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2019-10-31 Iraq
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Protests in Iraq and Lebanon Pose a Challenge to Iran
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[AnNahar] The day after anti-government protests erupted in Iraq, Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani flew into Baghdad late at night and took a helicopter to the heavily fortified Green Zone, where he surprised a group of top security officials by chairing a meeting in place of the prime minister.
The arrival of Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force and the architect of its regional security apparatus, signaled Tehran's concern over the protests, which had erupted across the capital and in Iraq's Shiite heartland, and included calls for Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
to stop meddling in the country.
Continued from Page 2
The protests in Iraq and Leb are fueled by local grievances and mainly directed at political elites, but they also pose a challenge to Iran, which closely backs both governments as well as powerful gangs in each country. An increasingly violent crackdown in Iraq and an attack by  Hizbullah
...Party of God , a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
supporters on the main protest camp in Beirut have raised fears of a backlash by Iran and its allies.
"We in Iran know how to deal with protests," Soleimani told the Iraqi officials, according to two bigwigs familiar with the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the secret gathering. "This happened in Iran and we got it under control."
But nearly a month later, the protests in Iraq have resumed and demonstrations continue in Leb, both directed at governments and factions allied with Tehran. The protests threaten Iran's regional influence at a time when it is struggling under crippling U.S. sanctions.
The day after Soleimani's visit, the festivities between the protesters and security forces in Iraq became far more violent, with the corpse count soaring past 100 as unidentified snipers shot demonstrators in the head and chest. Nearly 150 protesters were killed in less than a week.
During renewed protests this week, men in black plainclothes and masks stood in front of Iraqi soldiers, facing off with protesters and firing tear gas. Residents said they did not know who they were, with some speculating they were Iranians.
"Iran is afraid of these demonstrations because it has made the most gains in the government and parliament through parties close to it" since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, said Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi security analyst. "Iran does not want to lose these gains. So it has tried to work through its parties to contain the protests in a very Iranian way."
It hasn't worked.
The protests in Iraq resumed Friday after a brief hiatus, with protesters massing in Baghdad's Tahrir Square and clashing with security forces as they tried to breach barricades on a bridge leading to the Green Zone, the seat of the government and home to several embassies. In southern Iraq, protesters have attacked and torched the offices of political parties and government-backed militias allied with Iran.
In a country that is OPEC's second-largest oil producer, impoverished residents complain that powerful Shiite militias tied to Iran have built economic empires, taking control of state reconstruction projects and branching into illicit business activities.
"All the parties and factions are corrupt, and this is connected to Iran, because it's using them to try and export its system of holy manal rule to Iraq," said Ali al-Araqi, a 35-year-old protester from the southern town of Nasiriyah, which has seen especially violent festivities between protesters and security forces.
"The people are against this, and that is why you are seeing an uprising against Iran," he said.
Overnight Tuesday, masked men who appeared to be linked to Iraq's security forces opened fire on protesters in Karbala, a holy city associated with the martyrdom of one of the most revered figures in Shiite Islam. At least 18 protesters were killed and hundreds were maimed in bloodshed that could mark an ominous turning point in the demonstrations. In Baghdad, protesters burned an Iranian flag. Days earlier, protesters had gathered outside the Iranian Consulate in Karbala, chanting "Iran, out, out!"
In Leb, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets, demanding the resignation of a government dominated by pro-Iran factions. As in Iraq, the protests are focused on local grievances.
"The protests in both Iraq and Leb are primarily about local politics and a corrupt political class that has failed to deliver," said Ayham Kamel, the Middle East and North Africa practice head at Eurasia Group.
The protests "showcase the failure of the proxy model where Iran is able to expand influence but its allies are unable to effectively govern," Kamel said.
Lebanese protesters have only rarely called out Iran and its main local ally, Hizbullah group, but they have focused much of their rage on Leb's president and foreign minister, who come from a Christian party closely allied with Hizbullah.
A common chant, "All means all," implies that none of Leb's factions, including Hizbullah and its allies, are beyond reproach.
Last week, fistfights broke out at a main rally when protesters chanted against Hizbullah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
, who announced at around the same time that he was withdrawing his supporters from the protests. He said unspecified foreign powers were exploiting the protests to undermine his group, warning that such actions could plunge the country back into civil war.
On Tuesday, Hizbullah supporters rampaged through the main protest camp in central Beirut. Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
, a Western-backed leader who had reluctantly partnered with the pro-Iran factions in a national unity government, resigned. The protesters returned to the square by sundown, cheering their first victory since the demonstrations began Oct. 17.
Hizbullah is the most powerful armed force in Leb and was alone in refusing to disarm after the 1975-1990 civil war. It justifies its arsenal by saying it's needed to defend the country from Israel, which occupied southern Leb from 1982 to 2000.
Hizbullah sent thousands of fighters to neighboring Syria to help defeat the uprising against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
, another key Iranian ally. Iraq's powerful Iran-backed militias, initially mobilized to battle the Islamic State
 ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group, have also fought alongside Assad's troops. And Iran violently suppressed its own pro-democracy protests, known as the Green Movement, after the disputed 2009 presidential election.
Iran has been largely silent on the protests, while expressing support for both governments, as well as Hizbullah. Foreign Ministry front man Abbas Mousavi has offered Tehran's "deep regret" about the scores of protesters killed in Iraq.
"We are sure that the Iraqi government, nation and holy mans can overcome these problems," he said.
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Posted by trailing wife 2019-10-31 00:00||
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