Security concerns for southern Iraq have risen following an attempted suicide attack near Karbala and deadly protests in Nasiriyah sparked by a prison sentence for a man accused of insulting security forces.
Tit-for-tat attacks by US and Iran-linked forces in eastern Syria have raised regional tension levels and questions about Iraq’s control of its western border and an area long controlled by Kataib Hezbollah in the center of the country.
At least three rockets landed near a residence of the Iraqi parliament speaker in his native Anbar region on Tuesday as political wrangling, disappearances and threats from Iran-linked militias continue.