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Coordination Framework Approaches Iraq’s Sunnis, Kurds to Form Govt without Sadr

Iraqi demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, Iraq September 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Iraqi demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, Iraq September 2, 2022. (Reuters)
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Coordination Framework Approaches Iraq’s Sunnis, Kurds to Form Govt without Sadr

Iraqi demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, Iraq September 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Iraqi demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, Iraq September 2, 2022. (Reuters)

The Shiite pro-Iran Coordination Framework carried out over three days last week negotiations with Sunni and Kurdish forces to form a new government in Iraq.

The Framework is keen on forming the new cabinet as its rival, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, head of the Sadrist movement has yet to comment on the efforts.

The Framework held talks with the Sunni Azm and Sovereignty alliances and the Kurdish Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Leaks to the media confirmed speculation that the Sunnis and Kurds have set a number of conditions to join the Framework in the new government.

It remains to be seen whether the Sadrists and Framework will meet after the Arbaeen commemoration on Saturday.

An informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the negotiations between the Framework, Sunni and Kurdish forces are not official, rather the latter two parties are “testing the waters” with the former to see whether it would achieve repeated demands that have been ignored for years.

The source said the negotiations are significant because they go to show how far Sadr’s former allies – the Sunnis and Kurds – have grown distant from his movement.

Sunni conditions at the talks included introducing amendments to the parliamentary electoral law within three months, holding parliamentary elections within one year at the latest, amending the counter-terrorism law and reconstructing liberated provinces.

They also demanded the withdrawal of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) from these provinces, uncovering the fate of abducted individuals, and returning the displaced to Jarf al-Sakhir.

These demands and others had fallen on deaf ears in previous governments - that were dominated by Shiite powers – due to political disputes.

Political observers believe the Framework is determined to forge ahead and hold a parliamentary session soon to pave the way for the election of a president and appointment of a new prime minister.

Regardless of what it intends to do, it seems unlikely that it will go far if the Sadrists remain silent, which is also unlikely.

The Framework has an arduous task ahead with negotiating with the Sunnis and Kurds over meeting the demands of the former and having the major Kurdish parties reach an agreement over a presidential candidate.

Should an agreement be reached, then the necessary quorum may be met at parliament to elect a president.

Should the Sadrists have a different say on the matter, then any agreement sought by the Framework with the Sunnis and Kurds will collapse. This is especially true if Sadr were to again mobilize his supporters on the street.

This may again lead to intra-Shiite clashes, further complicating the already complex scene in Iraq and opening it to new unpredictable possibilities.

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Arab World

Egypt Begins Voting in Parliamentary Elections

Motorists drive past a campaign billboard in Giza for the Egyptian parliamentary elections. Khaled DESOUKI / AFP
Motorists drive past a campaign billboard in Giza for the Egyptian parliamentary elections. Khaled DESOUKI / AFP
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Egypt Begins Voting in Parliamentary Elections

Motorists drive past a campaign billboard in Giza for the Egyptian parliamentary elections. Khaled DESOUKI / AFP
Motorists drive past a campaign billboard in Giza for the Egyptian parliamentary elections. Khaled DESOUKI / AFP

Egyptians head to the polls on Monday to elect a new parliament.

The opening of polling stations at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) marks the start of a weeks-long process to fill 568 of the 596 seats in the lower house, with some provinces not voting for another two weeks.

The remaining 28 lawmakers will be appointed directly by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Egyptians abroad cast their ballots on Friday and Saturday. In regions such as Alexandria, voters have until Tuesday to cast their ballots in a first round. Some regions including Cairo will not vote until November 24.

Final results are expected by December 25.

Half of the seats will be filled through closed party lists and the other half by individual candidates, with a quarter of the seats reserved for women.

The parliamentary vote comes more than two months after elections for the senate, the upper chamber, which saw a low turnout of about 17 percent.

The pro-government "National List for Egypt" coalition swept that vote, running unopposed in the party list race.

The coalition is expected to dominate again.

The pro-Sisi Mostaqbal Watan (Nation's Future) party and the National Front party -- headed by former minister Essam al-Gazzar -- lead the 12-member coalition.

Gazzar's newly formed party brings together former government officials and has the financial backing of business tycoon Ibrahim al-Organi.

Opposition groups, meanwhile, remain divided. Some parties are running independently while others have joined pro-government lists.

Arab World

'Killed on Sight': Sudanese Fleeing El-Fasher Recall Ethnic Attacks

Members of army walks near a destroyed military vehicle and bombed buildings, as Sudan's army retakes ground and some displaced residents return to ravaged capital in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 26, 2025. (Reuters)
Members of army walks near a destroyed military vehicle and bombed buildings, as Sudan's army retakes ground and some displaced residents return to ravaged capital in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 26, 2025. (Reuters)
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'Killed on Sight': Sudanese Fleeing El-Fasher Recall Ethnic Attacks

Members of army walks near a destroyed military vehicle and bombed buildings, as Sudan's army retakes ground and some displaced residents return to ravaged capital in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 26, 2025. (Reuters)
Members of army walks near a destroyed military vehicle and bombed buildings, as Sudan's army retakes ground and some displaced residents return to ravaged capital in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 26, 2025. (Reuters)

As he fled the Sudanese city of El-Fasher in terror, Hassan Osman said he saw ethnic attacks by paramilitary forces, with civilians targeted for their tribe and skin color.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war with the army since April 2023, captured the last military stronghold in western Darfur on October 26.

Reports of mass killings, ethnic violence, abductions and sexual assaults have since emerged.

AFP spoke to three survivors of the battle for El-Fasher, who are now seeking shelter in the nearby town of Tawila.

Rights organizations have echoed fears that ethnic killings are taking place in areas under the paramilitaries' control.

An RSF officer rejected the accusations as false.

Osman, a university student from El-Fasher, told AFP that paramilitary fighters singled people out according to their ethnicity.

"They judge you by your tribe, your skin color and where your family is from," he said.

"If you belong to certain tribes, they don't ask any questions, you are killed on sight."

He said the city's streets were "filled with bodies" when he escaped. "Some were slaughtered. Some were eaten by dogs."

Amna Haroun, from the Zaghawa African tribe, said she watched in horror as RSF fighters gunned down her husband and eldest son.

"They killed them right in front of my eyes, saying, 'We don't want you here'," she told AFP.

'Racial insults'

The conflict in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million and triggered a hunger crisis.

Both sides have been accused of committing atrocities over the course of the war.

Darfur is home to several ethnic groups, including the Zaghawa, Fur, Berti and Masalit.

The RSF traces its origins to the Janjaweed, a militia accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.

Between 2003 and 2008, an estimated 300,000 people were killed and nearly 2.7 million were displaced in those campaigns of ethnic violence.

According to the European Union Agency for Asylum, non-Arab or African groups represent between two-thirds and three-quarters of Darfur's population.

The Zaghawa, the dominant ethnic group in El-Fasher, have been fighting alongside the army since late 2023.

The group, which initially remained neutral when the war began, aligned with the military after the RSF carried out massacres against the Masalit tribe in West Darfur capital El-Geneina, killing up to 15,000 people.

Osman said residents with darker skin, especially Zaghawa civilians, were subjected to "racial insults, humiliation, degradation and physical and psychological violence" as they fled El-Fasher.

"If your skin is light, they might let you go," he said. "It's purely ethnic."

Osman, who is from the Berti tribe, said he himself was not subjected to ethnic violence because the RSF fighters' main enmity was with the Zaghawa, who are aligned with the army.

But Hussein, from the Fur tribe, said he was detained for several days with around 200 men in Garni, a town 25 kilometers (16 miles) northwest of El-Fasher, where they were beaten and insulted.

"They hit us with sticks and called us 'slaves'," Hussein, who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisal, told AFP.

Osman also said RSF fighters demanded money from civilians -- often hundreds of dollars -- for safe passage, based on tribal identity and family origin.

"They ask where your family is from and set the amount accordingly," he said.

'Simply for being black'

An RSF officer, based in El-Fasher, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, denied the reported killings.

"We did not kill civilians or kill anyone because they belong to a (certain) tribe. These are just false accusations," the officer told AFP.

After the fall of El-Fasher, the paramilitary group issued a directive to its forces instructing them to "adhere strictly to the law, rules of conduct and military discipline during wartime", emphasizing the need to ensure the "protection of civilians".

Since El-Fasher's takeover, the United Nations and rights monitors have reported widespread atrocities, including ethnically-driven killings and abductions.

UN experts said Friday they were "appalled by credible reports" of RSF executions of civilians in El-Fasher, calling them war crimes that "may amount to crimes against humanity".

They said the attacks mirrored earlier RSF campaigns in the nearby Zamzam camp -- overrun by paramilitaries in April -- and El-Geneina, where thousands were killed, accusing the group of targeting Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa communities "with the intent of terrorizing, displacing and destroying them in whole or in part".

Sylvain Penicaud of MSF, who has been speaking to civilians fleeing El-Fasher in Tawila, told AFP that many of those fleeing said they were "targeted because of the color of their skin".

"For me, the most terrifying part was being hunted down while they were running for their lives. Being attacked simply for being black," Penicaud said.

 

Arab World

Syrian Interior Ministry Conducts Security Campaign Against ISIS Cells in Country’s East

Interior Ministry units operate during the large-scale security campaign targeting ISIS cells (SANA) 
Interior Ministry units operate during the large-scale security campaign targeting ISIS cells (SANA) 
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Syrian Interior Ministry Conducts Security Campaign Against ISIS Cells in Country’s East

Interior Ministry units operate during the large-scale security campaign targeting ISIS cells (SANA) 
Interior Ministry units operate during the large-scale security campaign targeting ISIS cells (SANA) 

The Syrian Interior Ministry said on Sunday it has launched a large-scale security operation across several provinces targeting ISIS cells.

The operation is part of ongoing national efforts to combat terrorism and protect public safety, the ministry said in a statement on its official Telegram channel.

It then posted photos of the raids conducted in Aleppo, Idleb, Hama, Homs and Damascus countryside, saying the operation was based on intelligence gathered through weeks of surveillance.

The large-scale security campaign was launched in coordination with the General Intelligence Directorate across several provinces to dismantle ISIS cells, arrest multiple suspects, and seize materials linked to terrorist activity.

The ministry said it underscores coordination between security agencies and their proactive approach to addressing threats, reinforcing the government’s commitment to national security and stability.

On Saturday, the Ministry’s spokesperson, Nour al-Din al-Baba, said the campaign is part of preventive operations aimed at neutralizing any ISIS threat before it materializes.

In an interview with Syrian Al-Ikhbariya TV, al-Baba said the security operation included 61 raids across several provinces, Aleppo, Idleb, Hama, Homs, Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, Damascus and its countryside.

Al-Baba said ISIS cells were involved in serious crimes, including the assassination of a citizen in Afrin, and multiple acts of kidnapping and murder.

The terrorist plots, he added, aimed to target government figures and various Syrian communities in an effort to “disrupt civil peace and foster fear.”

The Ministry campaign also resulted in the capture of senior ISIS leader Abd al-Ilah al-Jumaili, known as Abu Imad al-Jumaili - a development al-Baba described as a “strong blow” that will limit the group’s field activity - along with the arrest of “a suicide cell” in northern Aleppo province.