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On this edition of Your Calls Media Roundtable, we're discussing the ongoing killings and attacks on activists and journalists in Iraq. Thousands of people from across Iraq recently converged in Baghdad demanding accountability for the killing of more than 600 protesters and activists.

Todays guest independent journalist Nabil Salih reports that in October 2019, Iraqs youth took to the streets, to demand a dignified life akin to that enjoyed by many of their rulers families abroad. They were slaughtered like sheep by security forces and unidentified gunmen, under the former government of Adel Abdul Mahdi. Hundreds were killed and thousands were wounded in an unequal standoff that is still being falsely described as clashes by international media. That year, the usual chaos, corruption and death was a part of everyday life for most Iraqis.

Guest:

Nabil Salih, independent journalist and photographer from Baghdad, whose writings and photographs have appeared in Jadaliyya, The New Arab and other publications

Web Resources:

openDemocracy, Nabil Salih: Iraq - assassinations, repression, and the struggles of daily life

Al Jazeera, Nabil Salih: Baghdad: A solitary walk through a crime scene

DW: Will killers of Iraq's activists finally face justice?

open Democracy, Nabil Salih: George W Bush's finest piece of war

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Media Roundtable: Who Is Behind The Deadly Attacks On Journalists And Activists In Iraq? - KALW

A South Korean-flagged tanker vessel which was seized by Iran. is seen in Gulf, Iran January 4, 2021. Photo: IRGC / WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS.

The annual threat assessment released in April by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence states that Iran will remain a regional menace with broader malign influence activities.

The Islamic Republic is expected to continue those malign activities all over the globe, but its focus will likely remain its immediate regional surroundings particularly Iraq. Tehran views Iraq as a key country over which it must establish and maintain complete supremacy.

Iran has been a highly troublesome actor in the Middle East ever since it was taken over by a religious dictatorship in 1979. Through its proxies as well as through other means, it has destabilized an already volatile region. Saudi Arabia and Israel have spent years expressing concern over Irans hegemonic ambitions, which also threaten the US and its allies.

Irans hateful anti-Israel rhetoric will continue for as long as the regime is in power. Tehran will maintain support for its proxies, like Hezbollah and Hamas, in order to threaten Israel and Israeli interests in the region. At the same time, the Islamic cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran over dominance and power in the Middle East will also go on, leading to continued insecurity and instability in the region. The two countries are unlikely to engage in a full-blown war, but will rather fight one another in other parts of the Middle East.

The Saudi-Iranian conflict will see an increasingly aggressive Riyadh and a willingness in Tehran to pour more and more of its energies and resources into sectarianism, radicalism, and terrorism. Iraq will likely be the unfortunate victim of these geopolitical and political-security conflicts.

Ever since the fall of the Baathists, Iraq has been victimized by Iran. The Islamic regime is highly activein that country. The Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC-QF) and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) monitor and manipulate Iraqs internal affairs. Iraqi sovereignty is assaulted by Iran on a daily basis.

Iraq has great political and religious significance for Iran, not least with respect to the axis of Qom-Najaf, the two main Shiite centers of the world. For Iran, controlling Iraq means controlling a large Shiite-majority country. Iraq is not only of geopolitical interest to Iran, but fits its ambitions of exporting the revolution and sending Shiism throughout the world.

Ever since the US invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Irans main objective in Iraq has been to expel the Americans from Iraqi soil. The IRGC-QF, which plays an instrumentalrole in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic, has been given this critical mission. By supporting different factions, militias, and politicians, as well as by conducting covert operations inside Iraq, Iran aims to destabilize the country to such a degree that the peoples faith in the American forces will be diminished.

If it succeeds at expelling all remaining US forces from Iraq, Iran will be in full control of the country, which would represent a major political and security victory for the Islamic regime. Iran has shown itself to have the upper hand in Iraq. This was apparent as long ago as 2005, when American troops lost control over the country. The CIA has said that most terrorist groups and militias in Iraq are under the control of the IRGC-QF.

While Iran-backed groups fomented chaos in Iraq, the CIA established closer contacts with the Kurdish authorities and intelligence apparatus. The Islamic regime in Iran also has close contacts among the Kurds, however, specifically the Barzaniclan. The Iranian MOI in Iraq is believed to be based in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

As Tehrans support for Iraqi Shiites grew, Iraqi Sunnis were increasingly sidelined. Both Ankara and Riyadh tried, at least initially, to support the Sunnis of Iraq, but neither could compete with Tehrans dominance over the country. This is especially true of Ankara, as Iran has occasionally backedthe Kurdish terrorist organization PKK against Turkey.

It is essential for Tehran that Iraq remain unstable and chaotic. A stable Iraq would mean Iranian operatives could no longer conduct operations in and through Iraq, as they do today. Iraq is a safe haven for Iranian intelligence and a base from which Iran conducts covert operations.

Control over the Iraqi government would also mean Iran can fulfill its dream of exporting the Shiite revolution. At the same time, the regime can use Iraqi territory for the training of Shiite militias, as well as to create a buffer zone for its own security. The Iranian embassy in Baghdad is instrumental to the regimes objectives. The embassy, which is led by Brig. Gen. Iraj Masjedi, a high-ranking member of the IRGC-QF, is the main center of Iranian covert operations in Iraq. For as long as US forces remain in Iraq, the IRGC-QFs and the embassys main objective will be to conduct operations against them.

The future of the Iran nuclear deal will be highly significant in terms of Irans behavior in Iraq. As soon as the US rejoins the deal, Iran will likely intensify its operations there. Iraq will be used by the Islamic regime in Iran as a base from which to conduct operations all over the Middle East, as well as a means of blackmailing both the US and arch enemy Saudi Arabia.

The Islamic Republics attempts to acquire military nuclear capability, use of terrorist proxies to destabilize the region, and grave human rights violations, make it the greatest threat to peace and security in the region.

Dr. Ardavan Khoshnood, a non-resident associate at the BESA Center, is a criminologist and political scientist with a degree in Intelligence Analysis. He is also an associate professor of Emergency Medicine at Lund University in Sweden. @ardavank

Erfan Fard is a counterterrorism analyst and Middle East Studies researcher based in Washington, DC. @EQFARD

A version of this article was originally published by The BESA Center.

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Iran's Threat to Iraq Is a Threat to the US - Algemeiner

Former Miss Universe Iraq Sarah Idan is reflecting on the photo that led her to flee her own country.

The beauty pageant contestant was representing Iraq in 2017 when she famously took a selfie with Miss Israel, Adar Gandelsman, and posted it on social media. She captioned the snap "Peace and Love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel."

Idan quickly received death threats for the picture as it was interpreted by some as an endorsement of Israel and a betrayal of Palestinian Arabs, the BBC reported. According to the outlet, Idan and her family relocated to the U.S.

"I was in Miss Universe and I took a selfie with Miss Israel, which caused the Iraqi government to decide to take my Iraqi citizenship from me," Idan said in an interview recently uploaded on YouTube. "Basically my family ended up leaving Iraq. I had to leave Iraq just for taking a selfie with Miss Israel."

MISS UNIVERSE SHOW CROWNS MISS MEXICO, ANDREA MEZA, AS 2021 WINNER

When asked if she felt the source of hate against Israel was a more religious or political matter, Idan said "definitely, number one, it is religious."

"There are many things that [radical Islamists teach] Muslim and Arab lands, but I believe the reason they teach them to hate Jews, in the end, is political," she explained. "How can you remove Jews from the Middle East? How can you take over the entire area? The only way they can do that is by convincing them that Jews hate Muslims, Jews seek to destroy the world. They [is a] very radical Islamist ideology out there that also teaches them that Jews are not even human beings. They are satanic creatures in human form."

"The amount of antisemitism that exists in radical Islam, its crazy," she shared. "Its exactly like the Nazi movement and this is why a lot of Islamists have joined their movement with the neo-Nazis in order to defeat Jews all over the world."

Idan noted that Israel and Jews werent the only targets of hate.

MISS USA ASYA BRANCH ON REPRESENTING THE US AT MISS UNIVERSE: IM PROUD TO BE A PART OF THE GREATEST NATION

A picture taken on November 21, 2017, shows a picture posted by the Instagram profile of Sarah Idan on November 14, who holds the titles of Miss Iraq USA 2016 and Miss Iraq Universe 2017, as she is seen taking a 'selfie' photograph with Adar Gandelsman, who holds the title of "Miss Universe Israel 2017", with a caption reading: Peace and Love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel #missuniverse. The post has been 'liked' over 3,600 times since it was first uploaded but it also triggered an avalanche of comments, some positive and others negative in Iraq, which does not recognize the Jewish state and is still technically in a state of war with it. Both contestants defended the post saying they wanted to share a message of peace. (THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

"[Radical Islamists] believe that Israel is a huge supporter of the U.S. and in the Middle East and they need to remove that," she said. "If they can remove the American influence and democracy in the Middle East then the next target would not only be the U.S. but Britain and all of Europe.

"Radical Islamists believe that any non-Muslim is kafir or infidel and they dont even deserve to live," she added.

Idan also claimed there are more radical Islamists than one may think.

"What people dont get is that while there are so many peaceful Muslims and they make about two billion of the world population, the amount of radical Islamists within Islam are about 25 so thats 300 million thats the size of the United States," she said.

"Imagine all those people want to eradicate not only state of Israel but the United States and the West its a serious concern that should make everyone worry, not just Jewish people, but all Americans, regardless if they are religious or non-religious," she added.

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Sarah Idan is the founder of Humanity Forward, an organization that is 'committed to building bridges among Muslims and Jews to surpass borders and promote reconciliation, tolerance, mutual understanding, and peace.' (Photo by Franziska Krug/Getty Images)

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In 2018, Idan visited Israel, a trip that enraged people in her native country. At the time she reunited with Gandelsman, 23, during a visit organized by the American Jewish Committee to "talk about peace."

Despite the criticism, Idan said she isnt afraid, and that she visited Israel "because I want peace for everyone, for Israelis, for Palestinians."

Idan is the founder of Humanity Forward, an organization that is "committed to building bridges among Muslims and Jews In order to surpass borders and promote reconciliation, tolerance, mutual understanding, and peace."

According to its website, Idan has remained fearful of returning home.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Excerpt from:
Former Miss Universe Iraq Sarah Idan says radical Islamists want to eradicate Israel and the US - Fox News

At least five PKK terrorists were killed in northern Iraq in an air-backed operation, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said Monday.

In a written statement, the ministry said that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and National Intelligence Organization (MIT) jointly conducted the operation in the Gara region.

Northern Iraq is known as the location of many PKK terrorist hideouts and bases from where they carry out attacks in Turkey.

The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq. Turkey has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terrorist threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps were not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terrorist threats.

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women and children.

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Turkish military continues operation in northern Iraq | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

TEHRAN Iraqs Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Hassan Nazim has said urgent restoration work is due to commence on Taq Kasra.

Located near Baghdad, the ancient Persian masterpiece of architecture was partly collapsed last year, prompting criticism from many Iranian supporters of cultural heritage.

Studies and preparatory work related to the restoration project have been completed and now we are in the operational stage of rescuing this historical monument, IRNA quoted Nazim as saying on Tuesday.

Scaffolding has been up around the monument and [restoration] work will begin soon under the supervision of the ALIPH Foundation (International Alliance for the protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas), the official said.

In early January, some Iraqi social media users posted pictures of Taq Kasra, writing the vault of the monument is partly collapsed, prompting social media activists and cultural heritage lovers to criticize the Iraqi government over what they named as a neglect of the monument.

For years, there have been talks between Iranian and Iraqi officials to jointly restore the magnificent structure, but nothing happened. Even Iranian archaeologists have repeatedly asked the Iranian authorities to consult on the restoration of the monument in cooperation between the two countries. Because they believe Taq Kasra is in dire need of urgent repairs as every time a part of it collapses.

In 2019, Tehran Municipality hold talks with Baghdads urban planners and authorities to restore several aging monuments in Iraq including Taq Kasra.Ivan Madaen or the Archway of Ctesiphon are other names given to the remains of a circa 3rd6th-century Sasanian-era Persian monument, which is located near the modern town of Salman Pak, a city located approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of Baghdad.

The arch was part of the imperial palace complex, however, the exact time of its construction is not known with certainty. Some historians believe the founder is Shapour I who ruled Persia from 242 to 272 CE and some others believe that construction possibly began during the reign of Anushiruwan the Just (Khosrow I) after a campaign against the Byzantines in 540 CE.

AFM

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Taq Kasra, Persian masterpiece of architecture in Iraq, to be restored - Tehran Times