Region

BAGHDAD — Eight protesters were killed and Iraq declared a nationwide curfew after supporters of Moqtada Sadr stormed the government palace in Baghdad's Green Zone on Monday following the powerful Shiite leader's declaration that he was quitting politics.

Shots were fired in the fortified area which houses government buildings as well as diplomatic missions, an AFP correspondent said, as tensions soared amid an escalating political crisis that has left Iraq without a new government, prime minister or president for months.

The army announced a nationwide curfew from 7:00pm (16:00 GMT), after earlier declaring a Baghdad curfew that demonstrators ignored.

Medics told AFP that eight Sadr supporters were killed and 85 others wounded after clashes broke out in the Green Zone.

Witnesses said Sadr loyalists and supporters of a rival Shiite bloc, the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, had exchanged fire.

Security forces later patrolled the capital.

Calling the developments "an extremely dangerous escalation", the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) urged "all" sides to "refrain from acts that could lead to an unstoppable chain of events".

"The very survival of the state is at stake," it warned.

The United States also urged calm amid the "disturbing" reports of unrest in Baghdad.

Protests later spread to other parts of the country, with Sadr followers storming government buildings in the southern cities of Nasiriyah and Hillah, an AFP correspondent and witnesses said, with some roads also blocked in Hillah.

'Definitive retirement' 

Iraq has been mired in political deadlock since legislative elections in October last year, due to disagreement between Shiite factions over forming a coalition.

Shortly after he made his surprise declaration, Sadr's followers burst into the Republican Palace, where Cabinet meetings are usually held.

Inside the opulent palace, protesters lounged in armchairs in a meeting room, some waved Iraqi flags and took photographs of themselves, and others cooled off in a swimming pool in the garden, in scenes reminiscent of anti-government protests in Sri Lanka last month.

Sadr — a grey-bearded preacher with millions of devoted followers, who once led a militia against American and Iraqi government forces — announced earlier on Monday on Twitter he was stepping back from politics.

“I’ve decided not to meddle in political affairs. I therefore announce now my definitive retirement,” said Sadr, a longtime player in the war-torn country’s political scene, though he himself has never directly been in government.

He added that “all the institutions” linked to his Sadrist movement will be closed, except the mausoleum of his father, assassinated in 1999, and other heritage facilities.

His latest statement came two days after he said “all parties” including his own should give up government positions in order to help resolve the political crisis.

His bloc emerged from last year’s election as the biggest, with 73 seats, but short of a majority. In June, his lawmakers quit in a bid to break the logjam, which led to the Coordination Framework becoming the largest bloc in the legislature.

Since then, Sadr has engaged in other pressure tactics, including a mass prayer by tens of thousands of his followers on August 5.

Hamzeh Hadad, from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), said it was “not clear” what Sadr’s strategy was.

“Whatever it does mean, in typical Sadrist fashion, there is always backtracking expected,” Hadad said.

“The second, and more terrifying thought on this is that he is giving his followers the green light to do whatever they like.”

Millions of followers 

Sadr’s supporters have been calling for parliament to be dissolved and for new elections, but on Saturday the cleric said it was “more important” that “all parties and figures who have been part of the political process” since the 2003 US-led invasion “no longer participate”.

“That includes the Sadrist movement,” he said.

Over the years, the chameleon-like Sadr has taken various positions and then reversed them.

Sadr’s supporters have for weeks been staging a sit-in outside Iraq’s parliament, after storming the legislature’s interior on July 30, to press their demands.

They were angered after the Coordination Framework nominated a candidate they saw as unacceptable for prime minister.

The Framework wants a new head of government to be appointed before any new polls are held.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi earlier this month convened crisis talks with party leaders, but the Sadrists boycotted.

Many Iraqis say the political infighting has nothing to do with their day-to-day struggles.

Iraq has been ravaged by decades of conflict and endemic corruption.

Oil-rich but blighted by ailing infrastructure, unemployment, power cuts and crumbling public services, Iraq now also faces water shortages as drought ravages swathes of the country.

ISTANBUL — Turkey on Sunday said fellow NATO member Greece had used a Russian-made air defence system to harass Turkish jets on a reconnaissance mission in what it termed a "hostile action".

The incident took place on August 23 when Greece's S-300 missile system on the island of Crete put a lock on Turkish F-16 jets flying at 10,000 feet west of Rhodes, Turkish defence ministry sources said.

That was "incompatible with the spirit of [NATO] alliance" and amounted to "hostile acts" under the NATO rules of engagement, the sources added.

"Despite this hostile action, [Turkish] jets completed their planned missions and returned to their base safely."

Greek defence ministry sources dismissed the allegations.

"Greece's S-300 missile system has never put a lock on Turkish F-16 jets", the sources said, according to state-run Ert television.

Turkey has in recent months complained of what it calls provocative actions by Greece, saying such moves undermine peace efforts.

The two uneasy NATO neighbours have long-standing sea and air boundary disputes which lead to near-daily air force patrols and interception missions mostly around Greek islands near Turkey's coastline.

Athens accuses Ankara of overflying Greek islands.

Turkey says Greece is stationing troops on islands in the Aegean Sea in violation of peace treaties signed after World Wars I and II.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cut off dialogue with Greece after charging that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis lobbied against US arms sales to his country.

Washington has sanctioned Ankara for taking delivery of an advanced Russian missile defence system in 2019.

The purchase saw the United States drop Turkey from the F-35 joint strike fighter programme.

But President Joe Biden’s administration has signalled it may be willing to move past the dispute and there have been talks about F-16 purchases.

Turkish defence ministry sources said Greece also had purchased the Russian-made air defence system and accused Western countries, without naming them, of pursuing two-sided policies.

Athens is also eying US weaponry in an attempt to bolster its air force amid tensions with Ankara.

In June, Greece formalised a request for US-made F-35 fighter jetsphoto

TRIPOLI — Clashes between backers of rival governments killed at least 12 people and damaged six hospitals in Libya's capital Saturday, sparking fears that a political crisis could spiral into a major new conflict.

Small arms fire and explosions rocked several districts of Tripoli overnight and into Saturday, when smoke could be seen rising from damaged buildings.

Early on Saturday evening, the health ministry in Tripoli gave a preliminary toll of 12 dead and 87 wounded from the fighting.

Six hospitals were hit and ambulances were unable to reach areas affected by the clashes, the ministry had said earlier, condemning "war crimes".

The two rival administrations exchanged blame as videos posted online showed burned-out cars and buildings riddled with bullet holes, as well as a mosque on fire.

The UN's Libya mission called for "an immediate cessation of hostilities", citing "ongoing armed clashes including indiscriminate medium and heavy shelling in civilian-populated neighbourhoods" that it said had damaged hospitals.

The US embassy in Libya said it was "very concerned" about the clashes.

News agency Lana said actor Mustafa Baraka had been killed in one of the neighbourhoods hit by fighting, sparking anger and mourning on social media.

The Government of National Unity (GNU) of Abdulhamid Dbeibah said fighting had broken out after negotiations to avoid bloodshed in the western city collapsed.

Dbeibah’s government, installed as part of a United Nations-led peace process following a previous round of violence, is challenged by a rival government led by former interior minister Fathi Bashagha.

Trading blame 

Bashagha, who is backed by Libya’s parliament and eastern-based military strongman Khalifa Haftar, says the GNU’s mandate has expired.

But he has so far been unable to take office in Tripoli, as Dbeibah has insisted on only handing power to an elected government.

Dbeibah’s government accused Bashagha of “carrying out his threats” to seize Tripoli by force.

Dbeibah’s GNU said negotiations had been underway to “hold elections at the end of the year to resolve the political crisis”, but that Bashagha had “walked out at the last moment”.

Bashagha denied such talks had taken place, and accused Dbeibah’s “illegitimate” administration of “clinging to power”.

Emadeddin Badi, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, warned that the violence could quickly escalate.

“Urban warfare has its own logic, it’s harmful both to civilian infrastructure and to people, so even if it isn’t a long war, this conflict will be very destructive as we have already seen,” he told AFP.

He added that the fighting could strengthen Haftar and those close to him.

“They stand to benefit from western Libya divisions and have a better negotiating position once the dust settles.”

Bashagha was appointed in February by the parliament, which was elected in 2014 and is based in the eastern city of Tobruk, but he has been unable to impose his authority in Tripoli.

Initially ruling out the use of violence, the former interior minister has since hinted that he could resort to force.

Last week, he called on “Libyan men of honour” to drop their support for Dbeibah’s “obsolete and illegitimate” administration.

Last month, clashes between rival groups in Tripoli left 16 people dead, including a child.

It was the deadliest violence to hit the Libyan capital since Haftar’s ill-fated attempt to seize it by force in 2019 and 2020.

ALGIERS — French President Emmanuel Macron and his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Saturday declared a "new, irreversible dynamic of progress" in their nations' ties, concluding a visit by Macron aimed at ending months of tensions.

The three-day visit comes less than two months after Algeria marked six decades of independence following 132 years of French rule and a devastating eight-year war.

It also comes as European powers scramble to replace Russian energy imports — including with supplies from Algeria, Africa's top gas exporter, wh ich in turn is seeking to expand its clout in North Africa and the Sahel.

In their joint declaration on Saturday, the two leaders said, "France and Algeria have decided to open a new era... laying the foundation for a renewed partnership expressed through a concrete and constructive approach, focused on future projects and youth."

At the signing ceremony, Tebboune addressed his guest in French, gushing over an "excellent, successful visit... which allowed for a rapprochement which wouldn't have been possible without the personality of President Macron himself".

Ties between Paris and Algiers have seen repeated crises over the years.

They had been particularly cool since last year when Macron questioned Algeria's existence as a nation before the French occupation and accused the government of fomenting "hatred towards France".

Tebboune withdrew his country's ambassador in response and banned French military aircraft from its airspace.

Normal diplomatic relations have since resumed, along with overflights to French army bases in sub-Saharan Africa.

'Lack of courage' 

After vowing to "build a new pact", Macron was in the spiritual home of Rai music on Saturday, visiting a record shop made famous by French-Algerian singer DJ Snake's recent hit of the same name, "Disco Maghreb".

He also met athletes and artists and went for a somewhat chaotic walk in the streets where police struggled with onlookers trying to shake his hand or take photos.

On Friday evening, Macron had dinner with Algerian writer Kamel Daoud and other Oran personalities.

He had also met young entrepreneurs who quizzed him on the difficulties of getting visas to France, the decline of the French language in its former colony and the contentious issues around the two countries’ painful past.

Macron announced that an additional 8,000 Algerian students would be admitted to study in France this year, joining 30,000 already in the country.

He also announced the creation of a joint commission of historians to examine the colonial period and the devastating eight-year war that ended it.

But in France, both left and right-wing politicians were angered by the proposal.

Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure noted that Macron in 2017 had called French colonialism a “crime against humanity”, then later questioned the existence of Algeria as a nation prior to the colonial period.

“The lightness with which he deals with the subject is an insult to wounded memories,” Faure tweeted.

Far-right leader Thomas Menage tweeted that Algeria should stop “using its past to avoid establishing true, friendly diplomatic relations”.

Macron’s visit was not universally welcomed by Algerians either.

“History can’t be written with lies... like the one that Algeria was created by France,” read an editorial in the French-language Le Soir newspaper.

“We expected Macron to erase this gross untruth during this visit,” it said, criticising him for a “lack of courage... to recognise his own faults and those of his country”.

TEHRAN — More than 20,000 people have flocked to an Iranian museum showcasing renowned Western artists’ works, some for the first time — part of a treasure trove amassed before the Islamic Revolution.

The museum’s collection is reputed to be the greatest line-up of modern masterpieces outside Europe and the United States, and includes multimillion-dollar pieces, much of which has been kept under wraps since the 1979 revolution.

The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art “surprises me every time”, said visitor Shahin Rajabi, 35. “The current show is no exception.”

The current “Minimalism and Conceptual Art” exhibition features 132 works by 34 world-famous contemporary artists, museum director Ebadreza Eslami said, including Marcel Duchamp, Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd and the duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

“The reception has been marvellous,” Eslami said, particularly after long closures in recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said one of the main factors for the footfall of this exhibit was that “38 masterpieces” were being displayed “for the first time”.

AFP saw visitors at the museum this week, some stopping to study details while others were busy taking photos as they made their way intently through the museum.

“I loved the last room of the exhibit in particular, where the artist had worked with the fluorescent light,” said visitor Rajabi, referring to American artist Dan Flavin’s “Untitled” work.

‘Very valuable’ 

The museum was inaugurated in 1977 during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was deposed by Islamic revolutionaries two years later.

Its design was inspired by Iran’s desert wind towers — an architectural element used to catch and circulate cool air in hot environments.

Most of the collection was built up by the shah’s wife, former queen Farah Pahlavi, who deployed a team of experts to tour Western auctions and snap up prestigious paintings and sculptures to boost the country’s cultural profile.

The museum also holds an important collection of Iranian modern and contemporary art.

But the international works went underground after the Islamic republic’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini railed against “Westoxification”, deploring Western moral and sexual depravity which he said had infected the Islamic world.

The themes of many of the Western works have been considered too risque to be publicly shown, and have spent much of the past decades languishing in storage.

The museum counts some 3,500 works, hundreds of which are “very valuable”, head of public relations Hassan Noferesti said.

They include masterpieces by Western artists from Paul Gauguin to Pablo Picasso, Rene Magritte, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Alberto Giacometti, according to Iran’s culture ministry.

Visitors double 

The current show, which runs until mid-September, includes a collage by Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto titled “Green Curtains”, and an untitled work made from hemp by Canadian-American sculptor Jacqueline Winsor.

Curator Behrang Samadzadegan said “some 20,000 people” have visited since the show opened in late June — about twice the normal turnout.

Describing the theme of the show, he added “when we are talking about minimalism, we are primarily talking about the environment not the work”.

Standing in front of the “Rock Salt & Mirror” by American artist Robert Smithson, 28-year-old painter Solmaz Daneshvar said she “greatly enjoyed” the display.

The exhibition, however, was at the centre of controversy this month when an amateur video surfaced showing two silverfish insects underneath the frame of a rare image by the late German photographic duo of Bernd and Hilla Becher.

The video, whose authenticity could not be independently verified by AFP, went viral.

The museum later made a formal apology, assuring concerned art lovers that the work by the Bechers, who are known for their photos of industrial structures, was not damaged.

It also closed its doors for two days for fumigation.

In 2015, the museum held an exhibition of 42 works by Western artists including Pollock’s masterpiece “Mural on Indian Red Ground”, valued by Christie’s auction house experts in 2010 at $250 million.

WASHINGTON — US attack helicopters on Wednesday struck several targets used by Iran-backed militants to fire rockets at bases housing American troops in northeastern Syria, the US military's Central Command said.

"US forces responded today to rocket attacks at two sites in Syria, destroying three vehicles and equipment used to launch some of the rockets," Centcom, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said in a statement.

Two or three suspected Iran-backed militants responsible for one of the attacks were killed, Centcom added.

Three US service members sustained minor injuries when several rockets hit both the Conoco and Green Village bases in Deir Ezzor, a strategic, oil-rich province bordering Iraq, on Wednesday evening.

The facilities are run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, allies of the United States and other coalition partners that are maintaining a mission against the remnants of the Daesh.

The strike comes a day after another US attack targeted facilities in Deir Ezzor that Washington said were used by Iran-backed militias.

White House spokesman John Kirby said the strikes destroyed infrastructure including ammunition depots in "direct response" to an August 15 attack on the small contingent of US troops in Syria.

Iran earlier Wednesday denied any link with the groups targeted by the US air strikes the day before.

Tehran says it has deployed its forces in Syria at the invitation of Damascus and only as advisers.

A Syrian foreign ministry statement strongly condemned the "terrorist act" by the United States, saying it represented a "violation of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria".

Centcom described both strikes as "proportional" and "deliberate" responses, saying in its Wednesday statement that the "United States does not seek conflict with Iran, but we will continue to take the measures necessary to protect and defend our people".

The strikes come as parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal build momentum towards bringing back the landmark agreement, with Washington on Wednesday responding to Tehran's suggestions for reviving the accord trashed by former US president Donald Trump.