Election season fuels hostile attitudes against the United States and support for Gaza

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[size=52]Election season fuels hostile attitudes against the United States and support for Gaza[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Tamim Al-Hassan[/size]
[size=45]Once again, factions bombed the Ain al-Asad base, west of Anbar, bringing the number of attacks in Iraq against American forces to 16 since the recent Gaza events.[/size]
[size=45]On the other hand, Baghdad has not yet announced the arrest of anyone responsible for these attacks, despite 10 days having passed since a government decision to pursue the perpetrators.[/size]
[size=45]This comes at a time when signals began to reach the Shiite coordination framework about the possibility of Al-Sadr’s supporters taking to the streets ahead of the local elections.[/size]
[size=45]So far, there is weak activation with Al-Sadr’s call to expel the American embassy, ​​while the government considered the decision “the destruction of Iraq.”[/size]
[size=45]There is great confusion within the “Framework” due to the position on the American forces and the bombing of the camps, as coalition meetings have been suspended for about 20 days.[/size]
[size=45]In Al-Baghdadi (70 km west of Ramadi, the center of Anbar Governorate), where the Ain al-Asad base is located, the atmosphere there appears tense.[/size]
[size=45]A local official told Al-Mada that “planes are constantly flying over the base, and there are missiles being launched against Iraqi factions on the Syrian side.”[/size]
[size=45]According to Reuters, two armed marches targeted the Ain al-Asad air base yesterday, which hosts American forces, without causing any casualties or damage, in the second attack on the base within hours.[/size]
[size=45]In a statement, the factions claimed responsibility for the attack. She added that the two planes hit their targets “directly.”[/size]
[size=45]An American military official told NBC News last Monday evening that a several missile attack targeted American and coalition forces at the Ain al-Assad base.[/size]
[size=45]Two days ago, sources reported the possibility of the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades - one of the PMF factions - being bombed near the Syrian town of Albu Kamal, close to the border.[/size]
[size=45]US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, announced that the United States carried out strikes targeting two facilities used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and “groups affiliated with it” in eastern Syria.[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “the strikes came in response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks on American personnel in Iraq and Syria, by militias supported by Iran.”[/size]
[size=45]About a week after the events in Gaza (last October 7), attacks began to escalate against American forces in Iraq and Syria.[/size]
[size=45]The Pentagon, for its part, announced last Monday that American forces in Iraq and Syria had been subjected to 23 attacks since last October 17.[/size]
[size=45]A Pentagon official said, “American forces were subjected to 14 attacks in Iraq (before the last two attacks) and 9 in Syria with drones and missiles, and most of them were thwarted.”[/size]
[size=45]The local official in Al-Baghdadi, which is located in Hit District, speaks of “the factions surrounding the Ain al-Asad base in all directions... the attack comes from any direction.”[/size]
[size=45]The factions had jumped to the scene in Anbar during the liberation operations in 2016, despite the objection of officials there.[/size]
[size=45]Early in the battles against ISIS, these factions were keen to have a presence near the border with Syria, and they still have the greatest influence in western Anbar.[/size]
[size=45]So far, the authorities have not announced the identification of the party responsible for the attacks, although the government announced last October 23 that it would pursue the perpetrators.[/size]
[size=45]But this decision, according to Shiite sources, faced two obstacles: the first was that the attackers used fictitious and previously unknown names.[/size]
[size=45]So far, the “Al-Warithin” and “Islamic Resistance” formations, two little-known factions, have claimed responsibility for the attacks.[/size]
[size=45]The second obstacle is that the government believes that these groups do not have references inside but rather take their orders from Iran, so it is difficult to control them.[/size]
[size=45]The government, according to the Shiite sources who spoke to Al-Mada, had concluded since last July (the moment Muhammad al-Sudani was appointed) an agreement with the so-called “resistance” to stop targeting the Americans.[/size]
[size=45]But this agreement collapsed after the recent events in Gaza, and a corresponding verbal pledge from Washington not to target these groups was also on the verge of collapse, according to politician Mithal Al-Alusi.[/size]
[size=45]The recent events caused a rift within the Shiite coordination framework, which has not met for more than 17 days despite the rapid changes and Al-Sadr's demands to close the American embassy.[/size]
[size=45]Shiite sources talk about “the possibility of the movement’s fans moving to the street or near the embassy shortly before the local elections.”[/size]
[size=45]The elections are supposed to take place on December 18, and the propaganda campaign will launch this November.[/size]
[size=45]According to its spokesman, Al-Awadi, the government refuses to close diplomatic missions, including American ones, and considers it “a destruction of Iraq,” according to Al-Awadi’s description.[/size]
[size=45]On the other hand, a small group, most of which are not from the Shiite parties, moved in Parliament to collect signatures in implementation of Al-Sadr's decision.[/size]
[size=45]In contrast, the statements and positions of some of the leaders of the “Frame” indicate that Hadi Al-Amiri, the leader of the Badr Organization, justified the recent attacks on American forces.[/size]
[size=45]The Shiite parties close to the coordination framework say that “some escalatory positions are part of electoral propaganda.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Amiri said in a statement, “After a period of calm, the presence of American forces at the bases (Ain al-Assad and Harir) was again targeted by the Islamic resistance factions in Iraq. This is a natural reaction to the bias of America and some European countries towards the usurping Zionist entity in committing crimes.” The war against our people in Gaza.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Amiri also went further, calling on the government to set a “serious, specific, and short timetable for the exit of coalition forces.”[/size]
[size=45]The Badr leader criticized those who “argue the need for the international coalition forces to remain under the pretext of helping the Iraqi security forces in dealing with the remnants of this terrorist cells,” while appearing to be referring to the government.[/size]
[size=45]On the other hand, Qais Khazali, leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, received last Monday in his office in Baghdad a delegation from the Hamas movement.[/size]
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