Today (Saturday) Iraqi demonstrators again infiltrated the government quarter in Baghdad and clashed with the security forces in protest of the attempt to establish a pro-Iranian government.
Dozens of protesters were injured after the forces used means to disperse demonstrations, including stun grenades, gas bombs and a water cannon.
As you may recall, the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the great winner of the Iraqi elections in October 2021, ordered his people to resign from the parliament.
However, he remains one of the most influential people in Iraqi politics and in recent days he has been sending hundreds of his people to demonstrate in the Government Quarter in Baghdad.
The latter strove to curb Iranian influence in the country and in the last elections hoped to form a government.
On Wednesday, al-Sadr's men invaded the parliament and caused a riot there.
Sadr's demonstrators protested against the "Adjustment Framework" - the bloc of pro-Iranian parties that decided to appoint Mohammad Shia al-Sudani as the designated prime minister.
By the way, the "adjustment framework" was the main beneficiary of the withdrawal of al-Sadr's people from the parliament.
However, even the attempt to appoint a president - the first step in the process of forming the government - is delayed.
The prime minister of the Kurdish region, Messeror Barzani, began to promote the confederation model, with the aim of giving the Kurds and other minorities more powers to manage their affairs.
Demonstrators in the government district in Baghdad, photo: Reuters
Barzani told the UK's Chatham Policy Institute think tank that confederation could be a solution for all Iraqis.
At the same time, the British "Guardian" newspaper also noted that the dilution of US forces in Iraq pushed Kurdish elements to consider establishing a government with the pro-Iranian forces.
The difficulty in appointing a president and forming a government is also related to negotiations within the Kurdish community itself. A member of the Kurdish Democratic Party told the newspaper "Al-Arabi Al-Jadid" that, as of now, "no agreement has been reached between the two Kurdish parties regarding the position of the president.
The case is still complicated.
The decision is very difficult and we did not notice any flexibility from the al-Etihad party (another Kurdish party; ŞAK) which stuck to its candidate Barhum Salah.
The British "Guardian" newspaper estimated that after many months of political crisis, Iran will pave the way for the renewal of its control over key areas of Iraq - and will be able to dictate its terms for the establishment of a government.
The newspaper mentioned that in Erbil, northern Iraqi Kurdistan, pro-Iranian militias are creating uncertainty by launching rockets at various facilities.
As a result, leaders there change their positions.
This after the Kurds initially supported al-Sadr's bloc, whose men withdrew a few weeks ago.
A senior Kurdish official noted that in the end Tehran has an advantage over Washington in Iraq.
"There is a permanent factor that will continue to prolong and manipulate the USA.
This was a predictable outcome that could have been prevented.
It took La-Sader ten months to accept it.
He stopped it because he understood what many still refuse to accept - Iran is here to stay."
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