Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat-Computer hackers have managed to attack the official website of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki for the second time in two months. The attacks are coming amidst the country’s severe political crisis, as a result of public demonstrations that have taken place for more than a month and a half in five of Iraq’s western provinces.

The group responsible, going by the name “TeaM KuWaiT HaCkErS”, described the Iraqi regime as “tyrannical”, in a short message addressed directly at Maliki on the website. It warned the Iraqi prime minister that he would face the same fate as Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The message, accompanied by an image of two women sobbing, declares, “You want to be like Bashar al-Assad. You are a destroyer. Bashar is finished and victory is very close. God help you sons of Iraq against the tyranny.” For his part, Ali Al-Shalah, a member of the Iraqi parliament for the State of Law coalition and chairman for the committee on culture and youth, said in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat: “These are desperate attempts. However, they did not achieve their desired outcome because the website was soon back to normal after the necessary precautions were undertaken by professionals. The incident stresses once again that Maliki is now a highly important leading figure, whether at the regional or international level, and consequently such attempts, even in the electronic domain, are not far from the efforts of the Turkish-Qatari axis to isolate Maliki and distance him from areas of influence.” Shalah added, “They now deal with Maliki not along the lines of differing views, which is normal in politics, but through clear hostility. Therefore, we consider this to be an attack on Iraq, which they do not want to be strong.” He pointed out, “Through the publication of false news or certain statements, they want to manage the crisis in a different way, but in any case such attempts will not change the facts.”