Heavy gunfire rocks Iraq's Green Zone amid violent protests

Heavy gunfire rocks Iraq's Green Zone amid violent protests

US NEWS

By : Quick Insurance Guru

Tuesday, 30 August 2022

BAGHDAD -- An influential Iraqi cleric called on his supporters to withdraw Tuesday from the capital's government quarter...

where they have clashed violently with security forces for two days in a serious escalation of the political crisis gripping the nation.

In a televised speech, Muqtada al-Sadr gave his supporters an hour to leave — and within minutes some could be seen abandoning their positions.

 Iraq’s military announced the lifting of a nationwide curfew, further raising hopes that calm would be restored after fears instability might spread throughout the country and even the region.

Iraq’s government has been deadlocked since al-Sadr’s party won the largest share of seats in October parliamentary elections but not enough to secure a majority government.

The chaos began when al-Sadr announced he would resign from politics, and his supporters stormed the Green Zone...

once the stronghold of the U.S. military and now home to Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies....

At least 30 people were killed, officials said, before al-Sadr urged those loyal to him to go home, following pleas for restraint from several Iraqi officials and the United Nations.

Kuwait, which shares a 254-kilometer- (158-mile-) long border with Iraq, called on its citizens to leave the neighboring country.

 The state-run KUNA news agency also encouraged those hoping to travel to Iraq to delay their plans.

The Netherlands evacuated its embassy in the Green Zone, Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted early Tuesday.