Ambassador in baghdad have been evacuated suggesting that this protest which is out science has reached the walls all the u. S. Embassy in baghdad years officials taking that very seriously indeed lets cross back to some more of fault scene she is in baghdad just hundreds of meters away from the u. S. Embassy someone what have you been hearing about the Embassy Staff in baghdad and the state of the protests outside that embassy. Well i cannot confirm whether or not that or has been evacuated. 9 d can say that i have not seen any helicopters leave the u. S. Embassy compound at least from the position where i am located of course the u. S. Embassy compound is extremely low 9 and im not aware of the creation d a little its possible that they could have the gate on the other. 9 28 9 by car but a of course you know this is unprecedented where you have hundreds perhaps thousands of members of the p. M. S. Lets be very clear these are not. Not the same protesters that have been demonstrating against the government for 3 months these are 9 members of the p. M. S. Wearing uniforms some of them wearing a weapons. Basically have marched right up to the gate of the u. S. And the people it would not be surprising 9 if indeed the u. S. Draw some of it. And give us a sense of what that proves is looking like now that 2 things have been going on for for well over half an hour now. Certainly the pictures that we see from the u. S. Embassy we see. The large numbers of people. Attempting to breach the wall so that embassy you would dine some more know what sort of thing if youve been hearing what if youve been seeing. Some basically this entire crowd. Marching from the d side of the tigris river 9 across. d the bridge inside the green zone and for the entire perception was basically chanting antiamerican slogans that the. 9 posters that had President Donald Trump face struck out seeing slogans d her slogans. A 9 a and. They turned. Many many slogans basically a against the u. S. So it is clear that what was supposed to be a funeral procession is actually not a just that of course d the body of those people who were killed being driven to disperse a its more of a a very forceful and public show of force by just. To basically pass a lesson that they are. d force 9 that they are able to basically mobilize such a large group of demonstrators to march not only in baghdad but to march right up to the gates of the u. S. And the theater basically theyre being 9 bought or even supported to do this. D 9 government so. d 6 that their presence is not welcome here that any kind of intervention such as what weve seen with u. S. Strikes will not be called a raid and simona just to give us a sense of where this all began because this does come back to those strikes on the poor raney and hezbollah brigades in which 27 people were killed those funerals taking place today just set the scene for us explain to our old scenes just how significant an event that was those strikes by the u. S. And why it has provoked such a fierce reaction from those protesters who are gathering outside the u. S. Embassy. Well this was the 1st time that the us 9 actually admitted publicly to having strong 8 p. M. S. Safe p. M. S. Has accused the us many times in the past of having down for but there has never been basically a public admission to those actions so that is quite a significant event and one of the spokespersons of the fall of brigade said yesterday that its one thing to strike them but its another thing to do in public basically D Development that the u. S. Actually took that drastic d to strike what is essentially at least on paper a number of the Iraqi Security forces this is present quite an escalation to the longstanding pensions between the u. S. And the piano on the ground and d why were seeing such a decide to fund of course the crowd of shoppers d today coming right up to the gates of the u. S. Just one response the p. L. F. Is also 9 to retaliate militarily and its political wing that currently dominates the parliament have also promised that they would be able in a bill to actually formally d foreign troops from iraq including the United States and in terms of the wiser aspects here simona this is an Iraqi Government which is coming on immense pressure particularly from its population who have been protesting for months against corruption theyve been protesting for months coaling for a change in leadership. How significant do you think these protests are in this context and how are they likely to be are they likely to be received by the wiser iraqi population. Well this particular group that marched on to get this and that it comes to members or supporters of the Popular Mobilization forces 9 can actually see. 6 a good share of the 9 9 marching back again across the bridge but basically leaving the u. S. Embassy 9 they. d represent the broader Public Opinion in iraq of course iraq is have been demonstrating for months against foreign interference in iraq but the. A rejections of foreign interference has been particularly targeted iran and nothing but that doesnt mean that u. S. Presence here is a fairly welcome some people see it as a necessary. d to maintain influence others to use basically as unwanted and i dont want to talk to patients so there is quite a Broad Spectrum of Public Opinion here but certainly these crowds the sort of. Members who marched on this and this is. On the extreme a. Lords antiu. S. Sentiments now the government of course is basically been besieged by months of antigovernment protests they have already struggled to respond to that crisis we have seen planets out in the. 9 end of november weve also seen d didnt threaten to resign so this additional price is basically an additional burden for the government and we have seen on the 1. 00 hand a strong statement condemning the u. S. Actions but it remains to be seen what it will do 9 in taxes will the government actually submits a bill to parliament to vote on whether or not foreign troops leave its only the executive branch not to mislead expensive. Bills so 9 the big question right now is whether or not the 9 government will follow. Yesterdays statement condemning these actions with an actual proposal to see the departure of your. Ok simona fulton live for us on the line from baghdad thank you very much indeed for bringing us up to date if your fear is just joining us were bringing you continuing coverage of those protests taking place in the iraqi capital those process have been happening in the green zone in central baghdad and the pictures youre seeing just now these images are pregnancy from outside the u. S. Embassy where several of these protesters have been attempting to storm that embassy in amman them are members of the approval reunion hezbollah brigades they form part of the Popular Mobilization forces as weve been hearing from our correspondents 14 i know these protests are happening on the day that several members of the hospital brigades have been buried 27 shia fighters killed in u. S. Airstrikes so a furious reaction there from those protesters lets get some analysis now from marwan bashara hes our senior political analyst and joins us now live from doha just how significant would you say these scenes are taking place in central baghdad where quite significant if you have a memory. If youre sitting in the state department now on the eve of a new year of a new decade if youre sitting in the u. S. Military Central Command in florida on this new years eve youre probably thinking of all the nightmares that happen that been so humiliating and so enduring the United States from the take over of the u. S. Embassy in tehran some 40 years ago. To the attack and the killing of the u. S. Ambassador in tripoli just a few years ago and in between of course theres been several attacks on u. S. Installations including for example the attack on the us marines in lebanon by none other than the hezbollah in lebanon. So if you sitting anywhere and you have a memory of history of American Experiences in the middle east youre probably looking at the scenes of angry protesters probably instigated by some Political Party or another to attack the u. S. Embassy in iraq says almost what now 16 years after the u. S. Invasion and occupation of iraq you probably have a lot of nightmares about what potentially this could lead and how embarrassing and how complicating for u. S. Diplomacy in the middle east this could be if this continues to escalate and if there is a complicity between the attackers the demonstrators if you will and people in the higher echelon of power in baghdad and into her own and more when this of course comes amid whites or tensions of course in the in the region we have certainly protests taking place in iraq itself the iraqi people are unhappy with foreign interference of any kind how do you think these scenes occurrence could sign with the population in iraq because it seems the iraqi people are caught between a rock and a hard place here and it and it seems they arent being listened see do they need to more in the u. S. Embassy where do they go lets just put it this way i think. Youre on your question is so important as a follow up to the previous one simply because this is by definition the 2 sides of the story the one side of the story is what this means for the United States and how this was you know how we came up about to this moment in time in iraq for the u. S. And theres the other which has to do with. It has well law their relationship with power in iraq and their relationship with the revolutionary guards in iran and with ali khomeini and so so forth and how does that then figure out in terms of the last several months. Of protest against iran and its allies in iraq because just several weeks months ago protesters shii protesters were burning iranian consulates in the likes of karbala for example and other parts of the south so a move like this by iran and its allies against the u. S. Embassy certainly one distract attention from hostility towards iran and its allies to probably will end up inciting and bringing a lot of iraqis on board because iraqis probably you know have as much distaste for iran as much as they do for the United States because both of them have brought War Occupation sectarianism violence and so on so forth to the country so i think its probably i mean i hate to use the word but its probably very fully smart on the part of hezbollah and there are any and backers to do this very particular thing this very particular escalation against the u. S. Because they know how much this hurts the u. S. How much this here many its it publicly and how much this puts pressure public pressure or the new year eve on on President Trump was probably trying to have some kind of an evening in florida playing golf and also for now he finds himself in perhaps perhaps he huge diplomatic mess. And marwan in terms of in terms of where the u. S. Will go from here because it has been a confusing strategy as the u. S. Has taken till now in the middle east weve seen a partial withdrawal in syria weve seen several confusing messages coming out of the white house in terms of this do you think this this reaction from the these these protesters outside the u. S. Embassy at this point i should just bring in we are getting reports of a fire in one of the terrorists at the u. S. Embassy this is also coming amid reports that the u. S. Ambassador and some say have been evacuated from that embassy a given these events where do you see the its always difficult to predict where where the white house will react to these things but do you think this kids cause the u. S. To change position when it comes to to its policy with the with the middle east. As a student of International Relations i can tell you the most indispensable thing for a leader for an expert for a student of international moderation is to study history but what we have now in the United States while countless number of historians and people who are long memories of american entanglement around the world unfortunately for the United States the american president has 0. I dont say 0 ok you have this small understanding of history or have shown this small care for how history burrs on u. S. Foreign policy in the middle east because as i was stating earlier there is a history of american embassies in the middle east from the u. S. Embassy to the u. S. Embassy in tripoli and how the United States then reacted to all of that and then how it acted proactively to prevent these sorts of events now the american president has basically taken over Foreign Policy he thinks of himself as a great deal maker and hence when it comes to the big dosias whether it is the golf security erections with iran china russia and so forth he thinks of himself as not only the commander in chief but also the deal maker and hes the one whos been making policy unfortunately he doesnt have deep understanding of history and hence what we have now and with weve had the last 3 years is more like are responsive transactional relationship with the middle east that is devoid of all important indispensable understanding of the history of the region and the history of the us relation with the region and hence i would say if the u. S. President is going to continue to be the Decision Maker in chief when it comes to Foreign Policy im not leaving it to the experts and the diplomats and so on so forth then i would say i would would i would predict that this might actually turn to the worse because if the u. S. President now is simply for example once or now you will going to ask in a muscular way in some form or another deployment one source of war thats certainly going to backfire if hes going to try to appease this or that party that might also backfire because that might lead to more blackmailing of the u. S. In the region if he chooses to do nothing thats. Definitely not a good looking thing for a superpower just like resorts several months ago in syria and in terms of the attack on saudi arabia so i think his options are actually limited at this point in time and he has to have that kind of understanding to tread carefully on how to deal with this situation how we will arc of course i have no idea i mean i cant predict specially President Trump but i can tell you that it will not be if he takes the decision himself it will not be. Led by historic knowledge of us experience in the middle east ok well leave it there for now. Standing by for us thanks very much indeed for bringing us your thoughts and analysis on the situation lets head back now to baghdad smaller 14 is inside the u. S. Embassy and joins us now on the phone as i dont know if you have an update for us on these reports that the u. S. Ambassador and some Embassy Staff have been evacuated from that embassy where those protests have been taking place just bring us up to date on the situation there at particularly these reports of a fire. Yes well currently standing around all 2 to 300 meters away from the embassy i can see quite a lot of smoke rising its basically coming right from where the outer gate of the embassy is located its difficult to say from this distance what exactly is burning but just before we do to a look a certain we could see protesters burning a parts of trees going those burning cars a because a the walls inside the compound a are hearing reports and one of the the watch towers had been set on fire but i cannot confirm that on seeing a lot of black smoke rising to the sky coming right from where the compound of the u. S. And the sea is were also seeing a some of the crap d beginning to slowly withdraw back across the bridge to the other side of the tigris river so a it seems perhaps that the crowds are expected to indeed send out over the next a over the next few hours or 2 were also a hearing them and come out of that from the direction of. The green zone. Far. A caring for somebody who might have been injured either by inhaling the smoke or. Some of the other confrontation between us and the sea but overall and seeing a lot of. Members dressed in their uniforms and carrying p. M. S. Quiet march back in a june of the Hanging Bridge d a cross to the other side of the tigris river. Simona thank you very much indeed lets just bring you some of the news were hearing among the protest as u. S. Embassy is had the keys and the rocky politician whos koofi linked to. No the man next to him wearing a white turban is the political leader. Who was recently placed under u. S. Sanctions so lets head back to Dorset Jabara Bari rather in the arabian capital tehran at the door so what can you tell us about this individual in particular. Well. He is a well known figure not only in iraq but also in iran and he fought on the rainy inside during the iran iraq war between 1901988 he has expressed his admiration and his allegiance not only to the Supreme Leader of iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but also the head of the courts force general Hossam Soleimani he has said that that is where his heart lies in iran and he is seen as a very close friend of the iranians in iraq and now that hes part of the parliament hes part of the Ruling Coalition in parliament that monopolization he is seen as a very very important ally within the Iraqi Government his organization the brother organization has been operational as a Political Party as a military has had a military wing as well since the 1980 s. With the help of iran and his presence at this event only highlights that this event is not a impromptu. Protest that the people decided to actually storm the u. S. Embassy in baghdad this shows that there were some planning that took place in terms of getting the leader of one of the most important parties in iraq to this event along with a crisis ali who is the head of his own Political Party as well known as the network his group also very active not only within the iraqi politics but also when it comes to having them military say within the military Organization Structure within iraq so these 2 men are very very close to the iranian. And the powers that be here and their presence at this rally shows that this event is not just the random impromptu event this was a carefully thought out and planned event for these leaders to actually show themselves there this also means that this event has had some does have some political ramification. As for the United States in iraq that a ruling parties within the Iraqi Government want to show with the backing of iran that they are not afraid of the u. S. Presence and they dont want them there and they want them to leave the country that they are not afraid to show their faces to show that they want the u. S. Forces to leave iraq and they want to be able to do that without any help from iran at this event specifically ok dorsetshire bari very important context you bring us there from the iranian capital tehran for now thank you very much indeed here and now to syria weve been bringing you continuing coverage all of these protests which have broken out in central baghdad very large process according to our correspondents who are currently at science the Iraqi Embassy where weve been hearing that a fire has broken out. There are unconfirmed reports at the stage that the u. S. Ambassador and some staff have been evacuated from this embassy that this protest is taking place at the same time that 27 shia fighters who were killed in airstrikes in iraq those funerals were due to be taking place today the sheer armed groups who lost those fighters the hezbollah brigades had promised revenge and as we were hearing from our correspondents that sheer armed group was among the protesters taking part in that angry vigil outside the u. S. Embassy going to handle richard stan grant hes going to continue the coverage of these protests keep it here on our just sara. Business updates brought to you by Qatar Airways going places together. The told. The hour at. The top. Of the hour on. The top. Business updates brought to you by Qatar Airways going places together a city defined by military occupation theres never been an arab state capital of jerusalem everyone is welcome but this. Project thats what we do feels it was one of the sound of us weeping and the story of jerusalem through the eyes of its own people segregation and discrimination injustice this is. Jerusalem a rock and a hard place. The scum of the world of aljazeera. The best films from across on network of channels in the heart of 6 boys going to go to none of them have citizenship fresh perspectives and new insights to challenge and change the way we look at the world oh the 2. Cultures here a world. On aljazeera. This is aljazeera. This is the news hour coming up in the next 60 minutes hundreds of protesters and iranian backed fighters marched to the u. S. Embassy in baghdad to condemn sundays strikes. Thousands of stranded in eastern australia is more than 255. 00 reported in a. Fleas corruption
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.