Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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People shout slogans in support for the call to arms by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, who is the highest religious authority for Shi’ites in Iraq, in Najaf, south of Baghdad, on June 13, 2014. (Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani)

Opinion: Iraqi Shi’ites between Sectarian Coherence and National Unity

by Mustafa Fahs | Jul 16, 2014 | Opinion

Iran continues to place great pressure on the member blocs of Iraq’s National Alliance, particularly the Al-Ahrar bloc led by Moqtada Al-Sadr and the Citizens’ bloc of Ammar Al-Hakim, to push them into withdrawing their opposition to Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, who...

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Election posters are hung along a street in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, on April 1, 2014 ahead of Iraq’s April 30 general elections. (AFP/Marwan Ibrahim)

Iraq: Fatwa stirs controversy ahead of elections

by Hamza Mustafa | Apr 19, 2014 | Middle East

Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraq’s Shi’ite community remained divided this week ahead of nationwide elections on April 30 after Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ismail Al-Sadr criticized a controversial fatwa banning the election of secular candidates. Kazem Al-Haeri, a...

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Osama Al-Nujayfi,the speaker of the Iraqi parliament

Osama Al-Nujaifi: The View from Baghdad

by Ma'ad Fayad | Apr 17, 2013 | Interviews

Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Osama Al-Nujaifi, the speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives and a leading figure in Al-Iraqiya coalition led by Iyad Allawi, was once among the most optimistic of Iraqi leaders and officials about the direction of the country’s...