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After frantic meetings in Baghdad, Beirut and Tehran, Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitaries have agreed to stop attacks against US forces in Iraq on the condition that Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi formally demands an Americanwithdrawal, officials and factioncommanders told Middle East Eye.

Kadhimi must tell Washington that the pullout has to be completed within 12 months, they added. Sources said it is likely that Kadhimi will comply and make the formal request.

On 1 March, the armed factions announced the end of an unofficial armistice with US forces in Iraq that had largely held since October, despite a few violations.

'If any of these parties violates the agreement, then this means that it is a personal act and the perpetrator is considered outside the consensus, and it is dealt with on this basis'

- Iraqi negotiator

Previously, attacks on US troops and their western allies in the anti-Islamic State (IS) group military coalition had been routine, as the paramilitaries sought to push the United States from Iraq.

However, a rocket attack on a military base in Erbil last month prompted the US to launch air strikes on a position just inside the Syrian border occupied by Kataeb Hezbollah, the paramilitary group most hostile to Washington, and Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada, a smaller Shia faction.

Although the Iraqi armed factions declared that they had nothing to do with the Erbil attack, which killed a military contractor and wounded nine others, including a US soldier, the Pentagon pointed the finger of blame at Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada.

The tit-for-tat attacks between the two sides resulted in a 3 March raid on Ain al-Assad, a base in western Anbar province that hosts the largest US presence, with at least10 short-range BM-21 Grad missiles launched at the troops there.

The Iraqi military said the attack did not cause any casualties, but the Pentagon announced the next day that a US contractorhad died after suffering a heart attack during the raid.

Kadhimi's embattled government, which has sought to limit the paramilitaries power and been targeted by them in return, has attempted to limit the fallout from such skirmishes and buy time for Washington and Tehran to begin negotiations to resume the 2015 nuclear deal, hoping they will calm the region.

Erbil attack a warning to Iraqi Kurds, not the US, say Shia commanders

This latest de-escalation agreement was made by a group of faction commanders known as the Coordinating Committee for the Resistance Factions,and the Iraqi government, sources said.

It stipulates that all attacks must cease and in return Kadhimi will send a letter to the United Nations Security Council asking for the US-led coalitions mission in Iraq to end, two of the parties that concluded the agreement told MEE.

Iranian and Lebanese parties, as well as an international organisation operating in Iraq, helped bring the sides together, "one acting as a guarantor and another as a negotiator", as an Iraqi official put it.

"Currently, all concerned parties [leaders of the Iranian-backed armed factions and the US forces] have agreed to calm," one of the Iraqi negotiators told MEE.

"If any of these parties violates the agreement, then this means that it is a personal act and the perpetrator is considered outside the consensus, and it is dealt with on this basis."

Middle East Eye has asked the US-led coalition for comment, but received no response by the time of publication.

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.

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EXCLUSIVE: Iraq paramilitaries agree to stop attacks on US if Kadhimi demands withdrawal - Middle East Eye

BAGHDAD - The father of a missing Iraqi anti-government activist who waged a public campaign trying to bring to account a militia suspected of abducting him was shot and killed on Wednesday, a human rights monitor and security officials said.

Jasb Hattab Aboud died of a gunshot wound to the head at 6 p.m. in the southern city of Amara, said Ali al-Bayati, a spokesman for the semi-official Independent Human Rights Commission, and a security official. Both cited preliminary investigations and said more details would be forthcoming. Authorities have not identified the gunman.

The security official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Aboud was uncommonly vocal in his search for his son Ali Jasb, a lawyer who was one of a number of activists who vanished at the height of Iraq's mass anti-government demonstrations in October 2019. Aboud publicly accused a powerful Iran-backed militia of kidnapping him and even took the dangerous step of seeking to take its leader to court.

Other families of missing activists were more reserved, often fearing reprisal if they spoke out.

Jasb, who has not been heard from since surveillance footage captured his abduction on October 8 in Amara in the province of Missan, came to symbolize the campaign of terror waged by militias, widely believed to have abducted dozens of prominent activists and to have killed more than 60.

The protests were largely silenced by a combination of the coronavirus and a violent crackdown by security forces and militias that, according to the commission, killed more than 500 people.

Aboud was a determined figure who for a time was a fixture on local media, reminding the Iraqi public about his missing son and seeking justice. He routinely took the six-hours-long bus journey from his rural town to Baghdad to meet his lawyer. Always, he carried the documents that he believed would deliver justice in a court of law.

The Associated Press followed Aboud's attempts to push a criminal case against the powerful commander of Ansar Allah al-Awfia, one of the more extreme pro-Iranian militias. The militia was incorporated under the state-sponsored umbrella group, the Popular Mobilization Forces, created to fight the Islamic State group in 2014.

At every turn, the criminal case revealed the weakness of Iraq's judicial institutions vis-a-vis the growing power of militia groups.

Initial proceedings in Missan's courts came to a standstill when testimony revealed a link between the abduction and the head of al-Awfia, local commander Haidar al-Gharawi. Frustrated by the delay, Aboud transferred the case to Baghdad where an investigative judged deemed there was insufficient evidence to push the case forward.

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Outspoken Father of Missing Activist Killed in Iraq's South - Voice of America

The visit of Pope Francis to Iraq, concluded in the beginning of this week, has led to speculation about its possible motives and urgency. Most agree on one thing: It is not politically calculated. Taking cues from his earlier gestures, one can safely say that the current Pope wouldnt do a Pope John Paul II, whose political interventions during the Cold War in many ways served the interests of the Western Bloc led by the US. This visit, though, is a culmination of a series of failed efforts of the last two decades to bring a Pope to the birthplace of Abraham, that were initiated during the tenure of Pope John Paul II in 2000.

The theory that connects the visit of the head of Catholic Church to one of the major theatres of the US-Iran rivalry with the attempt of the US President Joe Biden to patch up the USs strained relationship with Iran appears to be flawed. More likely is the analysis by historian Ibrahim al-Marashi, who compares Pope Franciss visit to the journey that St. Francis of Assisi, a Catholic preacher and mystic, made some 800 years ago to the Middle East to heal the wounds that Crusade-induced violence caused in both Christian and Muslim societies. One of the highlights of St. Franciss trip was his meeting with Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil, nephew of Saladin, who led the Muslim army against the Crusader states in the Levant. Pope Francis, on his part, began his journey with meeting one of the worlds leading Sunni clerics, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in 2017 and making a historic call for a cross-faith commitment to human fraternity.

St. Franciss journey in the 13th century, though partially successful in terms of promoting peace and reconciliation between two warring communities, resulted in re-orienting policies of various missionary groups, including his own Franciscan order, towards a peaceful coexistence with Muslims.

Today, there is hostility and mutual distrust between the people of two major faiths. The rise of cultural Christianity, a proxy for Islamophobia and hostility towards migrants, makes the situation worse in parts of Europe and the United States. The crisis in the Islamic world deepens with the emergence of movements with a sectarian vision. The Popes interventions at this critical time, therefore, have more than a symbolic value.

With his efforts to reach out to various sects of Christianity in the East, the Pope intends to present a different, though not new, version of Christianity, which is more inclusive, non-denominational, non-sectarian and non-Europeanised. What one can reasonably assume from this move is his wish to make Christianity more appealing not just to Christians in the east, but to the followers of all Abrahamic religions. That is perhaps why Ur, the birthplace of Abraham, found a pivotal position in his itinerary.

What figured recurrently in the pontiffs speech was the necessity of reviving an Abrahamic tradition for the common future of the communities. In Ur, the Pope said, we seem to have returned home. At many places, he greeted gatherings from different Semitic faiths with slogans such as You are all brothers, the words of Matthews gospel. This can be read as a significant move to create a counter-narrative to the theses presenting Islam as the other, alien to the Judeo-Christian tradition in the West.

Prior to visiting Iraq, the Pope travelled to Jordan and Palestine in 2014, Egypt in 2017 and the UAE and Morocco in 2019. He met many prominent Muslim scholars for initiating interfaith dialogue. All his positive gestures have created resonances in the Muslim world so far. But the fact remains that the sectarian violence in Iraq is intimately associated with the colonial past of the country; and the cynical use of religion by colonial forces to protect their own interests. A move which does not address this past, therefore, may not yield the desired result.

This article first appeared in the print edition on March 12, 2021 under the title The Popes message. The writer is professor and director, School of Gandhian Thought and Development Studies, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala.

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The Pope in Iraq: Fraternity between all faiths - The Indian Express

Baghdad, 10 March 2021. Today, the Minister of Planning H.E. Dr. Khalid Batal Najim Abdullah, and the Humanitarian Coordinator Ms. Irena Vojkov-Sollorano, released the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) to assist 1.5 million vulnerable people in Iraq.

The HRP will complement the Government of Iraqs own initiatives to help the people of Iraq recover from the setbacks they have experienced in recent years, said H.E. Dr. Abdullah. The Government of Iraq and the United Nations will continue to work in partnership to help all Iraqis achieve and maintain a dignified standard of living.

The people of Iraq should be commended for their resilience in the face of relentless hardships, said Ms. Vojkov-Sollorano. COVID-19 added extra challenges for all of us in 2020. We are happy through the 2021 HRP to renew our commitment to assisting the most vulnerable Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and returnees in Iraq.

Iraq continues to face a complex humanitarian situation, despite the ongoing joint efforts of humanitarian partners, the Government of Iraq, and local authorities and communities to improve circumstances. The post-conflict humanitarian situation in Iraq remains fragile, with approximately 1.3 million IDPs, and deepening socio-economic vulnerabilities brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2021 Humanitarian Needs Overview found that 4.1 million Iraqis are in need of humanitarian assistance. The 2021 HRP focuses on 1.5 million of the most vulnerable IDPs living in camps and in out-of-camp locations, as well as returnees, who continue to face significant humanitarian and protection needs.

This unified appeal represents the activities of 166 operational partners national NGOs, international NGOs and UN agencies involved in the humanitarian response in Iraq, in coordination with the efforts of the Government of Iraq. It seeks $607.2 million to carry out humanitarian programming across nine sectors.

In 2020, the humanitarian community was able to assist approximately 1.4 million people thanks to the efforts of partners and the generosity of donors.

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The 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan for Iraq will provide assistance to 1.5 million vulnerable people. A budget of US$607.2 million is required to...

Monday, 15 March 2021, 10:17 amArticle: Gordon Campbell

Asan exercise in global symbolic politics, it would be hard totop last weeks meeting in Iraq between Pope Francis andthe most respected cleric in Shia Islam, the Grand AyatollahAli al-Sistani. Both men have strong liberal credentials.Francis has led a welcome break from his policies of his twoarch-conservative predecessors. In fact, you would have togo all the way back to the early 1960s, to the widely lovedliberal reformer Papa Roncalli (aka John XXIII) to find aPope who seems more in tune with socially progressiveforces.

The 94 year old al-Sistani is a more complexfigure. His credentials as the most learned religiousauthority in Shia Islam are undisputed. From his humble homein Najaf, Iraq, al-Sistani condemned the disastrous USinvasion of 2003 at the time. In 2014, he famously issued afatwa that called on all able bodied Shiite volunteers tojoin the militias fighting against Islamic State. In theprocess, he urged tolerance towards all religiousminorities, including the Christian and Yazidi populationsthat Islamic State and other Sunni fundamentalists had beentargeting. He also supported the 2009 Green Revolution inIran that eventually failed to expand the role of seculardemocracy in that country. Consistently, al-Sistani hasopposed the involvement in politics by the mullahs in Iran.Correctly, he pointed out that the blurring of the linesbetween religious authority and political power wouldeventually end up discrediting religion in the eyes of thepublic.

Like Pope Francis though, al-Sistani is not afigure without controversy. Last year, the popular Iraniandissident and blogger Ruhollah Zam was lured out of hisrefuge in France on the (bogus) promise of a meeting withal-Sistani. Once in Iraq, Zam was seized by Iranian securityforces, takenback to Iran and executed. While al-Sistani was not anaccomplice in the trap, he has been criticised for notappealing (even only symbolically) to his fellow Shiaayatollahs in Teheran to spare Zams life. Many Iraniansbelieve that the office of al-Sistanis son-in-law JavadShahrestanii (who is al-Sistanis representative in Iran)wasinvolved in the Zam plot

In similar vein,,al-Sistani has never condemned the harsh retribution carriedout against the supporters of the 2009 Green Revolution.Hundreds of young Iranians were executed in the aftermath ofthat social movement. Having supported the attempt atopening Iran up to greater democracy, al-Sistani remainedsilent while those who believed in it were hunted down,tortured and eliminated. Pope Francis has also had hiscritics. Some Catholic conservatives feel he has strayed toofar from the path of orthodoxy, while some liberal criticsfeel that (a) his reforms have not gone far enough, and (b)have not been entrenched in ways that will survive hispapacy. (Francis replied to some of his critics in this memorablestatement in September, 2019.)

All of that aside, what did Francis andal-Sistani talk about in Najaf? Part of their conversationwas private. Their joint public statement made the expectedcalls for tolerance and mutual understanding. Francis was inIraq partly because of the steep decline in IraqsCatholic congregation which had flourished under the secularreign of Saddam Hussein. Since the 2003 invasion, theCatholic congregation has shrunk from 1.5 million to barely250,000 believers today. Sectarian conflict sent manyCatholics fleeing into exile abroad, while many of thosethat remained inside Iraq were systematically persecuted anddriven underground during the hey-day of the IScaliphate.

By meeting with al-Sistani and issuingcalls for mutual tolerance and respect, Francis was hopingto convince Catholics in Iraq that they had not beenabandoned. For al-Sistanis part, there might have beensome hope that Pope Francis might have greater sway with theCatholic president now occupying the White House. Pointedly,the joint communique urged the lifting of economicblockades throughout the region. Exactly one year ago,Iranian clerics haddelivered a letter to Pope Francis asking for his helpin ending the US economic sanctions against Iran that haveinflicted so much harm on ordinary people, especially duringthe Covid pandemic:

On March 22 [2020] an IranianShiite leader, the Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad,delivered a letter to Pope Francis imploring hisintervention to end economic sanctions against Iran as itendures one of the worlds worst Covid-19outbreaks.

The Iranian people, he wrote, arestruggling painfully with the loss of loved ones caused veryoften by the serious lack of medical resources due to theconsequences of sanctions imposed by the United States.Suspending the sanctions regime he called a humanitarianaction proper to those who believe in Jesus, who forthe whole world is a universal symbol of peace andlove.

So far,the lifting of US sanctions against Iran has proved to bemore difficult than Biden had originally supposed. Bidenclearly wants to lift the sanctions against Iran, if only tore-balance US policy towards Saudi Arabia, and to stop Iranfrom being driven into the arms of China. Yet at the sametime, Biden has felt the need to avoid a domestic backlash fromlooking soft on the mullahs, so. any steps to normaliserelations apparently will have to be done by both sides,simultaneously. Thats not an easy dance to co-ordinate.Also, the mullahs clearly dont want to hand a politicalvictory to the relatively liberal administration of HassanRouhani, only months before the next general elections inIran, due mid year.

So the mullahs have been playing aspoiler role. Thats something they can economicallyafford to do, since they control the smuggling trade thathas flourished under the US sanctions, while ordinaryIranians have suffered. As al-Sistani correctly predicted,the political strategizing by the mullahs has had anextremely corrosive effect on religious authority. Caughtbetween mindless US hostility and the iron rule of themullahs, Iranian society has simplyimploded.

Footnote: Ironically, PopeFrancis response to his critics ( link above) had a fewpointers to offer as to why PM Jacinda Ardern has cancelledher weekly interview with Newstalks Mike Hosking.Francis made a useful distinction between criticism made ingood faith, and criticism made from a fixed position thathas no interest in dialogue :

Criticism is acomponent in construction, and if your criticism is unjust,be prepared to receive a response, and get into dialogue,and arrive to the right conclusion. This is the dynamic oftrue criticism. The [other] kind of] criticism instead..Is like throwing the stone and then hiding your hand. Thisis not beneficial, it is no help. It helps small cliques,who do not want to hear the response to their criticism.Instead, fair criticism. Is open to a response. This isconstructive.[But] to criticize without wanting to hear aresponse and without getting into dialogue is not to havethe [general] good at heart, it is chasing after a fixedidea.

Chasing after fixed ideas. Serving ideasheld by small cliques. Criticising without wanting to hearthe response. Yep, all of that sounds like Mike Hosking. Hisweekly browbeating of Ardern like his previousbootlicking of John Key has had nothing to do withdialogue, or with journalism. Journalism is about talkingtruth to power, not talking nonstop about the power of yourown truths. There was no social benefit in having Hoskinguse his audience with the PM to expound on his ownideological fixations, as if by some god-given right. Weall, Ardern included, have better things to do.

One of the great forces in traditionalPersian music the singer Mohammed Reza Shajarian died in October 2020 at the age of 80. A supporter of the2009 Green Revolution, Shajarian earned the wrath of themullahs for doing so, but was protected to some extent bythe reverence with which he was publicly regarded. HeresShajarian in 2013, recorded during one of those typicallyintimate 15 minute Tiny Desk Concerts for NPR.

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Gordon Campbell On The Pope's Visit To Iraq | Scoop News - Scoop.co.nz