Iraq Sweeps Country In Attacks Against Resurgent Islamic State, Wants Help From US Central Command
Good day from REEDNEWSARABWORLD for Wednesday, April 13, 2022!
The Islamic State was declared defeated in Iraq in 2017. Today villagers can’t go out after the sun sets for fear of IS attacks. Remnants, or more, of IS remain throughout Iraq, and the hit-and-run attacks can be deadly. The United States has a new head of Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, and Iraq's prime minister wants his help.
Yemen's new government will return to Aden to work, unlike the previous president who stayed in exile in Saudi Arabia. The Iraqi cleric, Moqtada Al-Sadr, challenged his opponents to try to form a government after they stopped parliament three times from electing a president, using the tactic of staying away and blocking a quorum. Al-Sadr gave the opposition militia groups supported by Iran a deadline, which they're refusing.
Iran's new ambassador to Iraq may be the brother of a poet, but he has connections with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and more than 500 Iranian-Americans have written President Joe Biden urging him to keep the IRGC on the list of terrorists.
And news from Saudi Arabia, which is distributing $480 million to 10 million people in April alone to ease impact of reforms; from Turkey, which found 400 suspicious mines in the Black Sea; from Lebanon, which is spending $15 million on credit lines to fill shelves empty of bread, and More.
Iraq has swept across Anbar and Kirkuk provinces and arrested a number of Islamic State militants, including a leader described as "very important." In a series of raids, security forces arrested militants in the eastern province of Anbar and in the Kurdish region's Kirkuk, where a government official said a "record swift" operation was staged and IS forces captured by a unit of Iraq's Special Forces. The name and rank of the "very important" IS leader was not made public, and an official said a statement will be issued. The Islamic State was considered defeated in Iraq in 2017 but strong remnant forces continue to pose a threat across the country. Al Qaeda also continues to be active.
BasNews, Iraq says its security forces arrested a "very important" leader of IS.
Rudaw, ISIS leader, suspects arrested across Iraq.
An Iraqi court sentenced three Al Qaeda members to death and three others to life imprisonment on terrorism charges. The death penalties were issued by a criminal court in the southern province of Dhi Qar.
BasNews, Iraq sentences six individuals to death, life in jail in Dhi Qar.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said the Islamic State is active in western Iraq, and he wants the new American Centcom commander to take on a greater role in opposing the militants.
Kadhimi met with Gen. Michael Kurilla in Baghdad, discussed Iraq's ongoing war on terrorism, and asked for help to maintain a momentum against ISIS.
Asharq Al-Awsat, Kadhimi to the international coalition: ISIS is active in western Iraq.
Bands of Islamic State militants still roam the lands of Iraq's villages, and residents know not to leave their houses after the sun sets. In the Kurdish village of Lheiban, the sun goes behind Qarachogh mountain but before 22-year-old Sara Selim could check the door, four armed men in military fatigues barged into the house and demanded her father-in-law, the village's community leader, and threatened to take away a five-year-old child. More than four years after Iraq declared that ISIS was defeated, gangs still launch hit-and-run attacks.
The World, A weakened ISIS persists in central Iraq.
Iraq's political leader, cleric Moqtad al-Sadr, gave his opponents a deadline to try to create a new government, and now the opponents say they won't abide by any fixed date. A bloc in parliament consisting of pro-Iran militia groups and numbering about a third of that body has three times halted an election of a new Iraqi president by Sadr's majority by refusing a quorum. Al-Sadr then said the militia groups should try to form a government themselves, fixing a date of May 10. Now the pro-Iran factions, called the Coordination Framework, say they won't abide by any deadline and want a cabinet that includes all major parties.
BasNews, Pro-Iran Coordination Framework reacts to Sadr's ultimatum for government formation.
Iran's new ambassador to Iraq has ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, through his boss. The new ambassador, Mohammed Kazem Al-e Sadeq, was deputy and adviser to sthe incumbent ambassador, Iraj Masjedi, a former IRGC senior commander who was placed under U.S. sanctions in 2020.
Sadeq was described only as a native of the southern city of Najaf and a fluent speaker of Arabic. He is a younger brother of an Iranian poet, Mohammed Reza Al-e Sadeq.
The National, Iran appoints ambassador to Iraq with alleged ties to IRGC.
More than 500 Iranian-Americans sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him not to remove Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the list of terrorist organizations. Called the Iranian Professionals' Ad Hoc Committee on Iran Policy, the group said removing the designation "will be a blatant disregard to the hope and legitimate struggle of Iranians in their struggle for freedom and dignity." Kazem Kazerounian, a professor and a main organizer of the letter, pointed out "there is no distinction between the IRGC and the Quds Force," saying "they operate as one unit."
Al Arabiya, Hundreds of Iranian-Americans urge Biden to keep Iran's IRGC on US terror list.
Leaders of the new Presidential Leadership Council for Yemen will go back to Yemen and govern from Aden, which is declared the capital of all Yemen. Plans are being made for the eight-member council to be sworn in before Yemen's parliament in Aden. The previous president, Mansour Hadi, governed from exile in Saudi Arabia. Brig. Gen. Tariq Saleh, the council's vice chairman, said a consensus formed to return to Yemen and to work in liberated Yemeni provinces.
Asharq Al-Awsat, Yemeni official to Ashrarq Al-Awsat: Leadership council to exercise duties from inside Yemen.
Yemen's prime minister said the rebel Houthis should lift the seven-year siege of Taiz province as part of the new truce. Maeen Abdulmalik met in Riyadh with United Nations official David Gressly and discussed what role the UN can play in removing the Taiz siege. Abdulmalik also discussed the eroding and abandoned Safer oil tanker off the Hodeidah coast of Yemen and called on the Houthis to stop using that issue as a means of :"political extortion."
Asharaq Al-Awsat, Yemen govt stresses need to lift Taiz siege as Houthis continue to violate truce.
Saudi Arabia is driving an OPEC+ decision to stop using U.S. oil data, adding further strains with Washington. The Saudis and Russia recently co-chaired an OPEC+ technical meeting that unanimously voted to eliminate the International Energy Agency (IEA) numbers when assessing the state of the oil market. The action was largely symbolic because OPEC+ members can choose from a number of data sources, but the formal decision to drop the IEA was described as frustration with the largest IEA member, the United States.
Reuters, Saudi Arabia leads OPEC decision to drop IEA data as US ties fray.
Turkey's decision to abandon its trial on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and transfer proceedings to Saudi Arabia is "in accordance with the law," the Turkish justice minister says.
"There has not been the slightest progress in the trial since 2018," Minister Bekir Bozdag said. "In order for these suspects to be tried, they need to be brought in front of Turkish courts and since these are Saudi Arabian citizens they could not be brought to court until this day." He said Turkey transferring its judicial power to Saudi Arabia is "not the case."
Daily Sabah, Khashoggi case's move ot Saudi Arabia 'completely legal': minister.
Pakistan's new prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia in his first foreign trip. Pakistan has a strategic and financial relationship with both Saudi Arabia and China, and it has been a recent tradition for a new leader to go first to both countries. Sharif took over as prime minister after Pakistan's parliament voted it had no confidence in former Prime Minister Imran Khan. New elections are expected.
Business Standard, New Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif likely to visit Saudi Arabia, China: Report.
Saudi Arabia deposited $480 million into the bank accounts of more than 10 million people. The compensation was April's installment of a national scheme to protect Saudi households from the impacts of reforms taking place in the kingdom. The monthly cash goes directly into their accounts.
Arab News, Saudi cash scheme pays $480m to 10.3m people.
Lebanon's government will spend $15.3 million in credit to importers, hoping the money will temporarily ease a growing bread shortage in the country. "I couldn't find any bread, there's none at all," one shopper said. "I have small children to feed and it's Ramadan." The funds are expected to last only a few weeks, and another credit line of $21 million has been requested.
Reuters, Lebanon disburses funds to temporarily avert bread crisis, minister says.
Turkey believes it's under pressure to allow NATO warships into the Black Sea, citing drifting mines. Without naming Ukraine, Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar said he doesn't rule out that the mines are intended to have Turkey "let NATO's mine sweepers into the Black Sea via the straits." He said Turkey is investigating, and media reports say there are as many as 400 mines. "We don't know who placed them. We do know that they were made in Russia, but we are probing into which country placed them." Turkey's position is that it is committed to following the rules of the Montreux Convention against allowing warships in the Black Sea.
Asharq Al-Awsat, Turkey hints at pressure to allow NATO warships passage into the Black Sea.
MORE: Tunisian President Kais Saied promises 'free and fair' elections in talks with EU delegation, Arab News.... Algeria says Morocco shelled commercial convoys on Algeria-Mauritania border, Reuters...OPEC fund extends US $100 mln loan to Morocco, Zawya… Morocco records 1.2% growth in Q1, Xinhua... Commercial ship catches fire near Aden's port in Yemen, Xinhua.
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