Iran’s Quds Force Commander in Baghdad Hours after Prominent PMF Member’s Release

Muslih after his release on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Muslih after his release on Wednesday. (Reuters)
TT

Iran’s Quds Force Commander in Baghdad Hours after Prominent PMF Member’s Release

Muslih after his release on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Muslih after his release on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, Esmail Qaani arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday hours after authorities released prominent member of the pro-Tehran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Qassem Muslih.

Senior sources said the Iranian official’s visit was aimed at coordinating with the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Muslih was arrested two weeks ago by police intelligence on suspicion of ordering the May 9 killing of prominent anti-government activist Ihab al-Wazni, who was shot dead by men on motorbikes using a silencer.

Muslih was welcomed by PMF colleagues in Iraq's Karbala city following his release, AFP journalists said.

Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement that it had found “no proof of his involvement”, and that it had established “that he was not in Iraq at the time of Mr. Wazni's assassination”.

But a senior official decried the decision to release Muslih.

“The government presented all available evidence, but the judges have decided to release him because of pressure exerted on them,” said the official, who wished to remain anonymous.

In wake of Muslih's arrest, security forces had barred entry to Baghdad's high-security Green Zone -- home to the US embassy, parliament and the premier's office -- after the PMF quickly deployed armed men and armored vehicles in a show of force.

Senior sources had told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday that the government and armed factions were seeking a settlement to defuse the tensions.

The settlement would have called for his release in return for easing the tensions.

“The political settlement, which Iran has urgently been pushing for, demands that the PMF completely cease its raids of government facilities, while Kadhimi would hold back from targeting major Shiite PMF members,” revealed the sources.

Sources close to the PMF said that Qaani carried “clear and specific” messages from the Iranian regime to prolong the calm in Iraq, especially in light of the recent crisis.

Kadhimi, in return, informed the Iranians through Qaani that the government “will not allow the state’s authority to be violated.”

The sources said that the negotiations for Muslih’s release witnessed massive pressure on Iraqi authorities to turn a blind eye to the investigations that were carried out with him.

Qaani’s visit was aimed at putting this case to rest permanently, they added.

The Iranian official’s trip coincided with preparations by armed factions to hold a military parade in mid-June to mark top religious authority, Ali al-Sistani’s call in 2014 to fight the ISIS terror group.

A senior PMF source said that Kadhimi will attend the parade.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source added that some 70 PMF military units will take part in the event, which will feature Russian armored vehicles and tanks that were manufactured in Iran.

Moreover, the official said he has received requests from Iranian officers to attend the parade, a precedent since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003.

The senior source revealed that Kadhimi has yet made up his mind about attending the parade, due to the arrangements that the factions are proposing.

The PM, meanwhile, wants to adopt common protocol for these sorts of events, in his capacity as commander of the armed forces.



Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
TT

Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled.

The warning came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war.

The United Nations and others have repeatedly decried humanitarian conditions, particularly in northern Gaza, where Israel said Friday it had killed two commanders involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

Gaza medics said an overnight Israeli raid on the cities of Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia resulted in dozens killed or missing.

Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals, told reporters all hospitals in the Palestinian territory "will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation's (Israel's) obstruction of fuel entry".

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including 8 in the intensive care unit" at Kamal Adwan hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza.

Kamal Adwan director Hossam Abu Safia told AFP it was "deliberately hit by Israeli shelling for the second day" Friday and that "one doctor and some patients were injured".

Late Thursday, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, said: "The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt."

He said that for more than six weeks, Israeli authorities "have been banning commercial imports" while "a surge in armed looting" has hit aid convoys.

Issuing the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the Hague-based ICC said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity including over "the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies".

At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.