Iraq’s Parliament has approved Sunday a motion which requires the Government to evict U.s. troops from the country in retaliation for the murder of the general iranian Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad airport. The own interim prime minister, Adil Abdelmahdi, has defended this choice as the “best for Iraq”. The session in Parliament, where the block shi’a have a majority, has been developed in a tense atmosphere (the parliamentarians of the blocks sunni and kurdish is absent from the session), and in the middle of the crossings of threats between Washington and Tehran. Also in the middle of clashes between the iraqi militias proiraníes and demonstrators of opposite sign and of the tribute that thousands of iranians took to Soleimani, whose body was repatriated on Sunday. Even if the vote supports that the departure of the troops is “best for Iraq”, it is a non-binding resolution and is the Executive iraqi who must negotiate with Washington to the modification or termination of the current agreement between the two countries.
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Trump threatens to strike 52 targets iranians if Tehran hits the interests of the United States, Thousands of iraqis fired at the general Soleimani while growing the tension about the reaction of Iran to the US kills the powerful general iranian Soleimani in an attack with drones in the Baghdad airport photo gallery The funeral in Iran Soleimani, in pictures
In his speech to the chamber, the iraqi prime minister in functions, explained that his country has two options on the table: one is to demand the complete withdrawal of foreign troops, and the other to renegotiate the agreement that governs their presence. Abdelmahdi was in favor of the first option: “Despite the difficulties, internal and external to the us to deal with, is what is best for Iraq.” At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign affairs iraqi presented in the Security Council of the United Nations a complaint for the attack on the U.S. that ended the life of Soleimani, in addition to the commander of the militia of iraqi shi’a Forces of Popular Mobilization (FMP), Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, and another eight military of both countries. Diplomacy iraqi demands that the UN body to condemn the attacks because they represent a “dangerous violation of the sovereignty of Iraq and of the rules of the presence of EE UU” in the country.
The deployment of more than 5,000 u.s. military in Iraq is based on an agreement signed by the Governments of the two countries after Baghdad invited the international coalition that is leading the U.S. to deploy its troops in 2014 to fight against the jihadist group Islamic State (ISIS, for its acronym in English). Although the voting has been positive, it is a non-binding resolution and is the Executive iraqi who must negotiate with Washington to the modification or termination of this agreement. However, the iraqi Government acts on functions after the prime minister submitted his resignation last November to quell protesters who carry months of protest in the streets by the corruption and lack of jobs and services. Abdelmahdi remains in that position so interim until the fragmented iraqi parliament agreeing on a successor, something that urged the prime minister in his parliamentary intervention.
According to local media, 170 deputies of the block shi’a (of the 329 with the iraqi Parliament) signed the proposal voted by the floor that calls for the departure of foreign troops, including the review of the deployment of trainers from other western countries (Spain contributes to this mission with half a thousand military personnel). “The Government is committed to revoke its request for assistance to the coalition fight against the Islamic State due to end of operations in Iraq and to the achievement of the victory. The iraqi Government must work to eliminate the presence of all kinds of foreign troops on soil of iraq, prohibiting the use of its territory, its airspace and territorial waters for any reason,” reads the motion passed, according to Reuters.
A group of iranians carry the coffin of Qassem Soleimani, in Ahvaz. WANA NEWS AGENCY REUTERS
The parliamentarians of the blocks sunni and kurdish is absent from the session in protest at the growing influence of iran, so the lack of a quorum forced them to postpone the vote for a few hours. “In this issue, we prefer to take a neutral stance in the interest of Iraq and of the Kurdistan region”, said Vian Sabri, chairperson of the parliamentary group of the kurdish party KDP, in statements to the channel Kurdistan 24.
The sponsor of the motion is the coalition of Fatah (the largest group proiraní of the iraqi Parliament, and that they are linked to the FMP), which justifies the requirement of the withdrawal of the united STATES in that it has already fulfilled his mission of defeating the ISIS and their latest actions in Iraq constitute a violation of national sovereignty. On Saturday, the leader of Fatah, Hadi al-Amiri, was sworn in before the coffin of Mohandes: “The price of thy blood will be the departure of u.s. troops from Iraq.” Another member of the same group, Ahmad al-Kinany, warned on Twitter that the deputies who are absent from the floor will be considered “traitors to the fatherland”. Military sources of the USA have been recognized to the agency France Presse that follow with the “apprehensive” and “nervous” for the parliamentary debate.
The tension that has sparked the murder of Soleimani is being felt throughout Iraq. In Nasiriya (south east) clashes broke out when a funeral symbolic carried out by groups proiraníes tried to penetrate into a camp of protesters for social reasons, part of the protests that have gripped Iraq in recent months, criticizing the corruption and the excessive influence of iran. A militiaman of the FMP opened fire on other protesters, injuring four people, reported EFE, citing police sources.
The brigade shi’a Kataeb Hezbollah (KH), one of the most radical within the FMP, has asked for volunteers for martyrdom” in actions against the US, and has given an ultimatum to the five, on Sunday afternoon (14.00 GMT) to the iraqi security forces “to withdraw 1,000 meters as the minimum of the us bases”. On the evening of Saturday, several rockets hit the Baghdad neighborhood where the U.s. Embassy and at a us military base a little further north, but without causing dead and without which no group claims the action. The us secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, heavily criticized this threat and called KH of “thugs”.
Funerals and warning of Iran
iranians carry the coffin of Qasem Soleimaní, in the city of Mashhad, Iran. Mohammad Hossein Taghi EFE
Meanwhile, a human tide invaded the streets of the town irani of Ahvaz on Sunday in the first of three days of national tribute in Iran for the murder of general Soleimani. Placed on the roof of a truck adorned with flowers and covered with a tarp with the dome of the mosque of the Rock in Jerusalem, the bodies of Soleimani and military leader of the proiraníes in Iraq, Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes made their way slowly among the compact crowd that gathered in this city in southwest iran, according to the agency France Presse.
The state television, which placed a black strip in the upper left corner of the screen, broadcast live the ceremony in this city, the capital of Khuzestan, a province with a martyr during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) in which Soleimani began to shine. After the ceremonies that took place on Saturday in Iraq, it is expected that the national tribute will continue in Tehran, Mashhad (northeast) and Qom (centre) until the funeral Tuesday in his hometown of Kerman (south-east).
iranian army, in addition, has responded to the last threat of Donald Trump ensuring that you doubt that the united States has the “courage” to attack 52 places in Iran as he warned the u.s. president, according to the agency official iranian Irna. “They say this kind of things to divert the attention of the world public opinion of his act obnoxious and unjustifiable” (the murder of Soleimani Friday in Baghdad), but “I doubt you have the courage,” declared the general Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander-in-chief of the army of iran, quoted by Irna.
The iranian authorities have advised Washington to remove its troops from the middle East after the assassination of the commander of the Force, The al-Quds, who have vowed to avenge. “It has begun the end of the evil presence of the united States in west Asia”, wrote in Twitter, the iranian minister of Foreign affairs, Mohamad Yavad Zarif.
Also the leader of the party-militia, lebanese Hezbollah, Hasan Nasralá, called in a speech to act against U.S.: “The greatest damage that can make us the enemy is to kill us, and there is no greater honor that we can have that to die fighting for our doctrine.”
The coalition against the ISIS rethinks its future
the member countries of the international coalition against the Islamic State, which is part of Spain, are rethinking their future in Iraq, after the iraqi Parliament has ordered the departure of foreign troops from the country. Government sources Spanish indicated that the intention is “to act all together”. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary general, who has his own mission in Iraq (MN-I), more reduced than the previous, has called for this Monday an urgent meeting of the Atlantic Council at the ambassadorial level to consider the situation created by the murder of the general iranian Qasem Soleimani on the part of the united STATES. Both the troops of the coalition and the NATO have raised their alert level and have been suspended since Friday, the tasks of training the iraqi Army for fear of reprisals from militias affiliated to shi’a. Spain has a total of 530 military and 25 civil guards between the two missions; although the majority is in the base of the coalition in Besmayah, 37 kilometres from Baghdad. In addition, account with a detachment of transport helicopters in Taji, and a tactical group of Special Operations. Military sources recall that the foreign troops are in Iraq at the invitation of their Government, and if this asks them to leave, they should do it. Nor would it be viable to continue in Iraq if you leave the USA, because that country gives the command, and the essential elements of both missions. The international coalition against the ISIS part, among others, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, Canada and several arab countries.
