Who saves Basra from the "hidden" hands of death?

Shafaq News/ What Basra is witnessing is no longer just meaningless security incidents and violations. The assassinations and bombings that are taking place appear to be in a systematic context, the security forces are still unable to identify its aims -at least according to the official announcement so far- but it is a context that suggests plans for the city and its people.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi had to tweet from Washington, which he is visiting for the first time for a historic meeting with the U.S. President Donald Trump, to confirm his follow-up to Basra’s crimes and make major security decisions; this means that the scene in this southern city has reached the limits of great danger.

The U.S. embassy's statement condemning Basra’s crimes against civil activists and protesters reflects the external interest in the city, especially since the embassy has called on the Iraqi government -while Al-Kadhimi is still in Washington- to "punish those responsible per the law".

The city was first shocked Wednesday night after gunmen killed two women, one of them a doctor. A few days earlier, a protest activist had been assassinated.

In an additional indication of the seriousness of the situation, Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanimi visited the city and issued his first orders, including the prevention of vehicles lacking numbers as well as the shaded ones, as a source told Shafaq News agency.

The interior minister also instructed the city's security chiefs to "reach the perpetrators of the assassinations as soon as possible and put the issue on the security priority list".

Al-Ghanimi visited Basra with a high-ranking security delegation, which included National Security Agency director Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, national security adviser Qassem al-Araji, intelligence, and defense figures and agents.

The city is currently witnessing intense security measures in its streets, after repeated assassinations of activists by unidentified gunmen; in what looks like a total lack of security, and with the near-public movement of armed groups, which kill unmasked in plain daylight, as shown by some video footage filmed by surveillance cameras in the streets.

Al-Kadhimi did not wait to return from Washington and tweeted pledging to protect the city, announcing at the same time the dismissal of the commander of Basra’s police and several security chiefs because of the recent assassinations. He also pledged to “do whatever it takes for the security forces to carry out their duties", and promised, "complicity with the killers or submission to their threats is unacceptable".

The current events in Basra suggest that the conflict is intensifying by political figures from inside and outside the city, especially after the governor of Basra was targeted with explosive charges. It is not unlikely that political actors are behind the security tension in the province, aiming to obtain projects worth billions. 

According to the independent political analyst Muslim Al-Musawi, the index of assassinations of some activists is aimed by corrupt politicians to create terror and stir the people in a province known for its importance to Iraq.

Al-Musawi said, “Basra was in a state of long-term stability and the tension is a sign of the movement of rapacious corrupt parties, but the intransigence of the decision-maker against these actors has caused political problems that have led to security tension in various areas of Basra”, he also added, “the security solution in Basra is to issue new security resolutions; relate not only to the change of security leadership but also to move towards speeding up the implementation of the project of surveillance cameras in the province, which can control the repeated security breaches in the city, including the targeting of some journalists and activists”.

Al-Musawi called on the local government of Basra to speed up the implementation of the project of the camera system to detect gangs targeting innocent people to see if they belong to political parties, or whether their aim is criminal and tribal.

In light of these circumstances, a security source -who refused to be named- revealed to Shafaq News agency that a meeting was held by the chairman of the High-Security Committee in Basra Governor Asaad al-Aidani, Basra’s operations commander Akram Saddam, Basra’s police chief Abbas al-Lami and the directors of intelligence and national security and other security agencies. The meeting addressed the need to develop urgent security plans to resolve any security breach after various activists were repeatedly targeted in Basra province.. he also pointed out that there is information that indicates the existence of political parties aiming to create chaos in Basra as a result of the conflict over projects.

For his part, civil activist Mohamed Moussa called on security forces to open an urgent investigation into the security breaches that targeted the activists, and find out who wants to undermine the voices of civil heroes that defend the stolen rights of Basra’s people; accusing the local government and corrupt parties of trying to control Basra through corruption and stealing the city’s wealth, which –according to him- the people of Basra never had the luxury to enjoy.