SWANA Collective members Nyma Ardalan and Hamoud Salhi focus on Iraq and the discussion continues about voting for a new president. This is proving to be a difficult task as 25 candidates are running for the position. This is occurring while there is still an effort led by the Sadr coalition, which has the majority in the Parliament with 73 seats, to form a government. Last week the Parliament voted for its speaker. This is on the political front. Militarily, this week the US announced it led an operation against Da’esh and killed its leader in Syria close to Turkish border, while Iraqi militia led a drone attack on the UAE, allegedly supported by Iran. We will try to examine the impact that the current situation in Iraq may have first on the internal politics of Iraq and then regionally.
