Biden Urges Iraq 'National Dialogue' in Call with Kadhimi

US President Joe Biden speaks during a bill signing ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, US August 16, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
US President Joe Biden speaks during a bill signing ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, US August 16, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
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Biden Urges Iraq 'National Dialogue' in Call with Kadhimi

US President Joe Biden speaks during a bill signing ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, US August 16, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
US President Joe Biden speaks during a bill signing ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, US August 16, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

US President Joe Biden urged Iraqis Wednesday to support dialogue to resolve a months-long political crisis that erupted into violence, in a call with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Biden “commended” Kadhimi's “personal leadership during escalating tensions and violence over a 24-hour period earlier this week," the White House said in a statement after their call, adding the two leaders agreed to stay in touch in the coming weeks.

Biden and Kadhimi "welcomed the return of security to the streets, and called on all Iraqi leaders to engage in a national dialogue to forge a common way forward consistent with Iraq's constitution and laws," the statement said.

The US leader also voiced support for "a sovereign and independent Iraq.”

Kadhimi had in mid-August called for a national dialogue involving main political leaders, although Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr did not agree to participate.

Tensions escalated sharply Monday when Sadr said he would quit politics, with his supporters storming an area in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone in violence that killed 30 people.



Russia Denies its Hmeimim Base in Syria Is Being Used to Supply Hezbollah with Weapons from Iran

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Russia Denies its Hmeimim Base in Syria Is Being Used to Supply Hezbollah with Weapons from Iran

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)

Russia has asked Israel to avoid launching aerial strikes as part of its war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah near one of Moscow’s bases in Syria, a top official said Wednesday.

Syrian state media in mid-October claimed that Israel had struck the port city of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad, who is supported by Russia and in turn backs Hezbollah.

Latakia, and in particular its airport, is close to the town of Hmeimim that hosts a Russian air base.

“Israel actually carried out an air strike in the immediate vicinity of Hmeimim,” Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy in the Near East, told the RIA Novosti press agency.

“Our military has of course notified Israeli authorities that such acts that put Russian military lives in danger over there are unacceptable,” he added.

“That is why we hope that this incident in October will not be repeated.”

Israel has carried out intensive bombing of Syria but rarely targets Latakia, to the northwest of Damascus.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of transporting weapons through Syria.

The two warring parties have been in open conflict since September after Israel’s year-long Gaza war with Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — escalated to a new front.

Lavrentiev said that Russia’s air base was not being used to supply Hezbollah with weapons.

Israel stepped up strikes on Syria at the same time as targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian government forces and groups supported by its arch-foe Iran, notably Hezbollah fighters that have been deployed to assist Assad’s regime.

Israel rarely comments on its strikes but has said it will not allow Iran to extend its presence to Syria.