Iraq: Prime Minister escapes drone assassination attempt

He is the target, if not to be killed, at least to be frightened. A few hours after being the victim of an assassination attempt, Iraqi Prime Minister Moustapha al-Kazemi chaired a meeting of security officials on Sunday in a climate of heightened tensions. Around 1 a.m., three drones had been launched from a site near the Republic Bridge, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, before heading towards the green zone, on the other bank of the river where his residence is located.

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Two were shot down in flight by his close guard but the third, trapped, was able to detonate his charge against al-Kazemi's house, injuring at least three of his bodyguards. Unscathed, the Prime Minister appeared in a video an hour later, sitting at his desk in his shirt, calling for "calm and restraint for the good of Iraq", while denouncing "cowardly drones and cowardly rockets ( who) do not build a country, nor a future”. “He seemed to me in good shape”, confided to Figaro one of his relatives who visited him on Sunday afternoon.

Election rout

This is the first and most serious attack he has suffered since his appointment as Prime Minister in May 2020. It comes in a very tense context, a month after the legislative elections which saw candidates supporting Shiite militias pro-Iran suffer a crushing defeat. The very ones whose political, military and economic influence Moustapha al-Kazemi is trying to reduce, without however being able to confront them directly, for lack of means. The attack could be linked to behind-the-scenes negotiations to appoint the next prime minister.

Al-Kazemi is not at all sure of being reappointed, the majority of Shiite political leaders being opposed to it. "The losers of the elections, who consider that they are waging an existential war, are ready to play everything for everything", deciphers from Baghdad, for Le Figaro an expert close to the Prime Minister. “We do not yet know who is behind this unclaimed attack, he adds, but many statements have recently targeted him directly. And there were a few deaths in Friday's protests organized by election losers, so they're aggressive. »

"Expected escalation"

Hours before the attack, Qaïs al-Khazali, leader of one of the most powerful militias, Assaïb al-Haq, had raised his voice against al-Kazemi in a video. Since Friday, supporters of pro-Iran factions have been holding a sit-in at two entrances to the Green Zone. Friday, they would have sought, according to certain sources, to penetrate there. But the army, apparently without the approval of the prime minister, fired on the demonstrators, killing at least two. “Things didn't go as the violent protesters and ready to fight hoped, adds the Iraqi expert. They thought the army would break up. However, it is not the case. It is not an army in their pay, it holds. »

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Already in May, militiamen armed with rocket launchers approached just one hundred meters from al-Kazemi's office. A first warning followed by numerous attacks against American targets on the few bases where soldiers from across the Atlantic remained stationed.

Without a political party or parliamentary group, al-Kazemi managed to be appreciated by the Gulf countries, the United States and France, without falling into the crosshairs of neighboring Iran, sponsor of some of these militias that he fights. All have also condemned the drone shot that targeted him. "The escalation was expected," adds the expert who lives in the green zone, where military reinforcements have arrived in large numbers.

call for calm

The battle is disproportionate, as evidenced by the very rare portraits of the prime minister facing dozens of posters showing the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi deputy Abou Mahdi al-Mohandes, the guardians of the anti-Kazemi militiamen, who were assassinated in January 2020 near the airport by order of Donald Trump. But their defeat in the last legislative election – the results of which they dispute – undeniably weakened them.

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"The situation can get out of hand even more", warns the expert, who fears "the worst-case scenario": thousands of militiamen forcibly entering the green zone, where some already - legally - occupy positions. “It would be a military-terrorist putsch to overthrow an internationally recognized government. If they choose this option, they will face the legitimate authority and international allies of Iraq. They are aware of it. But the militiamen are very divided, they do not obey the same leader, some are under orders, but others are not, and faced with the loss of a significant part of their power, some may slip. »

UN condemns attack

The UN Security Council on Monday (November 8th) condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the "assassination attempt" which Iraqi Prime Minister Moustafa al-Kazimi escaped on Sunday, whose residence was targeted by an attack in trapped drone.

In a joint statement, the fifteen member countries of the Council “stress the need for the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and supporters of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to be held accountable and brought to justice”. They "urge all states" to "cooperate actively with the government of Iraq" in this regard.

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The United Nations Security Council finally reaffirms its support for “the independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, democratic process and prosperity of Iraq”. The Iraqi Prime Minister emerged unscathed on Sunday from this attack which was not claimed, in a context of heightened tensions born after the legislative elections a month ago.

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