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ISIS Dormant Cells Pave Way for Open US Presence in Iraq

A US soldier in Iraq. (AFP)
A US soldier in Iraq. (AFP)
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ISIS Dormant Cells Pave Way for Open US Presence in Iraq

A US soldier in Iraq. (AFP)
A US soldier in Iraq. (AFP)

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari hinted on Monday about the possibility of keeping American troops in Iraq for the long term due to dormant ISIS cells.

“The military intervention of the international coalition in Iraq and the support it offered to the Iraqi government in its war against ISIS were based on conditions that do not violate the country’s sovereignty,” al-Jaafari said.

The US-led international coalition was launched in 2016 to retake ISIS-held regions in Iraq.

The foreign minister said that the presence of this coalition “will continue until dormant ISIS cells currently present in the country are dealt with.”

Fears concerning the security situation in Iraq emerged after the appearance of men from the “White Flags” group in certain Iraqi areas close to Kurdish-majority zones, also driving concerns that the group could become a new version of ISIS, whose military defeat in Iraq was declared last week.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Monday that the focus in the next phase would be directed towards intelligence efforts, a strategy already kicked off by security and military apparatuses.

In Baghdad's district of Bataween, Iraqi security forces arrested around 256 suspects, including some accused of belonging to terrorist cells, according to a statement issued by Iraqi Interior Minister Qasim al-Araji.

Meanwhile, sources close to the Iraqi prime minister said there “is no presence of any US military bases in Iraq, despite the existence of contrary statements concerning this issue.”

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday, Ihsan Al Shameri, the head of the Political Thought Center in Baghdad said that “the presence of US and international coalition advisers was limited in Iraqi military bases, which operate under Iraqi orders.”

In that context, Hisham al-Hashemi, a defense analyst in Baghdad, asserted to Asharq Al-Awsat there were no purely US military bases in Iraq, except those already present in Irbil.

“The US forces in other Iraqi areas operate in joint bases with the Iraqi side, including the international coalition forces, which are responsible for training and supporting the mission of Iraqi forces,” he said.

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A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
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A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa

An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
At a previous hearing, Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, had pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales for about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the UK and US as a Hezbollah financier, took place between October 2020 and December 2021. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the UK or US from trading with Ahmad or his businesses, The Associated Press said.
Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey.
In addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license — a period of time after a prison sentence ends when an offender must stay out of trouble or risk going back to prison.
She told Ojiri he had been involved in a commercial relationship “for prestige and profit” and that until his involvement with Ahmad, he was “someone to be admired.”
“You knew about Ahmad’s suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by someone like him," she said. "This is the nadir — there is one direction your life can go and I am confident that you will not be in front of the courts again.”
The Met’s investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the US, which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies.
“This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence.
Two years ago, the UK Treasury froze Ahmad’s assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group.
Following Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the UK The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.