but further death and casualties for American soldiers
- The US forces must leave (Iraq) immediately, and if they begin to stall, we will consider them as occupation forces and act towards them based on this
- The Israeli project will never rest until it engulfs Iraq in flames and civil infighting
The Iraqi government has begun working on steps to implement the parliament's decision on the expulsion of foreign forces from the country, the press service of Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi said in a statement, as regional tensions are rising in the wake of the assassination of Iranian general by the United States in Baghdad.They've already limited the movement of American forces in the country:
"Iraqi specialists from various agencies are drafting a document on further legal and procedural actions to implement the parliament's decision to remove foreign troops [from Iraq]," the prime minister said during his conversation with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian, as quoted in the statement on Sunday.
Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a security spokesman for Iraq's prime minister ... said that the US-led international coalition will be allowed to consult, arm and train Iraqi military personnel and security forces, but the troops will be removed. Khalaf added that the Iraqi government had limited the movements of foreign forces on the ground and in the air.Before the parliamentary vote, PM Mahdi apparently revealed some interesting pieces of information:
The process kick-started a day after Iraqi lawmakers adopted a motion requiring the government to end the presence of foreign troops from the country. There has been no word from the government on whether it ratified the resolution.
...
Abdul-Karim Khalaf called that strike, which hadn't been agreed with Iraq in advance, a "stupidity [that] is impossible to keep silent about." The Iraqi foreign ministry on Sunday summoned the US ambassador to condemn the strike as a "blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty."
See also:That is, in other words, Suleymani carried out some important diplomatic mission between Tehran, Riyadh, Damascus and Baghdad when the States killed him. This makes the situation even more difficult. Now everything looks like the United States wanted to ruin the hell out of possible peace talks between regional players.
- He said that the United States allowed Israel to inflict several illegal air strikes on the munitions depots of the Iraqi armed forces last year. Israel and the US have denied this information.
- He informed the deputies that US aviation was illegally taken into the air, and flew over the American embassy on December 31 without the permission of the Iraqi government.
- He stated that he was trying to reconcile the USA and Iran after the US air strike on a military base of pro-Iranian forces in the west of the country on December 30, when 25 people died. According to him, the States refused to even give an informal apology to the Iranians, and the negotiations fell apart.
- He said that it was the leadership of the "Popular Mobilization Force" together with the killed on the eve of Abu Magdi Al-Mugandes at the cost of the threat of his resignation and the entire Cabinet of Ministers forced the protesters under the US embassy to go home and end his siege. I wrote about this earlier, and now it has officially sounded from the lips of the Iraqi prime minister.
- He also said that Kassem Suleimani arrived in Baghdad and brought with him a letter from the Iranian leadership to representatives of Saudi Arabia, with whom he was negotiating a regional reconciliation.
"Iran maintains a robust cyberprogram and can execute cyberattacks against the United States," reads the bulletin, dated January 4.
It added that Tehran maintains a "robust cyberprogram and can execute cyberattacks against the United States."
"Iran is capable, at a minimum, of carrying out attacks with temporary disruptive effects against critical infrastructure in the United States.
"Iran likely views terrorist activities as an option to deter or retaliate against its perceived adversaries," the bulletin said.
Hours later, a group claiming to be hackers from Iran breached the website of a U.S. government agency and posted messages vowing revenge for the killing of Soleimani.
Separately, a leading cybersecurity expert said his firm is warning businesses and government agencies to intensify protection measures following the threats by Iran to seek revenge for the U.S. attack.
"There are opportunities for them to cause real disruption and destruction," John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm FireEye, told AP.
"Think not of those who are slain in God's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord. They rejoice in the bounty provided by God: And with regard to those left behind, who have not yet joined them (in their bliss), the (Martyrs) glory in the fact that on them is no fear, nor shall they grieve. They glory in the Grace and the bounty from God, and in the fact that God suffereth not the reward of the Faithful to be lost (in the least)." (Quran, 3, 169-171.)Then Nasrallah briefly recalls the identity of the martyrs.]
Iranian President Rouhani has said that Iran has the right to seek revenge, but that "retaliation will come when the 'dirty hands of the US' are removed from the region indefinitely".So, after the Americans have left the Persian Gulf, then Iran will knock out Israel?
US-led coalition confirms rocket attacks near Iraqi bases housing US troops, says no servicemen hurtMeanwhile the US-led coalition deny reports of an attack on an Iraqi security staff HQ:
"The night of Jan. 4, two rocket attacks occurred near Iraqi bases that host Coalition troops in Baghdad and Balad, a total of 13 attacks in the past two months," a statement attributed to coalition spokesman Colonel Myles B. Caggins III said Saturday.
The attacks took place within the span of four minutes on Saturday evening local time, Caggins reported, saying that the first of the two attacks targeted the heavily-fortified Green Zone, which hosts a number of diplomatic and military facilities, including some that house US troops.
Noting that no US military were injured in the shelling, the spokesman said that it could have "potentially" led to casualties among the civilian population.
"At 7:46 p.m. the International Zone took indirect fire that landed outside of Coalition facilities and potentially harmed Iraqi civilians," the statement read.
Several minutes after the rockets hit the Green Zone, Balad Air Base, located 60 kilometers north of Baghdad, which serves as home to some US troops, also came under rocket fire, the coalition confirmed, saying that the Iraqi military has launched an investigation into both incidents.
The Al-Arabiya TV channel broke the news on Saturday that mortar fire hit the surroundings of the Iraqi regional security staff facility in the northern province of Ninawa (Nineveh).Sputnik reports of an airstrike on the Iraq-Syria border:
The Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) debunked the shelling in a statement issued hours after the attack was first reported."The Iraqi Security Media Cell has confirmed that reports of attacks at the Ninewah Operation Center in Mosul are false: we ask that people request confirmation through government officials, instead of spreading rumors", the statement said.
According to various media reports, the commander of the Nineveh operations denied that any attack occurred. Netizens have shared an unconfirmed statement by the commander.
โEarlier in the day, Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah militia warned Iraqi security forces to stay away from American military installations in Iraq. Several projectiles on Saturday hit Baghdad residential areas in Al-Jadriya and the Balad military base to the north of the capital. Al-Arabiya reported that five people were injured as a result of mortar shelling in the Al-Jadriya region.
Earlier in the day, three separate incidents took place in which rockets were fired in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, reportedly injuring at least five people as the Pentagon has purportedly continued attacking certain Iraqi military installations.Sputnik provides footage of the alleged border airstrike:
An airstrike on the Iraqi-Syrian border and inside Syrian territory was reported by Al-Mayadeen, citing sources that claimed that forces deployed at the border posted a security alert.
โLocal media claim, citing sources, that the most recent airstrikes have targeted installations of Iraq's Kataeb Hezbollah militia in Al-Qaim region on the Iraqi-Syrian border.
โUnconfirmed reports claim that at least 5 people were killed in the US strike targeting "Imam Ali" military base.
โโThe region is reportedly known to host Iranian-backed militia forces. There has been no confirmation of the attack. The US Department of Defence has not issued a statement.
The airstrike comes on the heels of previous attacks on Saturday that were reportedly carried out by US forces in Iraq, targeting various military installations of the local militia.
The series of reported US air raids against Iranian-backed militia in Iraq falls against a backdrop of the dangerous escalation in Iran-US relations after the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander, Qasem Soleimani, was assassinated on Friday in a US drone attack near the Baghdad International Airport.
Deir Ezzor 24 reported that flames were seen at the Iraqi-Syrian border, following reports about an unconfirmed airstrike in the area.UPDATE: 05/01/2020 19:51: RT reports yet another barrage of fire near U.S. embassy in the Green Zone:Tweet text: "Flames of fire are seen in the border area between Al-Bukamal and Iraq that are believed to be aerial bombardments in that area".
Loud explosions, sirens have been reported in the Iraqi capital's heavily fortified Green Zone housing foreign embassies, including the American diplomatic missions.UPDATE: 06/01/2020 00:31: Sputnik reports US Embassy under shelling
Several rockets have hit the Green Zone not far from the American embassy, Reuters reported, citing witnesses on the ground. Loud sirens can be heard in Baghdad.
There has been no information about any casualties or damage so far. It is the second such incident targeting the Green Zone in just a few days since a top Iranian commander was killed on orders from Washington.
Heavy shelling late on Sunday targeted the Green Zone in central Baghdad, where government buildings and diplomatic facilities are situated. Various videos depicting the alleged moment of detonating katyusha-type projectiles at the premises of the US embassy in Baghdad have flooded social media.
The Iraqi military said earlier that at least 3 shells, identified as Soviet-made katyusha-type projectiles, hit the centre of Baghdad. Media reports alleged, citing sources, that several people were injured due to the shelling. Netizens have shared video depicting the alleged moment when the shells started exploding in the Green Zone.
โThe clip, reportedly made with a cellphone, depicts a compound wall, possibly in Baghdad, and captures sounds of distant explosions.
โAnother shaky clip alleges the moment the projectiles exploded in Baghdad's Green Zone. The dim video allegedly depicts military personnel standing near an armored vehicle in Bahgdad. A voice speaking in Arabic is heard in the background.
An eyewitness allegedly in the vicinity of the area targeted by the shelling on Sunday was making a video recording but after the first explosions detonate, the video abruptly ends, as the eyewitness quickly abandons the suddenly dangerous area.
Turkish parliament approves invasion of LibyaAs shocking as it can be in the 21st century, Erdogan thinks he will be the leader of the new 'Ottoman Empire', starting with Libya. Erdogan is playing fast and loose with his intentions, the result of which is that all of the Maghreb (N. Africa) and other countries bordering Libya (Egypt, Algeria, Chad, Niger, Sudan) are on alert. Other countries in the Mediterranean are also on alert (Greece, Cyprus, Italy).
ANKARA - Turkey's parliament on Thursday authorized the government to send troops to Libya to support the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).
The mandate passed with the support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the conservative Good Party voted against.
Turkish legislators approved the motion 325-184 at Thursday's emergency session; thus granting a one-year mandate for the deployment, despite concerns that Turkish forces could aggravate Libya's conflict further and destabilize the region.
The resolution gives the president the authority to "decide on the limit, extent, quantity and timing, to conduct, if necessary, military operation and intervention."
It comes after GNA requested Turkish military support in December.
Is Turkey trying to sabotage massive new Israel-Cyprus-Greece EastMed gas deal?
Tensions are reaching a new high in the eastern Mediterranean region after the Turkey's parliament approved a measure to deploy Turkish troops to Libya to support the U.N.-backed government there. The move by Turkey comes on the same day that Israel, Cyprus and Greece inked a massive new pipeline deal to transport natural gas from to the eastern Mediterranean to markets in Europe.
Turkey, with decades of tensions with Greece and Cyprus, and more recently with Israel, has strongly opposed the pipeline. It also recently signed an agreement with Libya's Tripoli-based government setting maritime boundaries that conflict with those envisioned by Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Egypt.
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