Key Takeaways:
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Minority Parties To Boycott Kurdistan Election; Kurdish Judge Steps Down From Iraq’s Top Court; Court Decision Expands Internet Censorship – On March 11, several Iraqi Christian and Turkmen political parties in the Kurdistan region said they will boycott the next regional legislative elections in June to protest the February 21 decision by Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court (FSC) that eliminated minority quota seats in the regional parliament. On March 12, a Kurdish member of the FSC, Judge Abdul-Rahman Soleiman, said he was stepping down from the Court in protest of its recent decisions regarding the Kurdistan region’s budget and electoral system. Judge Soleiman said the decisions represented “a gradual return to the principles of centralized governance…by [illegally] expanding the range of exclusive powers granted to federal authority.” On March 13, the FSC issued a decision to greatly expand government censorship of internet content and social media platforms for a wide range of vaguely defined offenses. The decision includes a ban on “websites, social media networks and applications that include the production and dissemination of immoral and indecent content, and content that violates modesty.” It also bans platforms publishing content that insults “the divine, the sanctity of sacred books, prophets and messengers, religious symbols, or religions and sects…or otherwise offends or insults others.” In other developments, on March 13, former parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halobousi accused deputy speaker Mohsin al-Mandalawi of intentionally impeding the election of a new speaker in order to take over the position for himself. On March 10, Iraq’s parliament removed Nabil Jasim from his position as president of the Iraqi Media Network. On March 14, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, and intelligence chief arrived in Baghdad for border security talks ahead of an anticipated visit by President Erdogan. more…
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Militias Claim New Trans-Border Attack On Israel; Coalition Withdrawal Talks To Take Several Months – On March 11, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” a front group for Iran-backed Iraqi militias, claimed that it attacked Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport with explosive drones. There were no reports of an actual strike hitting the airport. Jordanian authorities, however, were investigating an incident in which a drone of unknown origin crashed and exploded in the Jordanian province of Irbid. On March 12, a senior Iraqi official told Reuters that he expects negotiations between Baghdad and Washington for the drawdown and eventual departure of U.S.-led Coalition forces to continue beyond November, when the U.S. will have its next presidential election. The withdrawal talks began on January 27, when U.S. and Iraqi military officials convened the first meeting of the bilateral Higher Military Commission (HMC) in Baghdad to review the mission of the U.S.-led International Coalition against ISIS. In other developments, On March 8, a Turkish airstrike near the Shiladze subdistrict of Duhok killed two locals. Between March 8 – 12, the explosions of three remnants of war, one IED, and one grenade in Kirkuk, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Anbar, and Baghdad killed seven Iraqis and wounded at least four. On March 9, unidentified gunmen opened fire at the main temple for the Mandaean Sabians community in Maysan province, wounding two of the temple’s security guards. more…
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Iraq Revives Basra Factories Inactive Since 2003; Turkmenistan Gas Imports Hinge On Pipeline Agreement With Iran – On March 9, Iraq reopened two major state-owned fertilizer factories and a steel plant in Basra province that had been inoperable since 2003. The fertilizer factories are designed to produce 1,000 tons/day of urea fertilizers and 1,350 tons/day of diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizers, respectively. The steel plant, meanwhile, has a capacity to produce about 1,350 tons per day of various forms of steel, a government statement said. On March 10, Iraq’s Electricity Minister said that Iraq could start receiving 20 million cubic meters/day of gas from Turkmenistan next summer, pending negotiations with Tehran to use its pipeline network to bring the gas into Iraq. The Minister described the negotiations with Iran as the “only challenge” delaying the execution of the deal. In other developments, on March 11, Iraq’s Oil Ministry launched a newly-built tanker with a capacity to transport 32,000 tons of petroleum products. The ship, named Akkad, is the second of two vessels ordered three years ago from Norwegian ship builder Batservice Mandal. more…