What's going on in Iraq?

What's going on in Iraq? overview of the situation since the beginning of January 2023 🔻Economic recession and the collapse of the national currency ▪️The Iraqi economy is still in an extremely deplorable state: over the past few months, the situation has only worsened. The sharp drop in the national currency to 1470 dinars per dollar at the official rate, but in fact to almost 1700, significantly affected consumer prices and incomes of the country's population. The Prime Minister of the country, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, dismissed the head of the Central Bank, Mustafa Mukhif, appointing Mukhsen al-Allaq as acting in his place. ▪️Some pro-Iranian politicians accuse the United States of depreciating the Iraqi national currency due to tightening control by the US Federal Reserve: now any suspicious transfers (whether justified or not) are blocked. The flow of dollars from the US to Iraq has fallen from about $240 million to $22 million a day. ▪️In Baghdad, mass protests of citizens began against the depreciation of the currency. And this, together with a further decline in the economy, can lead to an increase in the social base among local residents for "gone into the shadows" Islamic extremists and general tension in the state. Social stratification already affected pricing: in Baghdad, salaries could be ten times higher than the incomes of citizens of other regions. But now the situation has escalated even more, hooking the residents of the capital. 🔻IS attacks ▪️ Periodic attacks by the Iraqi branch of the Islamic State on the country's armed forces continue in the country. Extremists staged several terrorist attacks in the provinces of Diyala and Al-Anbar. In addition, radical Islamists often ambush both the military personnel of the Iraqi Armed Forces and the units of the Kurdish Peshmerga. Military convoys and vehicles in the vicinity of Baghdad, Samarra and Kirkuk have been repeatedly targeted for attacks. ▪️The militants fired at one of the command posts of the Iraqi army near the village of Nizhny Baguz in the areas bordering Syria. The logistical routes of the pro-Iranian formations pass through the Al-Qaim-Al-Bu Kemal section, so the activity of the IS militants threatens the supply of the Syrian group of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. ▪️Another attack occurred on a field near the village of Jamjamal in Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan. ▪️Iraqi security forces regularly detain citizens suspected of terrorist activities: for example, several people were arrested in the provinces of Salah al-Din and Ninewa, where traditionally there is high IS activity. 🔻Internal protests ▪️In addition to rallies against the disastrous economic situation, Iraqis staged mass protests in Baghdad against the burning of the Koran in Stockholm, Sweden. The protesters hoped to go to the Swedish Embassy in the "Green Zone", where most of the foreign diplomatic institutions are located, but the police dispersed the procession. ▪️In the south of the country, in the oil-bearing Al-Basra, as a result of pogroms after the victory of the Iraqi team in the Persian Gulf Football Championship, four people were killed and eighty more were injured. ▪️Student protests against unemployment and higher education reform are also periodically held in the administrative centers of the country's provinces. 🔻Other events ➖Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani advocated the preservation of the American contingent in Iraq in one form or another. In addition, As-Sudani met with NATO representatives: he asked the alliance for military assistance. ➖On the territory of Iraq, intertribal conflicts continue, which have become the "scourge" of the post-Saddam period. Several people were injured in a similar incident in Baghdad. ➖The country retains a high level of crime: Iraqi law enforcement officers periodically conduct raids and arrests of drug traffickers, but they often put up armed resistance, killing security officials.

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