the t v cameras, it could be deployed in every. a corner it has been. 5 it has been home for, for, for government to offices. the department to the physician product is the cabinet headquarters at the headquarters of ministry, including domestic defense and interior ministry. all the high profile institutions are located inside the green zone, along with other diplomatic, international diplomatic mission. i couldn't do s m c and the bridge mc. but what is happening. 9 is ironic because the green zone has turned into a battle field now between the faction and as you know, it has been witnessing the sit in the support for a month now. you know that they put it with the green zone in july. 4 and they occupied the parliament setting up dozens of 10 in an open seat in

front of the parliament, hosting parisian. 1 only in the parliament, but also it, although the state institutions inside the green zone, the green zone also has the supreme judicial council, including also facilities including the supreme court. the supreme court is now on is now not functioning because i'm just going to interrupt you again because i just want to move. i'm just want to interrupt you again because i. 6 just want to refer to these pictures that we're, we're looking at these live pictures. we are seeing more explosions. we can see many people gathered around. previously. we can see a bit of smoke that seems to have cleared up a little, but we can hear the gunshots back clearly. i'm not sure if you can see the same pictures we can see. but i think those are the sounds of rockets. what do you think is actually happening their mood?

exactly. exactly. like i just mentioned that these columns over smoke are probably is from the seclusion as the media itself has just posted that degrees one has was for rocket or rockets. we have been hearing heavy explosion, probably the rockets along with other medium and light weapons. it gunshots. as you know, both valuable factions have been emitted. 3 wins on the ground. they both have similar weapons. they both have also a huge numbers of support on the ground, especially saw him last night when we were live close to the green zone we we were seeing like can probably hundreds of

other proposals. join again with their weapons, joining in walking on foot from neighborhoods coming from neighborhoods in walk in the green zone to join the police, fight against the security forces and also military units created to the coordination framework. that is the political a block to iran. so now, sorry, sorry to interrupt you again. my mood. we know that mcdonald's father announced yesterday that he was going to go on hunger strike to try and get his supporters to back down to get off the streets. does this mean that people on his supported the not listening to him, that the fact that people are out there again this morning? i don't think so because when he stated that he's he is on

a hunger strike until the violence ends. so i think by violence ends, he means until violence again is his supporters in because remember i think that his supporters were the 1st to see fire with the 1st to have casualties when they told him and the position palace yesterday following his resignation from the political process, they were thinking bro, close at the sitting in the stages, but his supporters, it's important we were that we were seeing because those are just moving violently in every direction, especially to the state in institutions inside the green zone. other than the parliament that they have been playing for a month now, the headed to the presidential palace, the briefly occupied the business palace before the security forces, white police, and the military units affiliated to the iranian back coordination framework. attack them was life while it was that it gets kind of those and with this fix also

killing a number, killing one, being a number of them. so at just immediately after i supposed to receive the casualties at the position palace he, he declared that he's on a hunger strike until a violent. ok so so that means the until violence you get to supporters. ok, that's mohammad. just bear with us. i just wanna recap, what exactly is going on in case we have any new viewers. iraq's political crisis has rotted into violence. this is all stems from. i looked outside of the powerful shared leader announcing that he's quitting politics. and since then, since yesterday we've seen gun fine explosions rocking back dad's high security green zone. and it looks like we're going to have another day of that. we're joined by ali hush him in the studio ali. let's take a step back

a. where exactly is all this violence coming from? what has happened in the last 24 to 48 hours? well, if you want to take a slick is that back, then we have to go more into the rivalry between the southern did and his rivals, the shaft framework, or mainly form of prime minister noted mackey. now, the picture at least is being reflected as if it, sir, uh right now its uprising. this is what more for the sod supporters on same. but in fact, this started, at least in this, in the set visit started with the election. the election move to the southern one of those southern candidates, one along 7 to 3 seats. there were attempts to form a government because of the opposition because of the shall framework. there was no possibility to do a form to serve this government. then he announced that he's not going to do to

form the government, asking the opposition to do that. they fade than that later on, he announced that his ignition of his own m fees from to follow him and they took their seats. and now they have the, the, the majority still, there was no possibility to form a government. but this was mainly because of that i believe in him and northern medicaid. and this is a developing in a very dangerous way. whereas now we're seeing the streets of baghdad, witnessing what could be described as a mini civil war if it's not a civil war. rockets are being used, weapons are being used. and, you know, most of the sellers are militant group sell i a salon, is an armed group, able to be in the streets and all already in the streets, alongside with the other, with the other factions. yet since the moment there is no serious military engagement in the streets,

it's still skirmish. so the rock yet fighting the war that we used to see in the streets of syria or the streets of the route and the civil war. so this is still contain this is still under. ready control because there are attempts to solve this issue through violence. no. who's going to leave this dialogue till the moment looked at? the southern is saying, well, i'm out of this. i retired from politics the last time when he said his team is, is his, his employees are going to design and he is going to quit the political process. it was clear that his not leaving politics this time, he st. i'm retiring from politics. and when him, his him, he is saying i'm re piling on politics. this means, well, i'm, i'm, i'm going to sit aside and i will leave these people in the streets and deal with them. this is what's happening right now is asking his valuables to deal with either his supporter for an analyst that i have spoken to or even this morning say

that this is not genuine. this is, this is a strategy on his part. while most of the sudden on several occasions announced retirement and he came back from replying, but this time then there was a, a main event that took place on sunday. the retirement also of i also law how early i eval on hi, eddy in a bit into details here. is he has problems wouldn't for the saw that they have big differences, yet he is the religious leader of his group because this was the will of her for the saw this father when he was killed in 1998. so given how it is retirement and him calling on the followers of the southern to follow, i have to lie, they come in a offered on. this meant to for the southern, a game changer because it was like, this is an earthquake within his movement. so he had to do an impulse account to

move in order in order to bring back his followers, at least to control the moment. whereas is not going to lose them. and then there will be a, you know, following the i to law come in, i. e, and then politically, this could have a big impact on his own movement. and this is what he doesn't watch a lot yet. you've covered iraq, a 3rd, a very, very long time. this is actually quite a complicated story with a lot of moving parts. i mean, what happens next? what, where, where do you see this going in the next few days, next few weeks? well, in this way, this is unprecedented. and the issue right now is that the whole system, the whole post 2003 system is shaking. iraq in this moment seems to be heading either towards escalation, which i think many a regional players wouldn't want to see and they will interfere in order to contain it. and this means they might be a step towards that he may be in g,

engineering the system, the post 2003 system re engineering get in a different way. whereas it could have space for these people to be within it. but that till till then, this is going to, this is going to be, you know, a very, very difficult trip. and we can see the streets of baghdad. we get salt on him by that, by the way, in basra, by that in armada. in viola many cities in, in, in iraq are witnessing such violence. we're only seen by that, right? yeah, olives and the fact that it is now spreading outside the green zone is spreading outside baghdad in the capital city. how concerning is that? well, there is an issue with respect to, to this look the other side of it when he was using the street when you had because he is very popular. i agree or not, but he is very popular and this was reflected in the election whenever he is using the street whenever he is in order for me talking to a demonstrations, protests sit ins,

he has the upper hand. but whenever this goes towards violence, towards arm confrontations, he is going to be the 1st loser. because the other parties are also armed to the teeth and they are able to create a different a status, go on the ground. and then we'll start seeing areas in iraq, we know in a different situation, whereas every one is controlling the area of, of the influence taken to consideration also till the moment we are not really able to assess the, the role of the armed forces, the iraqi armed forces the iraqi security forces. where are they? what are they going to do till the moment? by minister gothic appointments, almost af alcorda me is in a situation where he is. it seems he doesn't know what to do for the moment. is i just assessing the situation? am i going to, to interfere militarily or we're using force in order to stop this?

or this is going to take things into another dimension which could be really very dangerous. and he is that he's not in the back situation. he would be okay, only stay with us. i just want to return to baghdad and our correspondent mood. why he'd my, who'd i believe that more people have been injured over 20 people died yesterday. what do you, how would you assess the situation on the ground? what is going on? is it coming down at all? no, no, there is no. there is no time of the escalation. as of yet. now, things are escalating and would have, we have been getting reports from medical sources. the number of casualties has risen to 30 dead and 700 wanted including get 110 from security forces. so there is no sign of they think at least for the time being no one of the political arrivals is giving

any new instruction to de escalate to the autumn with groups of the crowns. you know, it has been turning spontaneous in some parts of the green zone. we have been watching the civilians holding arms and shooting on a direction. we have been also seeing rockets probably and grenades weapons held life. so the support was also planning at the raven military affections inside the green zone. the support of are still in control of the parliament, are still in control of the can in front of the parliament to go to the move around inside the green. don't security forces have been deployed in and around the green zone. we have been seeing military vehicles moving towards the green zone coming

from other neighborhoods in bocca dad. so now, as you know, that right petition have been calling for call, have been calling for a religious grand referring to intervene to this military confrontation. but as my colleague has just to mention that to the father himself, by resigning this means, opening a wide gate for violence because it means that he's not controlling his supporters or the action or the spontaneous action on the ground. what by doing the other way, if he did, if he hadn't, he resigned, hadn't he resigned from the political process? how did he declared that resignation from the political pros. c it would probably,

he would probably still have, have a command over his supporters. he would probably still have instruction to deliver to them to contain the anger. but that is ignition, this whole broke loops. as you know, this have been chaotic in and around the green zone. his supporters had been armed with the light weapons coming good from other neighborhoods in neighborhoods in the joining the action the. b field in the green zone would have been that had been a sniper shops in the area. we. it was whistling, passed off since last night, security and had been deploying on top on top of the high buildings around the green zone. there is no sign of this escalation abating anytime soon,

but as they just mentioned now, many people are hopeful that the only person that can in this military confrontation to intervene the grand j o in the city. but now today, you know that this is also comes as an expected, efficient by the supreme court to be held about as the defense team. a look that up so that i don't get not expecting that this session to be held today because of the military confrontations going on in about that as you know, did a supreme court was due to hold session today to hold on a petition submitted by the supporters demanding the parliament be dissolved so that and his supporters had been blaming the whole judicial system. the supreme

judicial council for what they considered collaborating with the rivals by not is all being the parliament shit. the sort of supporters believe that it's at the reason for that confrontation, mohammad just bear with me a 2nd. i just, i just want to revisit the pictures we're seeing on the screen. we are looking at live pictures of the green zone in baghdad. where has been gum fi explosions? the greens are, and of course, the high security in the capital city where a lot of government institutions are based rival. she factions are essentially attacking each other. this all stems off to be powerful. she need a moscato solder announced in the last 24 hours that he was quitting politics mohammed my mood. i want to go back to i want to go back

a bit in time because this is not actually as a result, us just a resignation. is it, i mean, the violence that we're seeing here, the anger on the streets that's been building for some time now? haven't it? it's been a very hot summer in, in iraq. people are frustrated. the economies in trouble give us a sense of the frustrations that people are feeling. this is exactly the case. this is not only this, not only the outcome work, a few months, a political arrival. but it's also an accumulation of years long views of the corruption of political corruption, of mismanagement, of use in the country. as you know, the be angry because they have been joined by lay people regular like it was the political system. see the country exporting,

get oil in june was of $11000000000.00 just only for one month of exporting the revenues and the they get and the return. they get the unemployment high poverty rates and lack of services. i mean, disastrous health care system and also lack of a good education. everything is missing for them. this is infrastructure, employment, everything is missing for those young people who are now taken to discreet and joining. so the support is blazing up again, it's not only the political leads, but they say, again, it's the whole political system. they want to address to change it of the whole political system and iraq, as you know, that this really should it's iq. i mean,

this frustration this, this illusion meant in the whole political faction, which you did speak following. told was election. lots of actions was only one episode of this long cds of frustrations. and this illusion is play the iraqi people to political lead to the total midgets louis of elections. people who are the news election brought forward by the nationwide that was in 2018 that i was the former prime minister, the my, the many iraq is we're hopeful that they will get to change the, the rules for allusion appointed because they were again the. 1 has been trapped again within political rivalry among the political factions. and that has taken monk approval last year. this is taken most

and then eventually ended up with a hold of a position in the parliament, which has failed to, for them a new government for 2 months to 10 months, into new governments or elected president state. and that also led to that ignition of low medical services we need to make in june. and then after that, several attempts to mediate to bridge the gap between label elections have please including regional and local mediations to pave the way for another episode of escalation that ended was resigning from political process. and that has also provoked the current ministry confrontation and escalation inside and around the green zone in that. okay, thank you for that news where he will come back to you in

a moment. i just want to recap what we, what is going on here. we're looking at live pictures of the green zone in baghdad . this is where a lot of the government buildings in back that are based we know in the last sort of 24 hours or so over 20 people have been killed in clashes. that's a believe the final number that the number that we're hearing now hearing from arthur jesus, 30 people have been killed in clashes. this is between iraqi security forces and supporters of the powerful shia cleric, mcdahl solder. many of his supporters have stormed the presidential palace are open nights and the violence pretty much began off to mister sutter announced his retirement from politics yesterday. and we can return to our guest. they don kennedy. he is a non resident fellow at the arab center, washington

d. c. they don't. we were hearing there from a correspondent mahmoud, about the frustrations that the rocky people have been facing over the last year or so. to what extent is the violence that we're seeing on the streets now as a result of that? well, certainly a rightfully does not observe an issue about as an overarching issue, especially for 2019 protest movement to which it did focus on economic political reforms that did focus on the high unemployment rates that did focus on the rise of militias and the normalization of munitions and iraqi, they the lives and how it affects the sovereignty of the state and effects the security situation and the country. however, we have to be very careful with comparing the frustration of ordinary iraqi citizens with the current dispute that is taking place between the coordination

framework, which consists off a powerful on doings of political. they do some parties that are in the political system, any iraq since 2003. and on the other side of the spectrum, the sun just movement has also been involved. and most of the 2003 iraqi governments. so the, the, the dispute we're currently witnessing here as effective and dangerous and risky, it is to, or the new iraq citizens and to the stability, the economic and political stability of iraq. this is a political rivalry between 2 different parties and sides of the spectrum. one site trying to maintain the consensus agreement on so say tional, democracy in pools 2003 iraq and the other side which is interesting. been trying to revamp the political system in iraq and take, you know, but unity of the, the popularity of the reform rhetoric and sentiment amongst ordinary iraqi citizens,

especially amongst the october protest movement. and trying to redefine the political establishment by creating a national majority government where the parliament and the cabinets would be formed by the majority of the voters, because he knows thank he's aware and everyone is aware that he's got the high school and the last elections, some of their lead to the this election so that the conflict here is political. it's also a survival issue. both sides and similarly for many other political parties in iraq and not just the shop including the kurdish and this in the ones are very aware that the half of the system, which is the title of ethnic sectarian quota system in iraq. that was established by the association lesson system. since the u. s. invasion is reaching it's it's, it's fine. people, people are fed up. it was very clear since the beginning of october, for this movement, people are fed up with being defined as, as

a citizens that are following primordial identities. people are fed up with being represented by politicians that are exploiting, sectarian rhetoric and religious rhetoric and discriminatory rhetoric to continue the political rivals and dispute between the political parties and ignoring to improve the education sector. the health sector, ignoring to improve the public services on the country, ignoring to improve the rising unemployment rates are increasing every year, ignoring to improve and so on. so many other issues, including electricity on the waters or city that has been increasing very recently . so no, i would disagree that this is a conflict between the people and the system. this is a political conflict between 2 major parties that have been driving was political system back. yes, many iraqis are fed up. ok. one of the thoughts i had was, i mean,

the green zone where a lot of this fighting is based. this is where a lot of the international buildings are concentrated. we have government buildings, foreign embassies. how is the violence being allowed to happen? here? it is in them or security, shall there be more security in this area? of course, that is a very good question because it takes us back to the point where we're wondering, where is the official government here? where are the armed forces and the police forces to represent to the government of prime minister? most of the company as well is currently taking place in iraq and evident reflection that it's the armed wings on the arm, the groups that are controlling the mystical scenario. and iraq, that means the sentiments and the discourse that was utilized by the protest movement in october 2019, until this very day that iraq is dominated by militancy by militant politics is

being evidently proven today. that's very safe green zone or any bridges that lead to nearby areas, central baghdad, where also targeted when a very peaceful civil disobedience way, by the same protest there is that we just previously mentioned. and they were messed with with. well, let's must rooftops. they were met with inundation, they were met with kidnapping. they were met with arrests, they were met with violence. now we're witnessing that this. these aren't doing that are currently in conflict around the green zone and many sensitive areas that are freely practicing their violence without any monitoring where the invitations where at least significant limitations being put by the armed forces. unfortunately, what's taking place in iraq today as a reflection of we'd be decreasing role of the state. that's a reflection of a country that has fallen under the control of arm doing that are representing the interest of political parties beyond the interest of the state or the citizens. we

know the supreme court was due to meet today. we had from our correspondence, my mood that that is no longer going to happen because of the violence in the green zone. if they do me, it's at some point. what will the outcome of that be? what will that achieve? well, we have to remember that the supreme court is not a political faction or a political party. so the, the, the, the meeting will have many more limitations that we cannot expect. or similarly, expect from other political dialogues or conversations that would take place on the sidelines in an attempt to and this violence. the supreme court has very much been involved lately due to the, to the physical closeness that this address movement was practicing in front of the judiciary. building the discourse for the involvement of the supreme court has all

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