​​​​​​​ Panorama of week: similar death of leaders of ISIS mercenaries, Al-Sadr calls for not voting for Zebari

 Last week, Arab newspapers reported the killing of ISIS mercenary leader Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi and al-Sadr's call not to vote for candidate Hoshyar Zebari.

 Al-Baghdadi and Al-Qurashi... the ends are similar

 Regarding the killing of ISIS mercenary leader Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper said: "In light of indications of increased activity by ISIS cells in Syria and Iraq, the United States, on Thursday, dealt a new strong blow to this organization by killing its leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, in an operation  It was carried out by a commando force in Idlib Governorate, northwest Syria.

 Al-Qurashi, whose real name was Amir Abdul Rahman al-Mawla, was killed when he blew himself up, according to the Americans, in an area near the town of Atma on the outskirts of the border with Turkey.  Where the American soldiers, who arrived at his hideout asked him to turn himself in, but he blew himself up with members of his family.

 His predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was also killed more than two years ago in another area of ​​Idlib, also near the border with Turkey.  He also, according to the Americans, blew himself up when his hideout was surrounded by a commando force.  The method of carrying out the two operations was similar, and the fate of those who targeted them was similar.

 Al-Baghdadi oversaw the rise of ISIS, and it began expanding globally by opening “agency” or branches in several countries, competing with its former allies in the “Al-Qaeda” organization.  But al-Baghdadi was also a witness not only to the rise of ISIS;  It is also on its way.  his “state” collapsed in Iraq in 2017. Then, it was eliminated in Syria in 2019, before the Americans eliminated him with a commando operation in Idlib in October of that year.

 Al-Qurashi, the successor of al-Baghdadi, also inherited from his predecessor a collapsed organization, but he was apparently unable to revive it, despite numerous indications in the past days that suggested that the organization’s cells had become more daring in carrying out their attacks, as happened in Diyala in Iraq, and as happened in Al-Hasakah  , in northeastern Syria (attempting to free hundreds of ISIS prisoners in Ghweran prison), as well as in a series of hit-and-run attacks in the Syrian Badia.

 Another similarity between Al-Baghdadi and Al-Qurashi is that both of them were "guests" in the prisons of the Americans during their occupation of Iraq.  Al-Baghdadi, who hails from Samarra, was an inmate in the American “Bucca” prison in Basra after his arrest near Fallujah in 2004. Al-Qurashi, who hails from Mosul, was arrested by the Americans in 2008 in this city in northern Iraq, then handed over to the Iraqi security services, which detained him for a while before  releasing him later.

 Al-Sadr resolves his issue with Barzani and calls for the exclusion of Zebari

 On the Iraqi issue, Al-Arab newspaper said: "The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, called on his deputies in the Iraqi parliament on Friday not to elect the Kurdistan Democratic Party candidate, Hoshyar Zebari, if he did not meet the conditions for candidacy for the presidency for the next four years, in a move that observers said it means that al-Sadr resolved his case and that he calls on the Sadrists to exclude Zebari.

 Iraqi political sources said that al-Sadr's words were a clear message before Monday, the date of the election of the new Iraqi president, to the effect that he had made up his mind for the benefit of the outgoing president, Barham Salih.  Kurdistan, and in front of the Iraqis, so as not to say that al-Sadr did not adhere to the alliance that was formed a few days ago and led to the election of a speaker to parliament.

 Al-Sadr's reference means that Barzani should instruct his uncle and his candidate for the Iraqi presidency, Zebari, to withdraw in order to save the face of the Kurdish leader.

 The sources pointed out that the leader of the Sadrist movement gave a clear signal to the representatives of his bloc and to the representatives who believe in reform and support the war on corruption by not electing Zebari because of the suspicions surrounding him of corruption, which contradicts al-Sadr’s desire that the next stage be the stage of confronting corruption on a large scale.  It is unreasonable for this battle to be fought with a president accused of corruption, and that even if he is innocent, the Iraqis will doubt al-Sadr’s efforts and plans, do not believe him and do not cooperate with him, a matter that may affect his credibility with his supporters.

 Al-Sadr said in a tweet to him on his personal account on Twitter, "If the candidate of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the ally - rather an absolute - for the presidency of the republic does not meet the conditions, then I call on the reform representatives not to vote for him."  "We are advocates of reform, not advocates of authority and rule," he added.

 Al-Sadr’s new tweet confirms what the “Arabs” revealed in a previous issue by Iraqi representatives - including Kurdish MPs - that Barham Salih’s victory in the presidency is almost certain, especially that the vote will be secret, and the KDP will not be able to know who voted against Zebari among its members.”

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