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UN Mission in Iraq to End Next Year

13 January 2023, Berlin: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani makes remarks at a press conference at the German Federal Chancellery. (dpa)
13 January 2023, Berlin: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani makes remarks at a press conference at the German Federal Chancellery. (dpa)
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UN Mission in Iraq to End Next Year

13 January 2023, Berlin: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani makes remarks at a press conference at the German Federal Chancellery. (dpa)
13 January 2023, Berlin: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani makes remarks at a press conference at the German Federal Chancellery. (dpa)

At the request of Baghdad, the UN Security Council unanimously decided Friday that the United Nations political mission in Iraq would leave the country at the end of 2025 after more than 20 years.

Earlier this month, in a letter to the council, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) to be closed.

Al-Sudani said UNAMI had overcome "great and varied challenges" and that "the grounds for having a political mission in Iraq" no longer exist.

The UNSC resolution adopted on Friday extended the mission's mandate for "a final 19-month period until 31 December 2025 after which UNAMI will cease all work and operations."

The mission was established by a UN Security Council resolution in 2003 at the request of the Iraqi government after the US-led invasion and fall of Saddam Hussein.

It advises the government on political dialogue and reconciliation, as well as helping with elections and security sector reform.

During the mission's previous renewal in May 2023, the Council asked the secretary-general to launch a strategic review, which was overseen by German diplomat Volker Perthes.

In a report issued in March, Perthes signaled that an end to the mandate could be appropriate, concluding that "the two-year period identified by the government for the mission's drawdown can be a sufficient time frame to make further progress."

He also said that the period would provide time to reassure reluctant Iraqis that the transition "will not lead to a reversal of democratic gains or threaten peace and security."

Given that UN missions can only operate with the host nation's consent, Russia, China, Britain and France this month all voiced support for a transition in the partnership between Iraq and the United Nations.

The United States was more vague, with UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield saying UNAMI still had "important work to do," and making no mention of Baghdad's request.

She emphasized the mission's role in organizing elections and promoting human rights, even though Iraq asked that the mission focus more on economic issues.

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Arab World

Israeli War Planes Pound Beirut Suburb, Hezbollah Strikes Back

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
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Israeli War Planes Pound Beirut Suburb, Hezbollah Strikes Back

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)

The Israeli military pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes on Tuesday, mounting one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the Hezbollah-controlled area after the defense minister ruled out a ceasefire until Israeli goals were met.

Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs from mid-morning. After posting warnings to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut, including command centers and weapons production sites.

It said it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians and repeated its standing accusation that Hezbollah deliberately embeds itself into civilian areas to use residents as human shields, a charge Hezbollah rejects.

In northern Israel, two people were killed in the city of Nahariya when a residential building was hit by a missile, Israeli police said.

Israelis were forced to take shelter across the north as attack drones were launched from Lebanon, the military said. One hit the yard of a kindergarten in a Haifa suburb, where the children had been rushed into a shelter, rescue workers said. None were hurt.

An Israeli strike back across the border killed five people in the Lebanese village of Baalchmay southeast of Beirut, and five more were killed in a strike on the town of Tefahta in the south, Lebanon's health ministry said. Another person was killed in a strike in Hermel in the northeast, it said.

Beirut residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing it in September. Footage of one strike shared on social media showed two missiles slamming into a building of around 10 storeys, demolishing it and sending up clouds of debris.

Ignited by the Gaza war, the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah had been rumbling on for a year before Israel went on the offensive in September, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.

Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows, killing many of its leaders including Hassan Nasrallah, flattening large areas of the southern suburbs, destroying border villages in the south, and striking more widely across Lebanon.

Since hostilities erupted a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,287 people in Lebanon, the majority in the last seven weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon over the last year.

WAR GOALS

Israel's new defense minister Israel Katz said on Monday there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel achieves its goals.

"Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel's right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own, and meet the goals of the war in Lebanon - disarming Hezbollah and its withdrawal beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes," he said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had said earlier on Monday there had been "a certain progress" in ceasefire talks but the main challenge facing any ceasefire deal would be enforcement.

The Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire based on the full implementation of a UN resolution that ended a war between the group and Israel in 2006.

The resolution calls for the area south of the Litani to be free of all weapons other than those of the Lebanese state. Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of violating the resolution.

Israel's offensive has driven more than 1 million people from their homes in Lebanon, causing a humanitarian crisis.

Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the area over the last year.