By Amir Taghati
Two protesters were killed and dozens injured in southern Iraq on Sunday, as protests over unemployment, a lack of basic services, and Iranian interference in the country entered its second week, according to a medical source.
The protesters were shot and killed in front of the governor’s headquarters in Samawah, south of Baghdad, while another 27 people were injured.
hundreds of protesters in Baghdad closed a highway and chanted “Iran, out out! Baghdad is free!” and “The people want to overthrow the regime”, while protesters in Samawah and Basra set fire to the offices of the Iranian-backed Badr organization, which prompted the police to impose a curfew.
These protests have hit several provinces across Iraq, as promised investment fails to materialise and services continue to fail the people, but security forces are violently suppressing the protests, despite supposed warnings from the Prime Minister against using live fire against the unarmed protesters.
The Iraqi people are perfectly right to be upset about these problems in their country and especially the interference of a foreign state in the government.
Iranian interference in Iraq
Iran has been heavily involved in the Iraqi government, both behind the scenes and openly, since the US invasion of and withdrawal from Iraq, which left a power vacuum that the mullahs gladly filled. There is even evidence that they interfered with the May elections in Iraq.
Iranian meddling in the Middle East
Of course, Iraq is not the only country in the Middle East that Iran has wrongfully aligned itself with. The Iranian Regime, which seeks to build a Shiite Crescent across the Middle East, has involved itself in many countries in the region, either through supporting the current heads of state against uprisings or by supporting terrorist proxies to overthrow democratically elected leaders.
Some key examples of Iran’s Shiite Crescent in action are Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon.
In Lebanon, Iran backs the Hezbollah militia group and has done since at least 1982. Their support, which is financial and militarial, has led to a section of Hezbollah being elected in Lebanon, something Iran hoped to replicate with the Popular Mobilisation Units in Iraq.
In Yemen, Iran backs the Houthi militia, providing them with money, weapons, and training. They’ve even supplied ballistic missiles that have been fired at Saudi Arabia.
In Syria, Iran backs the dictatorship of Bashar Assad, which has involved the drafting of various militia groups, including the PMUs and Hezbollah to crush the people’s protest and prop up Assad.
The Iranian people detest that their money is being used by the mullahs to take control in the Middle East and cries for the Regime to abandon its regional meddling can be heard at most protests in Iran during the 2018 uprising.
