Supporters of Losing PMF Factions Surround Baghdad’s Green Zone

Pro-Iran militia supporters protest against the elections results in Baghdad. (AFP file photo)
Pro-Iran militia supporters protest against the elections results in Baghdad. (AFP file photo)
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Supporters of Losing PMF Factions Surround Baghdad’s Green Zone

Pro-Iran militia supporters protest against the elections results in Baghdad. (AFP file photo)
Pro-Iran militia supporters protest against the elections results in Baghdad. (AFP file photo)

Supporters of the so-called Coordination Framework, which brings together the majority of Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) factions that lost the recent Iraqi parliamentary elections, staged a protest around Baghdad’s Green Zone on Sunday.

The Green Zone is home to the majority of government buildings and foreign embassies and missions.

The protest was held in an apparent attempt to exert more pressure on the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to force it to amend what they perceive are errors in the electoral process.

The losing factions had rejected the results of the elections, dismissing them as a sham. Their supporters have been holding rallies in protest of their outcomes in spite of international assertions that the polls were fair and lacked any major violations.

The protests were held as the deadline given by the so-called “organizational committee” of the rallies expires on Tuesday. The committee had given the IHEC three days to “amend the electoral process,” calling for a manual recount of the votes.

Coordination Framework protesters had set up tents near the Green Zone on Saturday for what appears to be an open-ended sit-in in the area.

They had kicked off their protests last week. Supporters of the pro-Iran Fatah alliance are among the demonstrators. The alliance was among the biggest losers in the elections, dropping some 30 seats from 48.

Supporters of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, which had emerged as a surprise winner with 34 seats, had also joined the protests.

Informed sources have said that the majority of the protesters are loyal to the PMF and armed factions and that they had taken to the streets at the orders of the higher commanders of the PMF.

Influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who was the victor in the polls, and other winners are wary and have been critical of the protests.

“The losing forces are trying to extort the IHEC to force it to change the results,” said some of the critics.

Maliki at one point had called on the protesters to voice their objections in a civil and organized manner so that the rallies cannot be exploited by rioters.

It remains to be seen what move the protesters, and their backers, will make next.

Hashem al-Kandi, who is close to the armed factions and the so-called “resistance axis”, has said that all options are open after Tuesday’s deadline ends.

Among the options are the storming of the Green Zone and reaching the IHEC and prime minister’s office “to force the government to respect the choices of the people.”

Local observers have ruled out the possibility that the escalation of the losing forces would reach the point of no return given the dangerous repercussions that may have on Iraq, including possible clashes between rival Shiite groups.

They believe that the escalation is aimed at reaping whatever additional parliamentary seats they can get their hands on or at least securing the share of pro-Iran factions in the next government.

Member of the Coordination Framework and head of the Hikma alliance Ammar al-Hakim urged on Saturday the IHEC to seriously consider electoral appeals and complaints “to reflect a shining image of democracy in Iraq.”

He stressed the need for all sides to follow legal and peaceful means to demand their rights.

The IHEC had rejected 95 percent of appeals that have been submitted, citing insufficient evidence and criteria.

On Sunday, it said it will manually recount votes from 234 voting stations based on 18 valid appeals that were submitted in the Salaheddine, Basra and Baghdad provinces.

The recount will be held in the presence of the relevant officials and representatives of competing candidates.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 People in Gaza, Keep up Pressure on North

Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 People in Gaza, Keep up Pressure on North

Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and residents said they feared new air and ground attacks and forced evacuations were aimed at emptying areas in the enclave's north to create buffer zones against Hamas fighters.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said Israel was scaling back the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza, compounding shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies.

Israel denied this. But it said separately on Monday it had officially notified the United Nations that it was ending its relations with UNRWA, which has been a vital provider of aid to Palestinian civilians during the 13-month-long war between Israel and Hamas.

In the latest bloodshed, medics said seven people were killed in an attack on two houses in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahia on Monday. Five more were killed in separate strikes in central and southern parts of the enclave, medics told Reuters.

Several people were wounded in the attacks, they said, adding that Israeli forces had sent tanks into the northeast of Nuseirat camp earlier on Monday.

Israel deployed tanks into Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia on Oct. 5, saying it intended to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces were continuing to bomb the Kamal Adwan Hospital and had injured many staff and patients.

"The medical staff cannot move between the hospital departments and cannot rescue their injured colleagues. It seems that a decision has been made to execute all the staff who refused to evacuate the hospital," it said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on that situation.

Palestinians said the new offensives and orders for people to leave were "ethnic cleansing" aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones. Israel denies this, saying it is combating Hamas fighters who launch attacks from there.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of Palestinians killed since Oct. 5 at 1,800. It said 4,000 others were wounded.

There was no confirmation on the figure from the territory's health ministry and Israel has repeatedly accused the Hamas media office of exaggerating the figures of the dead.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, according to Gaza authorities, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

The war erupted after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

'UNSPEAKABLE SUFFERING'

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday that Israel has scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time. This represented only 6 percent of the commercial and humanitarian supplies that used to enter Gaza before the war, he said.

"This cannot meet the needs of 2 million people, many of whom are starving, sick, and in desperate conditions," Lazzarini said on X.

An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.

Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.

Earlier on Monday, Israel's foreign ministry said it had officially notified the United Nations it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with UNRWA since 1967 - effectively banning it.

"Restricting humanitarian access and at the same time dismantling UNRWA will add an additional layer of suffering to already unspeakable suffering," Lazzarini said.