Iraqi Government Takes Security Measures to Protect Embassies in Baghdad

Iraqi security forces in Baghdad (File photo: Reuters)
Iraqi security forces in Baghdad (File photo: Reuters)
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Iraqi Government Takes Security Measures to Protect Embassies in Baghdad

Iraqi security forces in Baghdad (File photo: Reuters)
Iraqi security forces in Baghdad (File photo: Reuters)

Iraq's Joint Operations Command of the Defense Ministry directed the necessity of strengthening security measures at the foreign embassies in Baghdad, namely those of countries that expressed "negative positions" regarding the events in the Gaza Strip.

The Joint Operations instructed the Directorate of Police for the Protection of Embassies and Diplomats to boost the units and security measures near the Turkish Cultural Center in al-Weziriye, the Ukrainian and Bahraini embassies in al-Mansour area, and the French embassy on al-Saadoun Street near Kahramana Square.

Concerning the US and British embassies in the Green Zone, the joint operations instructed the command of the Special Division to take the necessary security measures.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government announced Thursday that Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani had directed a dispatch of humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.

Iraq’s government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement that, in coordination with the Egyptian authorities, Iraq decided to send medical and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.

Furthermore, the leader of the Sadr Movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, called for a million-man protest that brought together the Iraqi people from numerous governorates after Friday prayers against the occupation.

Also, Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Ali al-Sistani called on the world to stand up to the "terrible brutality" happening in Gaza and prevent Israel from inflicting further harm on the Palestinian people.

Prominent Shiite leader Bashir al-Najafi urged the "honorable people of the world" to stand firmly with the Palestinian people, defending their natural rights to reclaim their usurped land.

In a statement released by his office, he emphasized that eradicating this "cancerous tumor" requires the collective efforts of honorable believers.

In addition, the Secretary-General of the Islamic Dawa Party in Iraq and former Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, warned foreign countries against providing military aid to Israel because it would expand the scope of the war.

Maliki warned in a video message that any military assistance to Israelis represents an actual participation in the war against the Palestinian people.

He asserted that ISIS and Zionism are two sides of the same coin, saluting the Palestinian people in their battle against the Zionist entity.

Maliki said that the organized killing of Palestinians in Gaza by the Zionist military machine represents a continuation of the Zionist doctrine of brutal genocide.

The former official noted that this is a "disgrace on the foreheads of countries that say they defend rights and incite the Zionist entity to commit crimes."

"Where are the United Nations, the international system, where are human rights, and is there anything worse than what we are seeing today regarding support for the treacherous Zionist war machine?" wondered Maliki, referring to the Muslim and Arab countries supporting Palestinians and their rights.



Rockets Fired from Gaza into Israel, Tanks Advance in North and South

People walk at the remains of a market after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
People walk at the remains of a market after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
TT

Rockets Fired from Gaza into Israel, Tanks Advance in North and South

People walk at the remains of a market after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
People walk at the remains of a market after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday, in an apparent show of force as Israeli tanks pressed their advance deeper into Gaza amid fierce fighting, residents and officials said.
The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed ally of Hamas, said its fighters fired rockets towards several Israeli settlements near the fence with Gaza in response to "the crimes of the Zionist enemy against our Palestinian people".
The volley of around 20 rockets caused no casualties, according to the Israeli military. But it showed militants still possess rocket capabilities almost nine months into Israel's offensive it says is aimed at neutralizing threats against it.
In some parts of Gaza, militants continue to stage attacks on Israeli forces in areas that the army had left months ago.
On Monday, Israeli tanks deepened their incursions into the Shejaia suburb in eastern Gaza City for a fifth day, and tanks advanced further in western and central Rafah, in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt, residents said.
According to Reuters, the Israeli military said it had killed a number of militants in combat in Shejaia on Monday and found large amounts of weapons there.
Hamas said that, in Rafah, its militants lured an Israeli force into a booby-trapped house in the east of the city and then blew it up, causing casualties.
Also in Rafah, the Israeli military said that an airstrike killed a militant who fired an anti-tank missile at its troops.
Israel has signaled that its operation in Rafah, meant to stamp out Hamas, will soon be concluded. After the intense phase of the war is over, its forces will focus on smaller scale operations meant to stop Hamas reassembling, officials say.

More than 37,900 Palestinians have been killed and 87,060 have been injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday.