Islamic State Attack Kills Dozens in Baghdad

J. Dana Stuster, Foreign Policy

13 August 2015

A truck bomb detonated at a market in Baghdad, Iraq killing at least fifty people on Thursday. The bomb went off around 6:00 a.m. (0300 GMT), just as the vegetable market had reached its peak rush. “On Thursdays the market is especially crowded because people come from other provinces to stock up on food for the weekend,” one officer said at the scene. A police colonel claims 38 bodies, and the remains of at least twelve others, have been found; over 80 people have been injured.

The Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack on the crowded market in the Shia majority district stating that the group aimed to target Shia militiamen. The violent attack came after a top American general said that the United States should consider embedding American troops with Iraqi forces if no future progress is made in the fight against the Islamic State. Thursday’s market attack was one of the deadliest the region has seen in over a year.

Kurdish Militants Launch Attack on Military Post

Seven Turkish military fighters were killed in an attack against Turkish security forces in eastern Turkey on Thursday as Kurdish militants opened fire on a military post in the southeastern town of Silopi. Using rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) opened fire on the military base triggering a firefight that left four militants dead the general staff of Turkey’s armed forces said in a statement.

Headlines

-Kurdish forces have been attacked with chemical weapons in northern Iraq, according to the German defense ministry.

-The United Nations Security Council has delayed approving a statement regarding restoring peace in Syria due to objections from Venezuela.

-Two civilians killed, and at least thirteen wounded, as rocket fire struck districts around the coastal area of Lattakia, Syria on Thursday.

-Temperatures soaring over 116 degrees Fahrenheit have killed over sixty people in Egypt as the heat wave that began in late July continues.

–Jewish extremists suspected in the case of vandalism and arson of a tent in a Palestinian Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.

Arguments and Analysis

“Iranian Economic Reform Between Rouhani and the Guards” (Tamer Badawi, Sada Journal, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

“Rouhani’s administration faces the challenge of how to give IRGC conglomerates roles in upcoming mega economic schemes while keeping them in check. To keep the financial sector healthy, Rouhani’s administration needs to control but not undermine the IRGC’s economic arms. Despite the anticipated inflow of investment since the nuclear deal, the IRGC’s economic role as a producer and subcontractor will remain important for a long time to come.”

“The Post-Abbas Palestinian National Struggle” (Daoud Kuttab, The Middle East Institute)

In the coming months, we can expect that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will no longer occupy the executive leadership position in the muqata, the interim Palestinian government headquarters in Ramallah. His age and his repeated insistence that he does not plan to run in new elections, as well as his most recent comments about his willingness to resign, point to this fact. With the passing of Yasir Arafat in 2004, the 80-year-old Abbas is the last remaining senior founder of the ruling Fatah movement, launched 50 years ago. That these two individuals are the pillars upon which the Palestinian national moment was established is clear from the recognition given to them by the vast majority of Palestinians today.

-Kyra Murphy

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

© Foreign Policy 2015 

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