Government forrms joint military-civilian ‘crisis cells’ to quell growing unrest.
Attack deals a symbolic blow to Iran which places high value on its outposts
raqi protesters in the southern city of Najaf burnt down the Iranian Consulate there Wednesday night in an outburst of anger at Iran, witnesses said.
Video showed sizeable crowds outside the consulate shouting “Out, out, Iran!” and waving Iraqi flags as the building burnt.
Thirty-five protesters and 32 members of Iraqi security forces were injured, according to police in Najaf, Iraq.
No Iranian diplomats were in the building at the time, according to witnesses and Iranian news media, and there were no reports of Iranian casualties.
But the attack struck a significant symbolic blow against Iran, which places a high value on its outposts in the Shiite Muslim heartland of southern Iraq. Najaf houses important Shiite shrines, and Iran’s presence in the city demonstrates its ties to this ancient site.
Curfew imposed
Iraqi secular and religious authorities condemned the violence but did not blame any particular group. The government imposed a curfew in Najaf until further notice.
The attack on the consulate comes amid widespread antigovernment protests that began nearly two months ago in Baghdad.
The demonstrations started as a demand for jobs and better government services but have broadened into a call for a change in government, which demonstrators see as corrupt and beholden to Iran.
Many of the political parties who dominate the Iraq’s Parliament
have ties to Iran.
The attack on the consulate “sends a clear message that a segment of the Iraqi society rejects the Iranian political presence in the country and holds it accountable for bringing this government,” said Shaikh Fadhil Al Budayri, a senior cleric in Najaf.
This was the second attempt in a month by protesters to burn the Iranian consulate in Najaf.
In the first attempt, Molotov cocktails were thrown over the consulate walls, but the flames were put out, and the damage was limited.
Demonstrators in Najaf are almost all Shiites, and Shiite religious authorities there have encouraged the protests, although they have insisted that they remain peaceful.
The majority of the demonstrations have been peaceful, but in Baghdad, the capital, and in the south, security forces have shot unarmed demonstrators, killing at least 400 and wounding as many as 15,000 since the protests began, according to the United
Nations office in Iraq.
In a number of places, protesters have set fire to the headquarters of political parties, damaged government buildings and engaged in revenge killings.
Several analysts predicted that Iran would pressure the Iraqi government to have a tough response to the Najaf attack.
Iran retaliation
“For the Iranians, having something like this happen in Najaf is highly symbolic, and they will retaliate either through the Iraqi government or through their tentacles inside Iraqi society,” said Abbas Kadhim, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council.
In addition to having allies in Iraq’s government, Iran has ties to several militias, known as popular mobilisation forces. These militias have recently been incorporated into Iraq’s security forces, but there are fears that Iran might exert pressure on them to act in its interests. Within hours of the attack on the consulate, it appeared that Iran was preparing to strike back through these militias.
The leader of those forces, Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis, framed the attack on the consulate as an attack on Al Sistani.
“We will cut off the hand that attempts to get close to Marjaiyia Sayyid Al Sistani,” he said, using an honorific for the ayatollah. The statement appeared to be laying out a justification for future militia attacks on protesters by casting the response as a defence of al-Sistani.
In a live report from Najaf, Iran’s state television reported Wednesday night that the consulate had been completely burnt down and referred to Iraqi protesters as “rioters and hooligans.”