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.



Lebanon: Hezbollah Says it Launches First Drone Attack on Israel's Ashdod Naval Base

File photo: Members of Israeli security and emergency services deploy at the site of a shooting on the Yavne interchange, near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on October 15, 2024. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
File photo: Members of Israeli security and emergency services deploy at the site of a shooting on the Yavne interchange, near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on October 15, 2024. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
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Lebanon: Hezbollah Says it Launches First Drone Attack on Israel's Ashdod Naval Base

File photo: Members of Israeli security and emergency services deploy at the site of a shooting on the Yavne interchange, near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on October 15, 2024. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
File photo: Members of Israeli security and emergency services deploy at the site of a shooting on the Yavne interchange, near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on October 15, 2024. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)

Lebanon's Hezbollah has launched a drone attack on the Ashdod naval base in southern Israel for the first time, the Iran-backed group said on Sunday in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the attack.
On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut killed at least 20 people, as the once-rare attacks on the heart of Lebanon's capital continued without warning while diplomats scrambled to broker a cease-fire.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said 66 people were wounded in the strikes, which were the fourth in central Beirut in less than a week.
US envoy Amos Hochstein traveled to the region in pursuit of a deal to end months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that has erupted into full-on war.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
Also Saturday, a drone strike killed two people and injured three in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre. Other airstrikes killed eight people, including four children, in the eastern town of Shmustar, five others in the southern village of Roumin, and another five people in the northeastern village of Budai.