Shiites pounce on Iraq tensions

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Deadly protests in Iraq have exposed a rift within the country’s Shiite political factions benefiting hardliners ready to embrace authoritarianism, experts say.

Many Shiite leaders, particularly in pro-Iran armed groups, believe the anti-government unrest was the product of “foreign conspiracies,” said Renad Mansour, a researcher at the Chatham House think-tank.

Iran itself said the protests were a conspiracy aimed at weakening its ties with neighboring Iraq, which have grown stronger since the US-led invasion toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

For Mansour, the protests revealed important fault lines in Iraq, “not just between citizens and elite, but between the different sides” of the Shiite establishment.

Calm has prevailed since Tuesday in Iraq after the country descended into violence last week as protests calling for an end to rampant corruption and chronic unemployment escalated into calls for a complete overhaul of the political system.

More than 100 people were killed, mostly by live fire, and more than 6,000 wounded.

For hardline pro-Iran forces, demonstrators taking to the streets to demand the fall of the government is “an existential threat that needs to be snuffed out”, according to Fanar Haddad, an expert at Singapore University’s Middle East Institute.