A former governor of the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Adnane Zorfi, was instructed, Tuesday, March 17, to form a government in Iraq, where new rocket attacks have targeted foreign troops and the Baghdad Green Zone – the neighborhood ultra-secure in the capital, where the country's embassies and institutions are located. Five people were injured.
It is the fourth such attack in less than a week in the country, the second producer of OPEC, hit hard by the fall in oil prices and tensions between the Americans and Iranians, its two main allies.
After the resignation in December of the government of Adel Abdel Mahdi under pressure from a popular protest movement, Mohammed Allawi had been appointed to form a government but had thrown in the towel in the face of divisions in Parliament.
It is now Mr. Zorfi, 54, who has 30 days to form a cabinet and have it accepted by Parliament, then organize early elections and vote on a budget that promises to be largely in deficit.
The United States has issued conditions
As a sign that the confidence of Parliament is far from being acquired, the second bloc in the Assembly, that of the pro-Iranian paramilitaries of Hachd Al-Chaabi, has denounced his appointment as "Unconstitutional", promising to "Do everything to prevent this illegal act".
As for the United States, they immediately issued conditions for their support. "The Iraqis want a government which preserves the sovereignty of Iraq, provides for their basic needs, is not corrupt and protects their human rights"said American Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo on Twitter. "If Prime Minister-designate Adnane Zorfi prioritizes these interests, he will have American and international support. "
Former member of the Daawa party, opposed to the dictator Saddam Hussein, Mr. Zorfi promised elections within a year and "The prohibition of any weapon outside the control of the state". Among the files awaiting him is that of the presence of American troops in Iraq.
After the death of the powerful general Ghassem Soleimani, Tehran's envoy to Iraq, killed in an American strike in January in Baghdad, the – Shiite – majority of the Parliament called on the executive to expel the foreign troops led by Washington present since 2014 to fight the Islamic State jihadist group.
Since then, rocket attacks on bases home to coalition troops, particularly American, have resumed. Unclaimed, Washington accuses Hezbollah, one of the country's most radical pro-Iran Shiite faction brigades, of being behind the gunfire, and Baghdad of doing nothing to stop them. Iraqi authorities say they cannot find the perpetrators.
