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Rising Tensions Between Baghdad and Erbil: Beginning of a New Phase?

Judges from Baghdad and Erbil during a seminar on the Iraqi Constitution (Government Media file photo)
Judges from Baghdad and Erbil during a seminar on the Iraqi Constitution (Government Media file photo)
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Rising Tensions Between Baghdad and Erbil: Beginning of a New Phase?

Judges from Baghdad and Erbil during a seminar on the Iraqi Constitution (Government Media file photo)
Judges from Baghdad and Erbil during a seminar on the Iraqi Constitution (Government Media file photo)

Iraqi experts foresee escalation in tensions between Erbil’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad following recent Federal Court decisions and the resignation of a Kurdish judge.

They note that while relations between the two capitals are heating up, political divisions within Kurdish factions may limit their ability to take decisive actions.

Previously, Erbil played a significant role in federal politics, primarily clashing with Shiite parties in Baghdad, notably Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party.

However, recent disputes have shifted towards legal and constitutional matters addressed by Iraq’s top court.

Baghdad’s alleged political moves against the KRG are prompting Erbil to respond.

The recent withdrawal of Kurdish Judge Abdul Rahman Zibari from the Federal Court, supported by the party of Masoud Barzani (Kurdistan Democratic Party), seems aimed at disrupting the court’s operations.

It’s seen as an attempt to upset the ethnic and national balance among its members, according to some legal experts.

The Kurdistan Region Judiciary Council sharply criticized the Federal Court on Wednesday for its decision to annul the minority quota. This move, from the Kurdish perspective, is seen as applying constitutional pressure on Baghdad and the Federal Court.

The head of the Kurdistan Judicial Council, Judge Abdul Jabbar Aziz Hassan, on Wednesday stated that Iraq became a federal state in 2004 with the State Administration Law.

Its governance system, outlined in Article 4, is based on historical and geographical facts, separating powers between the center and the Kurdistan Region, he added in an official statement.

The 2005 constitution recognized the Kurdistan Region and its authorities, granting it powers except for those reserved for federal authorities.

Judge Hassan explained that anything not exclusively under federal authority is within the region's jurisdiction. He emphasized that regional laws take precedence over federal laws in areas of shared authority.

He criticized the Federal Court for overstepping its legal boundaries, citing its decision to cancel the minority quota in the Kurdistan Parliament election law.

Kurdistan’s judiciary believes that the division of electoral districts is solely the regional parliament's responsibility, not the Federal Court's.

KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani reaffirmed the region’s commitment to its constitutional rights, stating that they wouldn't be relinquished under any pressure or circumstances.

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'Deadly Blockade' Leaves Gaza Aid Work on Verge of Collapse: UN, Red Cross

A man stands on the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli strike in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip - AFP
A man stands on the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli strike in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip - AFP
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'Deadly Blockade' Leaves Gaza Aid Work on Verge of Collapse: UN, Red Cross

A man stands on the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli strike in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip - AFP
A man stands on the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli strike in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip - AFP

Two months into Israel's full blockade on aid into Gaza, humanitarians described Friday horrific scenes of starving, bloodied children and people fighting over water, with aid operations on the "verge of total collapse".

The United Nations and the Red Cross sounded the alarm at the dire situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, demanding international action.

"The humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of total collapse," the International Committee of the Red Cross warned in a statement.

"Without immediate action, Gaza will descend further into chaos that humanitarian efforts will not be able to mitigate."

Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war.

Since the start of the blockade, the United Nations has repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming.

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) said a week ago that it had sent out its "last remaining food stocks" to kitchens.

- 'The blockade is deadly' -

"Food stocks have now mainly run out," Olga Cherevko, a spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva Friday via video link from Gaza City.

"Community kitchens have begun to shut down (and) more people are going hungry," she said, pointing to reports of children and other very vulnerable people who have died from malnutrition and ... from the lack of food".

"The blockade is deadly."

Water access was also "becoming impossible", she warned.

"In fact, as I speak to you, just downstairs from this building people are fighting for water. There's a water truck that has just arrived, and people are killing each other over water," she said.

The situation is so bad, she said that a friend had described to her a few days ago seeing "people burning ... because of the explosions and there was no water to save them".

At the same time, Cherevko lamented that "hospitals report running out of blood units as mass casualties continue to arrive".

"Gaza lies in ruins, Rubble fills the streets... Many nights, blood-curdling screams of the injured pierce the skies following the deafening sound of another explosion."

- 'Abomination' -

She also decried the mass displacement, with nearly the entire Gaza population being forced to shift multiple times prior to the brief ceasefire.

Since the resumption of hostilities, she said "over 420,000 people have been once again forced to flee, many with only the clothes on their backs, shot at along the way, arriving in overcrowded shelters, as tents and other facilities where people search safety, are being bombed".

Pascal Hundt, the ICRC's deputy head of operations, also cautioned that "civilians in Gaza are facing an overwhelming daily struggle to survive the dangers of hostilities, cope with relentless displacement, and endure the consequences of being deprived of urgent humanitarian assistance".

The World Health Organization's emergencies director Mike Ryan said the situation was an "abomination".

"We are breaking the bodies and the minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza," he told reporters on Thursday.

Cherevko slammed decision makers who "have watched in silence the endless scenes of bloodied children, of severed limbs, of grieving parents move swiftly across their screens, month, after month, after month".

"How much more blood must be spilled before enough become enough?"