‘Serious’ Indications of Possible Assassination Attempts in Baghdad, Other Iraqi Cities

Iraqi security forces walk with their weapons (File photo: Reuters)
Iraqi security forces walk with their weapons (File photo: Reuters)
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‘Serious’ Indications of Possible Assassination Attempts in Baghdad, Other Iraqi Cities

Iraqi security forces walk with their weapons (File photo: Reuters)
Iraqi security forces walk with their weapons (File photo: Reuters)

Senior security officials have said there were "serious" indications of possible assassinations in Baghdad and other cities, against the backdrop of the ongoing political conflict between Muqtada Sadr's movement and the Coordination Framework.

An Iraqi security source quoted Iraqi officers of the Interior Ministry and the National Security Service as saying that they expected assassination attempts against activists from the Sadr Movement and Tishreen Forces.

Local media circulated a document issued by the Baghdad Operations Command that included information about the intention of armed groups to carry out assassinations. Although it was not possible to verify the authenticity of the text, the security source confirmed the presence of such a document.

Iraqi activists fear the Iraqi government will not be able to deter the murder attempts.

An activist from the Tishreen Movement said that the protest committees in Baghdad and other cities circulated security information about threats to activists, warning them against engaging in a plot to overthrow legitimacy, and working with the Sadrist movement.

However, militants loyal to the Sadrist movement are still launching attacks on the headquarters of the Framework parties, and targeting the homes of leaders of the armed factions.

A Sadrist official said they met with Tishreen officials, but did not agree on unifying any move except for agreeing on the same goals.

The Sadrist movement is trying to pressure the Iraqi government to take quick measures to “dismantle” the armed factions in the Green Zone, and make structural changes in the leadership of the Popular Mobilization Authority (PMA).

A Sadrist spokesman asked Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi to remove the head of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Faleh al-Fayyadh.



Trump’s Nominee for Ambassador to Israel Avoids Direct Answers on West Bank Annexation

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Trump’s Nominee for Ambassador to Israel Avoids Direct Answers on West Bank Annexation

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)

Mike Huckabee, facing a US Senate hearing for his confirmation as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, is facing close questioning from Democrats on his views on the potential for Israeli annexation of the West Bank, but he avoided giving direct answers.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, asked Huckabee whether he thought it would be wrong for a Jewish settler to push a Palestinian family off land they own in the West Bank.

Huckabee, a well-known evangelical Christian, stood by past statements that Israel has a “Biblical mandate” to the land. He also responded by saying he believed in the “law being followed” and “clarity,” but also that “purchasing the land” would be a “legitimate transaction.”

Huckabee also said that any Palestinians living in an annexed West Bank would have “security” and “opportunity,” but wouldn’t answer Van Hollen’s questions about whether they would have the same legal and political rights as Jewish people.

Four pro-Palestinian demonstrators interrupted the hearing in the Senate to decry Huckabee’s ardent support for Israel.

One blew a shofar, a ram’s horn used for Jewish religious purposes, and another shouted, “I am a proud American Jew!” then “Let Palestinians live!”

Police quickly grabbed the protesters, but their shouts could still be momentarily heard in the Senate hallway.

Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and one-time Republican presidential hopeful, has taken stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that sharply contradict longstanding US policy in the region.

He has spoken favorably in the past about Israel’s right to annex the occupied West Bank and has long been opposed to the idea of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian people.

In an interview last year, he went even further, saying that he doesn’t even believe in referring to the Arab descendants of people who lived in British-controlled Palestine as “Palestinians.”