Lavrov: Iraq show total failure of American-British ‘adventure’

June 12, 2014 By administrator

The events in Iraq are a result of the actions carried out by the US and the UK, and the situation has spiraled out of control, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists.

“It has been reported that the UK foreign minister declared that the events in Iraq are, according to him, an illustration that terrorism is rampant in the region due to the absence of reconciliation in Syria,” Lavrov said.

“We’ve known that our English colleagues have a unique ability to twist everything. But I didn’t expect such cynicism, because the events that are taking place in Iraq are an illustration of a complete failure of the venture started by the US and the UK that allowed it to spiral out of control completely.”

“We express our solidarity with the Iraqi authorities, the Iraqi people who should restore peace and security in their country, but the actions of our Western partners raise a lot of questions,” Lavrov marked.

Lavrov noted that 11 years ago the US president announced the victory of democracy in Iraq, and that“the situation has deteriorated in geometrical progression.”

“The unity of Iraq has been called into question. The rampant terrorism is taking place due to the fact that the occupation troops didn’t pay any attention to the interior political processes, didn’t help the national dialogue, and only pursued their own interests,” Lavrov said.

On Monday night, the terrorists seized control of the town Mosul – the administrative center of the northern province of Nineveh. On Wednesday, the authorities informed the population about the fall of Tikrit, the hometown of former leader Saddam Hussein and just 150km from Baghdad.

Sergey Lavrov has also touched on the developments in Ukraine. He said Moscow demands an immediate investigation into the reports of the use of banned weapons in Ukraine.

We emphasize concern over the reports about the use by the Ukrainian military of fire bombs and other indiscriminate weapons. Those reports must be urgently checked,” Lavrov stressed.

He said the Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin “will be calling the OSCE mission which has observers in Ukraine, to establish facts [of using indiscriminate weapons], as well as will strive for the investigation into the tragedies in Odessa on May 2, in Mariupol on May 9, the ongoing actions in Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, and the snipers’ case on Maidan in February – all those probes should be brought to a close.”

“We know that the European Council is ready to be involved in the probe which the Ukrainian authorities carry out. We are convinced that this should be done,” Lavrov stressed.

Russia is also submitting to the UN the draft resolution on Ukraine calling to follow the roadmap the OSCE previously proposed.

“We’ve asked our UN envoy to submit to the UN Security Council the project on the resolution on the Ukrainian situation because the lack of progress on the halt of the violence and military actions since the start of the punitive operation causes concern,” Lavrov said.

At the moment there is no talk about bringing peacemakers to Ukraine, Lavrov said.

“We don’t think that the situation has reached that point yet. There is still hope for a declaration by [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko that the violence will be stopped and the negotiations will begin,”he added.

Syria ready to help Iraq fight terrorism

June 11, 2014 By administrator

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government says it is prepared to help Baghdad in its fight against terrorism, a day after the takeover of Iraq’s Mosul by al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Damascus is “ready to cooperate with Iraq to face terrorism, our common enemy,” the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The foreign-backed terrorism … in Iraq … is the same” targeting Syrian people, the ministry noted.

The remarks come against the backdrop of criminal operations by militants belonging to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, as well as other parts of northern Iraq.

“This terrorism is a threat to peace and security in the region and the world,” said the Syrian ministry, calling on the UN Security Council “to … condemn these terrorist and criminal acts, and to take action against the countries supporting these groups.”

Takfiris have took control of Mosul’s government headquarters, security bases, and important buildings of the city.

Local sources have said nearly half a million escaped with many seeking refuge in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the United Nations, the European Union, and the Arab League to help the country fight the terrorists.

Violence also raged elsewhere in the country with bombings and shootings across the country.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry has said that militants have launched an open war in Iraq with the aim of pushing the Middle Eastern country into chaos.

Iraq militants control second city of Mosul

June 10, 2014 By administrator

Iraq’s prime minister has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency, after Islamist militants effectively took control of Mosul, the BBC reported.

Nouri Maliki acknowledged “vital areas” of the northern city had been seized.

Overnight, hundreds of men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns seized the Nineveh provincial government’s offices in Mosul.

They also destroyed several police stations before overrunning the airport and army’s operations headquarters.

Elsewhere, a double bomb attack in the central town of Baqouba killed at least 20 people, police and medics said. The blasts, targeting a funeral procession in the capital of Diyala province, also wounded 28 people.

In the past week, the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and its allies have carried out major attacks on cities and towns in western and northern Iraq, killing scores of people.

Bombings targeting Kurds kill at least 17 in Iraq

June 8, 2014 By administrator

SULAIMANIYAH – Agence France-Presse

A man inspects the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad, June 8. REUTERS Photo

A car bomb followed by a suicide bombing hit offices of a Kurdish political party and security forces in Iraq on June 8, killing 17 people, police and doctors said.

The blasts in the town of Jalawla, north of Baghdad, also wounded 50 people, the sources said.

A senior police official said the car bomb went off close to an office of President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party and a Kurdish asayesh security forces building. As emergency workers came to the scene, the suicide bomber entered the PUK office and detonated explosives, he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, though suicide bombings are a tactic mainly employed by Sunni Muslim militants in Iraq.

The fresh attacks come a day after a series of bombings mainly targeting Shiite-majority areas of Baghdad killed at least 24 people.

The six car bombings and one roadside bomb hit seven different areas of the Iraqi capital, also wounding more than 80 people.

Alos on June 7, clashes between security forces and militants in the northern city of Mosul killed 59 people. In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, militants took hundreds of students and staff hostage at a university, sparking an assault led by special forces to free them.

Violence is running at its highest levels since 2006-2007, when tens of thousands were killed in sectarian conflict between Iraq’s Shiite majority and Sunni Arab minority.

More than 900 people were killed last month, according to figures separately compiled by the United Nations and the government. So far this year, more than 4,300 people have been killed, according to AFP figures.

June/08/2014

Iraq, Turkey’s Mosul consul’s convoy attacked

May 25, 2014 By administrator

MOSUL – Anadolu Agency

The attack came amid a period of renewed violence in recent months in the country. This file photo shows a member of the Iraqi security forces standing guard at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad May 23. REUTERS Photo

A convoy carrying Turkey’s consul to Mosul, Öztürk Yılmaz, was targeted by a bomb late May 24.

The convoy was en route to Arbil when a remote-controlled roadside bomb was detonated in the Maliye district to the east of the flashpoint city, three kilometers from the consulate building.

No casualties were reported, but armored vehicles in the convoy were damaged.

Security officials said the attackers had targeted Yılmaz’s car but the bomb struck the car in front, damaging only the windows of the car carrying the Turkish consul general.

The head of Mosul police said an investigation was underway to find the attackers. Yılmaz’s convoy was attacked before, in September 2013. No casualties were reported in that attack.

The Foreign Ministry has released a statement on the attack, saying that officials at the Consulate General of Mosul had been attacked four times in the last two years.

“[Our] Baghdad Embassy and Consulate General in Basra were also targeted. It is worrying that none of the perpetrators of the attacks have been captured yet,” the statement said.

The ministry asked Iraqi officials to investigate the attack, to find those responsible, and to take all necessary measures to protect Turkish representative offices.

May/25/2014

Iraq’s alliance nominates al-Maliki for prime minister

May 23, 2014 By administrator

Iraq’s State of Law Coalition has officially named incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as its only candidate for premiership.

The coalition says it is ready to negotiate with all political parties in Iraq over its choice for prime minister. Reports say all the members of the coalition have voted for al-Maliki.

The alliance won 92 seats in Iraq’s recent parliamentary elections.

State of Law Coalition, however, fell short of an overall majority. This means that Maliki’s chances for a new term are high, but he requires approaching other groups in order to secure a broader majority coalition inside parliament.

Al-Maliki needs the support of smaller parties such as those of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and Kurdish regional President Massud Barzani.

The announced results could still be challenged or change before they are finally certified by Iraq’s Supreme Court.

The formation of the Iraqi government is anticipated to take months as the president and the speaker of parliament should be also selected.

Under a de facto agreement among communities in Iraq, the prime minister is a Shia Arab, the president a Kurd and the parliament speaker a Sunni Arab.

The vote came amid a surge in violence that has reportedly left more than 3,500 people dead this year.

Maliki has said Saudi Arabia and Qatar are responsible for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country.

Iraq: 26 years after the gassing of Halabja rooted in memories

May 18, 2014 By administrator

For years, Umed Rachid, 40, is a guide at the monument erected in memory of the 5,000 victims of the bombing of Halabja poison gas in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1988, during which he lost his family.

16 March at 11:35 (8:35 GMT), combat aircraft of the Iraqi army of Saddam Hussein had begun to fly over the area near the Iranian border, and for five hours, had released toxic gases during what is believed to be the worst gas attack against a civilian population.

“Despite all the pain I feel in doing this work, I want to stay and work here, to tell what happened in Halabja and how I lost my family,” said Umed.

In 1988, when the war against Iran coming to an end, Kurdish fighters, backed by Iran, had taken control of Halabja, in the mountains of Kurdistan.

The Iraqi army responded by shelling the town, forcing the Kurdish fighters to retreat to the surrounding hills, leaving behind women and children.

Some 5,000 people were killed, mostly women and children. Number of survivors continue to suffer from the effects of the poison gas attack.

Teenager at the time, Umed remembers his family trying to flee in a pickup to find shelter when chemical attack began.

He alone has survived. On the way to the shelter, all members of his family died of asphyxiation in the truck. A photograph shows the vehicle carrying about 25 people, including the relatives of Mr. Rachid, stopped on the road, the driver slumped over the steering wheel.

“When we fled Halabja, we saw many martyrs lying in the streets but we could not do anything to help them because we ourselves were already affected by chemical attack,” he says.

Umed Rachid says that he himself had fallen into a coma. Rescuers had even thought he was dead and had put in a coffin.

‘Chemical Ali’ hanged –

Regarded as the sponsor of this massacre, General Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali”, cousin and henchman of Saddam Hussein was hanged on 25 January 2010.

Sentenced to death four times, including once for the Halabja massacre, he never expressed any remorse claiming to have acted for the security of Iraq.

The Iraqi government had handed over to local authorities Halabja rope used in the hanging of “Chemical Ali”, on the occasion of the commemoration of the attack in 2012. Halabja Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the massacre .

The memory of the attack has returned to haunt the people of this small Kurdish town last year after that neighboring Syria President Bashar al-Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons near Damascus has claimed hundreds of dead.

“Watching TV and seeing what happened in Syria, I started crying,” recalls Mr. Rachid. “I saw my parents, my sisters and my brothers died.”

Rather than trying to forget the massacre of Halabja population chose to commemorate openly.

On the site where Mr. Rachid, the end of the city, visitors are guided to a small hallway where the walls are lined with photos of the attack and objects, jewelry among other things, that belonged to the victims are exposed.

“It is an honor for me to work here, to tell people what was the tragedy for future generations,” says the guide.

Saudi Arabia slams Maliki’s ‘irresponsible’ comments to FRANCE 24

May 10, 2014 By administrator

France 24

Speaking to FRANCE 24’s Marc Perelman over the weekend, Maliki accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of “inciting and encouraging the terrorist movements”. REUTERS Photo

Saudi Arabia responded to a FRANCE 24 interview with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday, slamming the Iraqi leader’s accusations that the Gulf kingdom supported terrorism as “aggressive and irresponsible”.

“The Saudi response came two days after the exclusive interview with Maliki was aired on FRANCE 24.

Speaking to FRANCE 24’s Marc Perelman over the weekend, Maliki accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of “inciting and encouraging the terrorist movements”.

Responding to the accusations on Monday, an unidentified Saudi official told the state SPA news agency that, “The kingdom condemns the aggressive and irresponsible statements made by the Iraqi prime minister”.

In his interview with FRANCE 24, Maliki said Saudi Arabia and Qatar were seeking to destabilise Iraq by supporting terrorist groups and providing them with financial support.
Maliki, an Iraqi Shiite politician, said the two Sunnimajority Gulf countries were also “supporting terrorism” in Syria and “around the world”.

http://www.france24.com/en/20140310-saudi-arabia-iraq-maliki-interview-response-terrorism/

Jordan, Egypt, Iraq discuss building joint railway

April 13, 2014 By administrator

Jordan, Egypt and Iraq have discussed a joint railway project that would link the three countries.

Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour met with Egypt’s Transportation Minister Ibrahim Demeiri and Iraq’s Transportation Minister Salman Jassim in Amman on Saturday to discuss the project.

Petra news agency quoted Ensour as saying that the railway project “will increase the trade cooperation and consolidate the Arab countries’ economic interests.”

The report did not provide further information about the project.

They also discussed the Arab Bridge Maritime, a joint venture of Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, which accumulated a profit of more than $250 million.

Kurdish independent state to come: Barzani

April 11, 2014 By administrator

BAGHDAD

Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced on April 8 that an independent Kurdish state is to be established, pointing out that they are moving towards a confederation with Iraq.

Barzani‘s remarks came during an interview with Sky News Arabia TV, briefed by “Shafaq News.” Barzani pointed out that the Kurdish state has become a reality and this independence should be achieved in the near future. He stated that the events occurring in Iraq will lead to a confederation system. Iraq cannot “bear more conflicts” and the leaderships should sit together to end the current crises, Barzani added.

The relations between the Iraqi Kurdish region and Baghdad have been witnessing the highest degree of tension in the last period due to the lack of agreement on a number of outstanding issues repeated every year, including the problem of the Iraqi public budget, the export of oil from the region and the application of the constitutional Article 140, as well as political differences on power management in Baghdad.