Millions of Iraqis are reliant on informal employment and have little job security, their situation already precarious before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country.
As news of confirmed COVID-19 cases rolled in, national and provincial authorities instituted a series of movement restrictions from March 13 in a bid to keep the virus as at bay as possible and prevent strain on Iraq's already struggling healthcare system. Non-essential businesses were forced to close, and former customers told to remain at home unless absolutely necessary.
Baghdad's poorer residents have been hard hit as their income dries up.
A young Baghdad resident named Huda lives in cramped conditions, sharing a small house with six other family members.
Once selling tea, rice, and chicken steak to hungry customers, her family no longer has anyone to sell to. Huda needs medication for a skin condition, her mother said, but the family can't afford to pay for it.
In the video below, ALJAZEERA reports more on the Iraqi economy:
Though many predicted early this year that Iraq and Iran were about to be at war, that has not happened so far. The tensions between the two may have destroyed the coalition that the US had built. AFP reports:
Apparently fearing more strikes, the US deployed Patriot anti-missile batteries and C-RAM rocket defence systems to Iraq to protect its forces, a move which US officials acknowledged to AFP could be seen by Iran as provocative.
At the same time, it reduced the coalition's presence, pulling out of half the bases it once operated from in Iraq and withdrawing hundreds of trainers indefinitely as a precautionary measure against COVID-19.
As most non-US troops were trainers, that has left relatively more Americans in the remaining forces.
"The coalition as we knew it no longer exists," a Western diplomat from a coalition country told AFP.
A key lawmaker from Fatah, the bloc representing pro-Iran factions, cast doubt on Washington's intentions this week.
"The American side wasn't serious about withdrawing and handing over bases, and was actually re-deploying its troops for tactical reasons to protect its soldiers amid the spread of the coronavirus," said Mohammad Ghabban.
In related news, Lawk Ghafuri (RUDAW) reports:
The US-led coalition will resume military training for Peshmerga forces in the Kurdistan Region by the end of May, a coalition spokesperson told Rudaw on Sunday.
“All trainings for Peshmerga forces are halted for now due to coronavirus, but there are ongoing talks between the coalition, NATO and Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) to resume the trainings by end of next month,” Colonel Myles B.Caggins III told Rudaw Radio.
Coalition forces have been in Iraq since 2014 to train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS). Over the border, they have also partnered with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
As noted last night in "Liars and losers ignore women unless they're able to attack them," Malak Hayder al-Zubiedi has passed away. This afternoon, ALJAZEERA reported:
An Iraqi woman has died of severe burn wounds after
she was hospitalised in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf following
alleged torture by her husband, her family members said.
Local media reported late on Saturday that
20-year-old Malak Haider al-Zubaidi died days after the alleged abuse
and being set on fire, in a case that has stirred outrage on social
media.
[. . .]
There is no law criminalising domestic violence in Iraq, although the
country's constitution bans "all forms of violence and abuse in the
family".Among those speaking in solidarity with al-Zubaidi is United Kingdom's ambassador to Iraq, Stephen Hickey.
Today, Iraq War veteran Benjamin Stephen Hardgrove passed away.
DIGNITY MEMORIAL notes:
Benjamin was born May 30, 1985, in Cherry Point, NC. He graduated from Paris High School and immediately joined the United States Marine Corps. He served from 2003-2006, with two tours of Iraq. He received the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (x2), Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. It was only one night following his honorable discharge that he was involved in an automobile accident which left him permanently disabled.
Also in the US, Joe Biden still refuses to speak on camera about being accused of rape. Tara Reade worked for him in the early nineties and she has accused him of rape. Here are two videos furthering the debate over what happened.
Kat's "Kat's Korner: Fiona says free yourself" went up earlier today as did Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Are They Scared Of Joe Biden?"
The following sites updated:
