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Baghdad Money Fails to Stifle Southern Anti-Corruption Protesters

Demonstration against corruption and poor services in Tahrir Square in Baghdad (AP)
Demonstration against corruption and poor services in Tahrir Square in Baghdad (AP)
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Baghdad Money Fails to Stifle Southern Anti-Corruption Protesters

Demonstration against corruption and poor services in Tahrir Square in Baghdad (AP)
Demonstration against corruption and poor services in Tahrir Square in Baghdad (AP)

Civil rights protests continued marching across Southern Iraq despite the outgoing Iraqi government's Thursday announcement on disbursing funds promised by Prime Minister Haider Abadi to central and southern provinces.

Demonstrations went on with protests against corruption and poor services in each of Basra, Maysan, Muthanna, Dhi Qar governorates and even the capital Baghdad.

While Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the supreme religious authority in Iraq, encouraged public riots as the only mean of obtaining rights, another Shiite cleric Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi (one of the top four Najaf references alongside Sistani) urged calm and delaying demands to establish the oil-rich Basra province as an autonomous region.

Najafi’s representative Ahmad al-Safi, during a Friday sermon in Karbala, reiterated the right to protest in demand of rights.

Validating protests, Safi said that any Iraqi has every right to be angered by disrupted life affairs so long that protests are remain restrained and peaceful.

“When a person is exposed to anything that provokes his anger, such as a social problem, economic, political or military, and he decides to take it outside to face and protest it under a controlled manner, then such anger is praiseworthy,” Safi said.

“There are positive effects to anger,” he added.

On the other hand, Salah al-Din residents’ demand for the complete withdrawal of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) factions grew intensively after Khazraj tribal leaders, known as sheikhs or elders, were kidnapped and killed by gunmen who were reported to belong to Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq.

Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, a PMF offshoot, denied its responsibility despite incoming reports.

Salah al-Din’s provincial council joined in the demand and called for “the removal of all armed factions from the province.”

The council also joined popular demands and called on the central government to “intervene and withdraw all paramilitary factions under the banner of the PMF to avoid further problems and clashes.”

Ahmed al-Jubouri, a renowned local politician, was asked to play a role in realizing a PMF exit.

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Former Regime Elements, Drug Traffickers Targeted in Western Homs and Damascus Campaigns

The Anti-Narcotics Department seizes a drug depot belonging to Maher al-Assad in the Sabura area in the Damascus countryside (Ministry of Interior).
The Anti-Narcotics Department seizes a drug depot belonging to Maher al-Assad in the Sabura area in the Damascus countryside (Ministry of Interior).
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Former Regime Elements, Drug Traffickers Targeted in Western Homs and Damascus Campaigns

The Anti-Narcotics Department seizes a drug depot belonging to Maher al-Assad in the Sabura area in the Damascus countryside (Ministry of Interior).
The Anti-Narcotics Department seizes a drug depot belonging to Maher al-Assad in the Sabura area in the Damascus countryside (Ministry of Interior).

The Syrian Military Operations Administration has been pressing its security campaigns aimed at disarming former regime militia remnants and combating drug traffickers across Syria.

On Tuesday, for the third time, the administration, in collaboration with the General Security Directorate, launched a large-scale operation in western rural Homs. The campaign focused on the villages of Jabbourin Rafain, Al-Haysa, Jabbourin, Qaniyat Al-Assi, Tasnin, Kafrnan, Akrad Al-Dasniya, and their surroundings. Simultaneous campaigns were conducted in Aleppo’s Nairab district, Jaramana in the Damascus countryside, and northern Daraa.

Security sources said the operation in rural Homs targets “remnants of Assad militias who refused to surrender their weapons, arms depots, drug dealers, and traffickers,” according to an official statement from the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). Military reinforcements were dispatched to support the campaign in the targeted areas.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the operation in the village of Jabbourin in rural Hama marked the second such operation within a week. The observatory noted that several civilians and military personnel, including those who had reconciled with the government, were arrested. Some detainees were later released, while others remain under investigation.

Residents in rural Homs expressed significant concern about the proliferation of weapons, incidents of abductions, and the escalating fear of retribution. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, they noted a prevailing sense of unease and insecurity, as anonymous actors exploit the current chaos to fuel tensions and instability.

The General Security Directorate in Homs has urged residents in western rural Homs villages and towns to fully cooperate with its forces and the Military Operations Administration to ensure the success of the campaign’s objectives.

In Daraa, southern Syria, the Daraa 24 network reported that the General Security Directorate carried out a raid in the city of Izraa, north of Daraa. During the operation, large quantities of weapons were seized, and warnings were issued to individuals still in possession of firearms to surrender them “to preserve the region’s security and stability.”

An earlier security operation in the Lajat region, located between the Suwayda and Daraa governorates, resulted in the arrest of 18 individuals described as former regime remnants, drug traffickers, and arms dealers. The Syrian Interior Ministry also announced the arrest of “remnant elements and members of a gang involved in the theft of weapons from a warehouse in the Mazraa project area of Damascus.”

Meanwhile, the General Security Directorate released several former regime elements in Damascus after verifying their lack of involvement in violations against the Syrian people. According to local sources cited by Syrian Television, several conscripts detained in Adra Prison in Damascus were freed on Tuesday, with additional releases expected in the coming days.

Last week, the General Security Directorate released 360 detainees, including former regime officers, out of approximately 800 people arrested as part of the Homs security campaign. Following investigations, the authorities confirmed that those individuals were not in possession of weapons and had pledged not to engage in activities against the new Syrian administration.