BAGHDAD: Iraq has requested that a United Nations assistance mission set up after the 2003 US-led invasion of the country end its work by the end of 2025, saying it was no longer needed because Iraq had made significant progress toward stability.
The mission, headquartered in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, was set up with a wide mandate to help develop Iraqi institutions, support political dialogue and elections, and promote human rights.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said Iraq wanted to deepen cooperation with other UN organizations but there was no longer a need for the political work of the UN assistance mission, known as UNAMI.
The mission’s head in Iraq often shuttles between top political, judicial and security officials in work that supporters see as important to preventing and resolving conflicts but critics have often described as interference.
“Iraq has managed to take important steps in many fields, especially those that fall under UNAMI’s mandate,” Sudani said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Iraq’s government has since 2023 moved to end several international missions, including the US-led coalition created in 2014 to fight Islamic State and the UN’s mission established to help promote accountability for the jihadist group’s crimes.
Iraqi officials say the country has come a long way from the sectarian bloodletting after the US-led invasion and Islamic State’s attempt to establish a caliphate, and that it no longer needs so much international help.
Some critics worry about the stability of the young democracy, given recurring conflict and the presence of many heavily armed military-political groups that have often battled on the streets, the last time in 2022.
Some diplomats and UN officials also worry about human rights and accountability in a country that frequently ranks among the world’s most corrupt and where activists say freedom of expression has been curtailed in recent years.
Iraq’s government says it is working to fight corruption and denies there is less room for free expression.
Somalia’s government also requested the termination of a UN political mission this week. In a letter to the Security Council, the country’s foreign minister called for the departure of the Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), which has advised the government on peace-building, security reforms and democracy for over a decade. He provided no reason.
Iraq requests end of UN assistance mission by end-2025
https://arab.news/w3z4h
Iraq requests end of UN assistance mission by end-2025
- Prime PM said Iraq wanted to deepen cooperation with other UN organizations but there was no longer a need for the political work of the UN assistance mission
Iraq detains at least 12 after latest attack on Baghdad KFC
- The attack caused significant damage but no injuries to staff or customers, the sources said
BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces cracked down on rioters in Baghdad who were attacking a KFC on Monday, wounding three with live fire and detaining at least 12, security and medical sources told Reuters.
The attack on a KFC on the city’s Palestine Street is at least the third in just over a week and was reported just as a senior official in the Iran-backed Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah released a statement calling on Iraqis to “boycott and expel” US brands.
The attack caused significant damage but no injuries to staff or customers, the sources said.
The store was opened by Americana Group, the Middle East and North Africa franchisee of fast-food restaurants KFC and Pizza Hut. Americana did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iraqi security forces did not immediately comment on Monday night’s attacks.
The KFC brand, previously known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is owned by US-based Yum! Brands.
Iraq has been trying to encourage foreign businesses to set up shop in the country amid a period of relative stability that has at times been shaken by security incidents, including months of tit-for-tat attacks between Iran-backed armed groups and US forces.
Western brands in many parts of the world have been facing boycotts and other protests during the Israel-Hamas war, reflecting public anger over Israel’s military operation that has killed more than 36,000 people in Gaza, according to health authorities there, and caused a humanitarian crisis.
The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others, of whom some 120 remain in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Europeans submit draft resolution against Iran to IAEA board, text shows
VIENNA: Britain, France and Germany have formally submitted a draft resolution against Iran to the UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors for it to be voted on later this week, the text sent on to member states by the watchdog showed on Monday.
The draft text seen by Reuters follows up on a resolution passed 18 months ago ordering Tehran to urgently comply with an International Atomic Energy Agency investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites in Iran. Iran still has not explained traces found at two sites, the IAEA said on Monday.
Netanyahu to address US Congress on June 13, Punchbowl reports
- The Israeli premier is unlikely to meet with Biden during his time in Washington
WASHINGTON: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint meeting of the US Congress on June 13, Punchbowl News reported on Monday, following an invitation by top lawmakers intended as a show of support despite partisan divides over the Gaza war.
Netanyahu’s handling of the war, during which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, has heightened tensions with President Joe Biden’s administration.
The Israeli premier is unlikely to meet with Biden during his time in Washington. The US president is scheduled to be in Puglia, Italy, for a G7 leaders’ summit taking place June 13-15.
Addresses to joint meetings of Congress by foreign leaders are a rare honor generally reserved for the closest US allies or major world figures. Netanyahu has already given three such addresses, most recently in 2015.
This speech would make Netanyahu the first foreign leader to address joint meetings of Congress four times. He is currently tied at three with Britain’s wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill.
The Gaza war was precipitated by a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 that killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Palestinian health authorities estimate more than 36,280 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel attacked the enclave.
Israel declares 4 more hostages are dead in Gaza, including 3 older men from Hamas video
JERUSALEM: Four more hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7 were declared dead by the Israeli military — including three older men seen in a Hamas video begging to be released. Monday’s announcement heightens pressure on the Israeli government to agree to a US ceasefire proposal that could secure the return of the hostages still held in Gaza and end the eight-month war.
About 80 hostages in Gaza are believed to be alive, alongside the remains of 43 others. In the days since President Joe Biden announced the ceasefire proposal Friday, Israel has seen some of its largest protests calling on the government to bring them home. Although Biden said the proposal was Israeli, the Israeli leadership has appeared to distance itself from the plan, vowing to keep conducting military operations against Hamas until the militant group is destroyed.
All four of the men declared dead Monday night — Nadav Popplewell, Amiram Cooper, Yoram Metzger and Haim Peri — were kidnapped and taken into Gaza still alive, according to the Hostages Forum, a grassroots group representing the families of the hostages.
“It is time to end this cycle of sacrifice and neglect,” the group said following the announcement. “Their murder in captivity is a mark of disgrace and a sad reflection on the significance of delaying previous deals.” The group called on the government to immediately approve the new ceasefire plan.
Hundreds of people, including relatives of the captives, gathered outside Israel’s Defense Ministry and military headquarters in central Tel Aviv late Monday, calling for a deal. Smaller protests took place across the country.
About 100 captives were released during a weeklong exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners in November. Three of the men declared dead Monday had female relatives who were released during the exchange.
Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the four hostages were killed while they were together, during the army’s operation in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. He said the four were killed months ago, but that recent operations allowed the military to gather enough intelligence to confirm the deaths.
Their bodies are still being held by Hamas, and the cause of death was not immediately known. Hamas claimed in May that the other hostage pronounced deceased, Nadav Popplewell, died after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike, but provided no evidence. Popplewell was over 50.
“We are checking all of the options. There are a lot of questions,” Hagari said.
Cooper, Metzger and Peri were all age 80 or older. They appeared in a video in December released by Hamas under the title, “Don’t let us grow old here.” In the video, the three men appear gaunt, wearing thin white T-shirts.
“We are the generation who built the foundation for the state of Israel,” Peri said, noting that all the men had chronic illnesses. “We do not understand why we have been abandoned here.”
Cooper was an economist and one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, according to the hostages forum. Metzger helped to found the kibbutz winery and Peri built the community’s art gallery and sculpture garden.
Nir Oz was among the hardest-hit towns near the border with Gaza during the Hamas attack Oct. 7, when Palestinian militants stormed Israel, killing some 1,200 people and hauling around 250 hostages back to Gaza.
The news late Monday came after an announcement earlier in the day that the body of a presumed hostage, Dolev Yehud, 35, was found in a community near the Gaza border that Hamas militants had attacked on Oct. 7. Yehud was thought to be among scores of hostages held in Gaza until Monday, when the military announced the discovery of his body and said he had been killed in the initial attack.
Israeli bombardments and ground operations in Gaza have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Israel has been expanding its offensive in the southern city of Rafah, once the main hub of humanitarian aid operations. The Israeli invasion of Rafah has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians facing widespread hunger.
Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted ‘military site’ in Israel’s port city Eilat
CAIRO: Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted a military site on Israel’s port city of Eilat with a new ballistic missile, the Iranian-backed group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Monday.
The Houthi militia, which controls the most populous parts of Yemen and is aligned with Iran, has attacked ships off its coast for months, saying it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in Gaza.
The group targeted the military site “with a ballistic missile ‘Palestine’ that is being revealed today for the first time, and the operation has successfully achieved its objective,” Saree said in a televised address.
