A security source said Sunday that an Iraqi protester was killed and 24 others injured after clashes broke out between the demonstrators and the security forces in Baghdad.
Iraq is facing its biggest crisis since the military defeat of the Islamic State in 2017. A mostly Shi’ite popular uprising in Baghdad and the south challenges the country’s mainly Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim ruling elite.
The country has been thrown into further disarray since the assassination of Iranian military mastermind Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on Jan. 3. Iran responded with missile attacks on bases hosting U.S. forces, pushing the region to the brink of an all-out conflict.
Pro-Iran politicians have tried to use those events to shift the focus away from popular discontent with their grip on power and toward anti-American rallies and demands for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
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