Iraq Reopens 600 Main Streets, Lifts 281 Security Checkpoints in Baghdad

An aerial view of central Baghdad. Reuters file photo
An aerial view of central Baghdad. Reuters file photo
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Iraq Reopens 600 Main Streets, Lifts 281 Security Checkpoints in Baghdad

An aerial view of central Baghdad. Reuters file photo
An aerial view of central Baghdad. Reuters file photo

Remarkable improvement in life conditions has been recorded in Baghdad as a result of local authorities renovating and reopening streets.

At least 600 main streets and exits in Baghdad and its surrounding neighborhoods have been reopened, Director of Baghdad Operations Command Media Office Brigadier General Qasim Atiya told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Thousands of concrete blocks that were suffocating the capital were also lifted, he said.

“In recent months, we have removed 281 control and security checkpoints in Baghdad and 50 percent of the remaining security points are being removed," said Atiya.

The official added increased intelligence and incremental success in upholding security will play a major part in keeping the capital safe.

"The alternatives are to work on a major intelligence effort, and we have made progress in this regard, and military operations we have carried out in the Baghdad belt have made a big difference in security," said Atiya.

On erecting a fence and security gates, an announcement made earlier by the Command to secure the capital, Atiya pointed out that “construction is underway in this direction, and we have benefited from the concrete blocks that were lifted from the streets in securing vital intersections.”

Atiya revealed that the removed blocks ”will be reused to set up a security fence around Baghdad to prevent terrorists from accessing the Iraqi capital and posing a threat to its residents.”

Baghdad Mayoralty Spokesman Hakim Abdul-Zahra estimated the number of unregulated housing units in the capital by about 250,000.

He made note of extensive infringements against water networks, public sidewalks and public property.

“For five months we have been tackling transgressions in most areas of Baghdad. So far we have raised over 5,000 cases,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He pointed out that “violations come under different categories, such as encroaching on main and subsidiary water pipes.”

“We have already removed 282 violations against the capital’s water networks located in Sadr City,” he noted.

Mentioning another type of violations, Abdul-Zahra said that the Mayoralty is also pursuing street vendors operating unlicensed kiosks on sidewalks, and building housing units constructed on public property.

Among the difficult challenges facing taskforce members are the violent threats by trespassers, reaching the point of “death threats” at times, and tribal condemnation.

Despite the arms threat, the taskforce is determined to carry operations through and clean up Baghdad’s streets, said Abdul-Zahra.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
TT

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.