Mortar shells and automatic weapon fire: the “green zone” of Baghdad sank into chaos on Monday evening, after the political “withdrawal” of Moqtada al-Sadr, a coup by the Shiite leader giving free rein to his supporters , twelve of whom were shot dead.
In the evening, at least seven mortar shells fell in this ultra-secure perimeter which houses ministries and embassies, said a security source who was unable to provide a report. The origin of the shots was also unknown.
In the process, automatic weapons fire echoed from this district of the center of the capital, placed under curfew like all the rest of Iraq.
According to this security source, supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr were targeting the area from outside. Inside were forces “that didn’t fight back.”
Political deadlock
Iraq has been in a political stalemate since the October 2021 legislative elections, but the situation brutally degenerated on Monday when hundreds of supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr invaded the Palace of the Republic, where the Council of Ministers sits.
While the sadrists took over the offices, the security forces tried to disperse other demonstrators with tear gas canisters at the entrances to the “green zone”, a security source told AFP.
Witnesses reported exchanges of fire between Sadrists and supporters of the Coordination Framework, the pro-Iran rival of the al-Sadr camp, at this location.
Twelve supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr were shot dead and 270 others injured, medical sources said without further details. Some wounded were shot; others inhaled tear gas.
The Shiite leader is very influential, and his religious and political aura has a wide reach in this majority community in Iraq.
calls for calm
In Washington, the White House deemed the situation “worrying” and called for calm and dialogue. The UN mission in Iraq, whose headquarters are in the “green zone”, called on all parties to “maximum restraint”.
In the evening, the curfew introduced earlier in the day seemed to be respected in Baghdad. The usually bustling streets were empty of any cars or passers-by.
But the chaos spread to other regions: in Nassiriyah, in the province of Zi Qar, in the south of the country, Sadrists invaded the seat of the governorate and entered other official buildings. The seat of the governorate of Babylon, in the city of Hilla, was also occupied by supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, witnesses told AFP.
For nearly a year, the political barons have been unable to agree on the name of a new prime minister. Iraq therefore has neither a new government nor a new president since the legislative elections. To get out of the crisis, Moqtada al-Sadr and the Coordination Framework agree on one point: a new early election is needed. But while al-Sadr insists on dissolving parliament first, his rivals want to appoint a government first.
In the evening, the Coordination Framework condemned the “attack on state institutions”, while calling on the Sadrists for “dialogue”. For his part, Moqtada al-Sadr “announced a hunger strike, until the end of the violence”, indicated an official of the current on social networks.
Twists
Al-Sadr has been upping the ante in recent weeks. For the past month, his supporters have camped near Parliament and even briefly blocked access to the country’s highest judicial body. On Monday, in a new twist, he announced his “final withdrawal” from politics and the closure of institutions linked to his family.
Arriving first in the legislative elections with 73 seats (out of 329), but unable to form a majority, he had his deputies resign in June, claiming to want to “reform” the system from top to bottom and put an end to “corruption”.
For Hamzeh Hadad, guest researcher at the European Council for International Relations (ECFR), his announcement of withdrawal from politics “is not very clear”. “In the Sadrist tradition, we can expect him to back down,” he told AFP. But, “and this is more terrifying, one might think he is giving his followers the green light to do whatever they want, saying he is no longer answerable for their actions.”
On Saturday, Moqtada al-Sadr had given “72 hours” to “all parties” in place since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 – including his own – to give up the government posts they hold and leave “room for reforms”.
So far, the spat between the Sadrists and the Coordination Framework had not degenerated into violence. The Hashd al-Chaabi, former paramilitaries allied with Tehran and integrated into the Iraqi forces, however said they were ready to “defend state institutions”.