The Iraqi oil capital... Has the political and security conflict moved to Basra?

[size=33]The Iraqi oil capital... Has the political and security conflict moved to Basra?[/size]

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Security alert in Basra in recent weeks (Reuters - Archive)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Ahmed Al-Dabbagh
10/13/2022
For weeks, Basra (south) has been experiencing great security tension between the various political blocs, parties and security authorities, whether the Iraqi army or the Popular Mobilization Forces. The recent developments came as a reflection of the ongoing political crisis in Iraq, more than a year after the holding of legislative elections, which did not lead to the formation of a government or the selection of a president of the republic.
This city witnessed a series of assassinations and clashes between armed factions, including mortar shelling targeting the presidential palaces during the past days, which prompted the General Command of the Armed Forces to send a brigade and several regiments affiliated to Basra and stationed them in the presidential palaces, which disturbed some of the parties affiliated with the popular crowd. The city witnessed mutual assassinations between armed factions in the early days of last September.

Crisis wallpapers

Basra is the third largest Iraqi province in terms of population after Baghdad and Nineveh. It is also considered the economic lung of Iraq due to the country's dependence on 70% of its exported oil. In addition, the Shiite political conflict in Basra has been a clear sign since 2008, when the city witnessed a military operation that the government of Nuri al-Maliki called "the Knight of the Knights", which was against the Mahdi Army of the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, and caused a major rift in the relationship between Maliki and the Sadrist movement. Its consequences are still present now in the sharp political dispute between the two parties.

Disagreements between the Shiite blocs renewed after the recent elections, so that Basra would be present in these disputes, as former MP Fadi Al-Shammari confirms by saying, "Again... Basra is on fire and it is intended for it to flare up more... amid the absence of a federal, local and security government," and added in a tweet on Twitter, "Several goals." Behind the burning of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], the most important of which is hitting the oil installations to impede exports and thus stop government revenues, paralyze the state and stop salaries, as well as aborting the Gulf Cup championship (which is scheduled to be held in the city early next year) and its economic returns on the city.

security and politics

Security expert Sarmad Al-Bayati believes that the spark of armed conflict, if it occurs, will appear either from Basra or from Kirkuk (north of Baghdad), considering that Basra is a target now because of the differences between the popular crowd, especially "Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq" and the Iraqi army, which has recently deployed in the presidential palaces.
The presidential palaces were subjected to mortar bombardment, which al-Bayati refers to in his speech to Al Jazeera Net that this is a reflection of the differences between the Sadrist movement on the one hand and Asaib on the other, pointing out that the possibility of harming the export of oil in Basra is not internationally acceptable, but that is not excluded. In the event that one of the parties feels that it has lost everything, as he put it.


Al-Sadr had published a few days ago, through his minister known as "Mohammed Salih al-Iraqi", a tweet in which he confirmed the freezing of the work of his armed arm represented by Saraya al-Salam, calling on the government to rein in the "insolent Qais militias" in Basra.

For his part, Najm Al-Qassab, head of the Al-Mawred Center for Studies and Media, enumerates the reasons that made Basra a hub for conflicts in Iraq, stressing that it is considered the most Iraqi governorate that includes heavy weapons, whether with clans or armed factions affiliated with parties or even among individuals.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Al-Qassab: Basra’s clashes as a result of the struggle between factions and parties over the port’s resources, oil and gas fields, and ports (Al-Jazeera)

Economic reasons

Al-Qassab added in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net that the conflict of armed factions and parties over financial resources in the port, oil and gas fields and border crossings led to real clashes between these parties, which all have great influence in these economic sectors that are Iraq's financial artery, adding that Basra is adjacent to an influential regional state. In the country it is trying to make Basra its back garden in terms of economic resources and relations with Iraq.
Al-Qassab warned of the possibility of the political conflict moving to Basra at any moment, especially since the capital is no longer as influential as Basra, which is an economic artery. feuding.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Al-Abed pointed out that the conflict in Basra is focused on the file of drug and oil smuggling from the border crossings (Al-Jazeera Net)
In the meantime, political researcher Ghanem Al-Abed points out that the file of drug and oil smuggling and the benefits obtained from the border crossings are of paramount importance for imposing hegemony on Basra by armed factions in the province, which they see as the black box that finances the activities of these groups.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Abed concludes that the political conflict is mainly due to economic factors, and therefore, Basra is likely to be the most important city for all factions and political parties, which makes it the subject of a political and security conflict that does not know its end, especially if the file for forming the government continues to lag behind. According to Al-Abed.
During Al Jazeera Net's attempt to communicate with the Basra local government, the latter refrained from making any statement about the security deterioration happening in the province, only referring to the official statements issued by the security services.
Source : Al Jazeera
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