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Iraq PM threatens to quit if political conflict continues

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 Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi expressed regret that the political conflict had reached the level of the use of weapons among Iraqi factions, warning that he would declare his post vacant if the dispute continued.

In a televised speech late Tuesday, al-Kadhimi said that he was overwhelmed with pain by the political conflict, “the Iraqi blood that was shed yesterday sends a warning to every Iraqi that today we must put weapons under the authority of the state”, reports Xinhua news agency

“I warn that if chaos, conflict, discord, and hostility continue and the voice of reason is not heard, I will take my moral and patriotic step to declare the position of (Prime Minister) vacant in due course… and holding them (conflicting parties) the responsibility before the Iraqis and before history,” he said.

He said that Iraq has been bleeding for many years as thousands of Iraqis were killed, stressing that “every drop of blood is caused by chronic political failure”.

Earlier in the day, President Barham Salih also said in a televised speech that “going to early elections under a national understanding represents a way out of the stifling crisis in the country instead of political dispute or clash”.

He also called on the Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), an umbrella group of Shia parliamentary parties, to communicate with the leader of the Sadrist Movement, Moqtada al-Sadr, to come up with a political solution that addresses the issue of the new elections and the formation of a new government.

On Tuesday, al-Sadr called on his followers to end their protests and withdraw from the Green Zone in Baghdad, after clashes killed 22 people and wounded more than 200 others.

At a televised press conference in the city of Najaf, al-Sadr apologised to the Iraqi people affected by the violence, stressing that he was hoping for peaceful protests, “not bullets and bombs”.

He called on his followers to “withdraw in 60 minutes”, including from the sit-in in front of Parliament, or he “will not recognize them”.

On Monday, al-Sadr’s supporters stormed some of the main government headquarters in the Green Zone following their leader’s announcement that he was quitting politics in protest against the corruption of political parties in the country.

Political tensions in Iraq have escalated in the past weeks between al-Sadr and his rivals in the CF.

On July 30, al-Sadr’s followers broke into the Green Zone and held an open sit-in in and outside Parliament, demanding the dissolution of the parliament and holding early elections, which are rejected by the CF parties.

The CF became the largest alliance in Parliament after al-Sadr ordered his followers in the Sadrist Movement, the biggest winner of the October 2021 elections with 73 seats, to withdraw.

During the past months, the continued disputes among the Shia parties have hampered the formation of a new government, making it unable to elect a new President by a two-thirds majority of the 329-seat Parliament under the constitution.

International News

23 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza

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Gaza, Dec 23: At least 23 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.

At least nine people, including three children and two women, were killed, and some others were injured as a result of the Israeli bombing of the Musa bin Nusayr School on Sunday, which houses displaced people in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City.

Four more people were killed when the Israeli army bombed a vehicle on the Al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City, it added.

Five citizens, including four children, were killed on Sunday morning in Israel’s shelling of the Jabalia town, north of Gaza City, WAFA said in a separate report.

In the southern Gaza Strip, two people were killed when the Israeli army bombed their apartment west of Khan Yunis, and three others died in the Israeli bombing of the city of Rafah, WAFA said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Sunday that with the direction of intelligence, the air force conducted a “precise strike” on Hamas militants who were operating inside a command-and-control center in the Gaza Strip.

The command-and-control center, which was embedded inside a compound that previously served as the Musa bin Nusayr School, was used by the militants to plan and execute attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel, it added.

Israel has been on a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 45,227, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Saturday.

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Crime

At least 18 killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

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Gaza, Dec 21: At least 18 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the central and northern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources.

Local sources and eyewitnesses reported that Israeli warplanes targeted an apartment in the multi-story “Yaffa” tower in the al-Nuseirat camp, located in central Gaza.

A statement from Al-Awda Hospital in the camp confirmed that eight people were killed and 14 others injured, some seriously, in the attack.

In northern Gaza, Israeli shelling struck a house belonging to the “Khilla” family in Jabalia Al-Balad, killing 10 people and injuring several others, according to the Gaza Strip’s Civil Defence.

The Israeli army has not commented on these incidents.

Also on Friday, the military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, announced that one of its fighters had carried out a suicide attack targeting an Israeli force of six soldiers in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza.

The Israeli army has not issued a comment on this incident.

Earlier on Thursday at least 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombings in northern Gaza, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.

At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday night and some others injured when the Israeli aircraft bombed the house of the Al-Najjar family in the town of Jabalia, WAFA said.

Six more people were killed due to Israeli bombing on the house of the Al-Zaytouniya family near the Al-Tabi’in School in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City, it added.

The Israeli army has not commented on these incidents.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault on southern Israel, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages taken.

As of Friday, the Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 45,206, according to Gaza-based health authorities.

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International News

Khalistani separatist Pannun’s threat to Indian ambassador ‘serious’ issue, taken up with US: MEA

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New Delhi, Dec 20: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday revealed that New Delhi has taken “seriously” the latest threat issued by the US-based Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun against India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra and raised it accordingly with the authorities in Washington.

In a recent video, Pannun threatened that Kwatra is on the radar of pro-Khalistani Sikhs in America for allegedly coordinating with Russian authorities, who in turn were providing inputs to Indian intelligence agencies on the Khalistani network in the United States.

“As and when such threats are issued, we take them very seriously and raise them with the US government. In this particular case also, we have raised it with the US government and it is our expectation that the United States government will take our security concerns seriously and act on it,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Friday.

A former Foreign Secretary, Kwatra took charge as India’s Ambassador to the United States in August this year, succeeding Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

His appointment came at a time when Khalistani separatists continue to target Hindu community in the country and also the Indian missions.

Khalistanis have been found to be involved in incidents of defacement of temples, including in California and New York, and also in acts of arson and vandalism at the Indian embassy in San Francisco.

Several lawmakers, including Shri Thanedar – a Democrat elected to the House of Representatives from Michigan state – have raised alarm over the “substantial increase” in attacks on Hindus and their places of worship in the United States.

The lawmaker had recently expressed frustration with the investigating agency for their failure to find the culprits behind the incidents at the temples and the consulate.

“It appears to be a very coordinated effort to attack these places of worship which has created a lot of fear in the community. And often what we have seen is that the law enforcement, the local law enforcement enters into these investigations and rarely any suspects have been identified, and that investigation goes nowhere.

“What that does is that it leaves the community feeling like nobody cares about them. Nobody reports back to them on what’s going on. And that means that the community continues to live in fear, the computing community continues to live in an adverse situation with essentially no help from law enforcement,” he said.

The lawmaker went on to state that he and his colleagues are asking the US Department of Justice for “coordinated efforts between the local law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Department of Justice, and higher priority needs to be assigned to such hate crimes against this peaceful community”.

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