Iraq parliament delays session until August amid unrest


 Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah
Jul 08, 2014

 Iraq's newly elected parliament has postponed its next session until mid-August, according to state television.

Iraq’s parliament stalled Monday for a second time, canceling its planned Tuesday session for delaying the formation of a new government for weeks despite the threat from extremists who have seized control of a large chunk of the country and declared the establishment of an Islamic state.

This comes as Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has recently criticized the parliament for failing to unite in order to choose key posts for the country in the face of threats by Takfiri terrorists.

Growing opposition to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite who Sunni Arabs and Kurds say has marginalized them in favor of sectarian policies, has forced a deadlock over the selection of a new leadership.


Washington insisted that uniting Iraq's sectarian factions was the only way to repel the advances by Sunni militants.

The Iraqi premier has said that a salvation government would amount to a coup against the country’s constitution and would undermine the results of parliamentary elections held on April 30.

A senior Iraqi general Negm Abdullah Ali , commander of the army's sixth division was killed in fighting with insurgents near Baghdad on Monday, as the army fights to hold militants back from the capital.

There was also violence in Baghdad's Shia neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah. A suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a checkpoint, killing five policemen and three civilians, according to a police official.

Top U.S. defence officials said last week the security forces could defend the capital but would have difficulty going on the offensive to recapture lost territory, mainly because of logistic weaknesses.

The Islamic State group spearheaded the recent blitz, which overran most Sunni-majority areas but has slowed since encountering stronger resistance in Shiite-dominated areas.

Last week, the group declared the establishment of a caliphate ruled by Shariah law in the land it controls in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

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