Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Pentagon Press Secretary, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, denied during a press briefing on Monday that the United States has moved or deployed additional reinforcements on the Iraq-Syria border.
Ryder also denied that the US military has any plans to seal off the border or some points of entry along the border.
We are not conducting any type of border security on the Iraq-Syria border. Thats the realm of the Iraqi government to take care of that, and Im not aware of any additional deployment of US forces into the region, Ryder added.
A security source in Anbar governorate in western Iraq mentioned that planes carrying soldiers, advisors and civilians arrived on Monday at Ain Al-Assad air base without knowing their numbers, Al-Maalomah News reported.
The source expected that these planes would carry American soldiers, advisors, experts and military equipment on board.
Ain Al-Assad base witnessed an unusual movement of military transport aircraft that landed inside the air base with the US warplanes overflying the base to secure the arrival of these planes, the source explained.
The US forces have tightened security protection measures at all their sites in the western regions of Iraq for precautionary reasons, the source added.
Spurred by a recent expos in The Economists sister publication, 1843, of the theft of $2.5bn of state funds, the Iraqi authorities have called on America, Britain and Interpol to help arrest and extradite suspects who have sought refuge abroad. Four senior men in Iraqs previous government under Mustafa al-Kadhimi are wanted. An investigation had been launched by his government last year, but then the case was largely left to languish, despite promises of action by Muhammad al-Sudani, his successor as prime minister.
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Responsibility for further action seems to have been shunted onto Western and Middle Eastern governments. The accused quarteta former finance minister, an intelligence chief, a senior adviser and a private secretary to Mr Kadhimihave been living in Dubai, London and Washington. They strenuously deny the accusations, which they say are politically motivated.
The Iraqi courts have seized the Iraqi properties of Ehsan Abdeljabbar, another previous finance minister, who launched the investigation; he is abroad, too. A businessman also at the scandals centre, Nur Zuheir, was freed on bail in November; he too travels abroad. Mr Abdeljabbar and Mr Zuheir strongly deny any wrongdoing.
Mr Kadhimis allies say this is a witch-hunt by Mr Sudani to deflect attention from powerful Iraqis friendly to the present regime who are also under suspicion. They say that Shia Islamist militia leaders who back Mr Sudani worked with Mr Zuheir to raise funds and that the anti-corruption watchdog commissioned by Mr Sudani has a link to a Shia militia.
Corruption has been a staple of Iraqi politics since the Americans overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003, but the massive tax scam reported in 1843 shows Iraqis for the first time in detail how state coffers have been raided. Politicians across the ethnic and sectarian spectrum have united to squirrel away oil and tax revenues worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Attempts to improve transparency by digitalising government finances and hiring international auditors have been repeatedly scuppered. While Mr Sudani says the investigation is robustly going ahead, he knows that previous prime ministers have been ejected by Shia Islamist factions who depend on dirty money. This is good news for Mr Zuheir. Nur will never be put on trial, says an observer tracking the case. So many top people are involved, theyll never give him a platform to talk.
Correction (August 11th): The headline has been changed. The original one wrongly suggested Interpol has decided to pursue suspects in relation to a bank heist. In fact, although an Iraqi court has requested it to do so, Interpol has not confirmed it will take any action. We apologise for the error. We have also added a line in the article to make clearer that the four men strenuously deny the accusation.
Responding to the directive issued by the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) that media outlets must replace the term homosexuality with sexual deviance in their published and broadcast language, Amnesty Internationals Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Aya Majzoub said:
The directive from Iraqs official media regulator is the latest in a series of attacks on freedom of expression under the guise of respect for public morals. The CMCs ban of the word homosexuality and insistence that media use sexual deviance instead is a dangerous move that can fuel discrimination and violent attacks against members of the LGBTI community.
Furthermore, its ban and demonization of the word gender demonstrates a callous disregard for combatting gender-based violence at a time when civil society has been reporting an increase in crimes against women and girls, amid widespread impunity.
The Iraqi authorities must immediately overturn this decision and ensure that they respect the right to freedom of expression and non-discrimination for all individuals in the country, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.
The Iraqi authorities must immediately overturn this decision and ensure that they respect the right to freedom of expression and non-discrimination for all individuals in the country, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.
Political parties in Iraq have increasingly criticized LGBTI rights, frequently burning rainbow flags and making outlandish claims blaming homosexuality for the spread of disease.
Between January and June of this year, the Ministry of Interior led a campaign to crack down on indecent content online, prosecuting at least 20 individuals over the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression using vague public morality laws. On 18 July Amnesty International raised concerns regarding the governments re-introduction of two draft laws to Parliament which, if passed, would severely curtail the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Iraq.
TEHRAN Iraqi Interior Minister has said his county is ready to host five million foreign pilgrims participating in the Arbaeen religious rituals.
Abdul Amir Al-Shammari who presides over a high committee for maintaining Arbaeen security, said that Iraq has prepared to host five million pilgrims from abroad, adding that five provinces of the country are prepared for the Arbaeen trek, Mehr reported on Monday.
Currently, thousands of pilgrims have commenced their journey marching from their home country to the holy city of Karbala.
According to Iranian officials, millions of people are preparing to join the Arbaeen pilgrimage individually or in groups; For this purpose, several Mawkib (voluntary stations) have been installed on the roads and near the border crossing points between Iran and Iraq to serve the pilgrims.
Arbaeen marks an end to the 40-day mourning period following the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (AS), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and his loyal companions at the Battle of Karbala on Muharram 10 in the year 61 AH (680 CE).
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held on Tuesday a meeting with foreign ministers of Jordan and Iraq in Cairo, within the framework of the tripartite cooperation mechanism that brings together the three countries.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zeid said that the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of Cairos hosting of the meeting of the Arab Liaison Committee on Syria, constitutes an important platform for joint efforts aimed at strengthening the mechanisms of economic cooperation between the three countries in various fields.
It is an opportunity for consultation and coordination on various regional and international issues of common interest, in order to preserve the unity of the Arab world and maintain the security and stability of the countries and peoples of the region.
The meeting was a good opportunity to follow up on cooperation and strategic integration projects between the three countries.
Abou Zeid revealed that the foreign ministers of the three countries agreed to hold a follow-up meeting on the sidelines of the high-level meetings of the UN General Assembly in New York next September, in order to accurately determine the executive position of joint cooperation projects and provide the necessary support and facilities to facilitate their implementation on the ground.