Iraq violence overshadows Syria

A surge in violence in Iraq has managed to overshadow news emanating from Syria in Arab news outlets Thursday.

“Coordinated attacks in nine Iraqi cities result in 300 dead and wounded,” reads the headline of London-based daily Al-Hayat, which dubs the attacks “the largest wave of violence to hit Iraq in years.” The photo features security personnel standing next to a damaged building in Baghdad.

‘The civil-sectarian war in Iraq is prone to deteriorate in a worse way than in 2006, when it reached its zenith with suicide bombings and car bombs that killed thousands every month’

“Iraq: 42 explosions on ‘bloody Wednesday’ and Maliki accuses politicians,” reads the headline of Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat. The daily counts 18 coordinated attacks by explosive charge, 18 car bombs, and six armed attacks in many of Iraq’s major cities. An image in the article displays fire and smoke emanating from a mangled car, presumably containing a bomb, in the city of Kirkuk.

London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi highlights the fact that the attacks mostly targeted Shiite areas, tying them to an attack against the Shiite religious endowments building June 4. The natural suspect, therefore, would be al-Qaeda; but the magnitude of the attack and its coordination is too sophisticated for a non-state actor, writes the daily.

“The civil-sectarian war in Iraq is prone to deteriorate in a worse way than in 2006, when it reached its zenith with suicide bombings and car bombs that killed thousands every month,” writes the lead editorial.

All Arab dailies tie Wednesday’s explosions to the political crisis unfolding in Iraq, which includes a concerted effort by coalition members to depose Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. Ahmad Masari, a member of the secular Iraqiyah bloc, tells Al-Hayat that his party — together with the Kurdish alliance and the hard-line Shiite Sadrist movement — have summoned Maliki to a parliamentary hearing in the near future. The move comes following the refusal of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to push forward with Maliki impeachment.

Russia, Syria and the notion of civil war

While Iraq occupies the news pages of Arabic dailies Thursday, Syria still dominates the editorials. Columnists write about Russia’s culpability in the Syrian violence and the looming dangers of all-out civil war.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi editor-in-chief Abd Al-Bari Atwan discusses the statement by UN peacekeeping official Herve Ladsous that Syria has entered a civil war.

“I believe that ‘civil war’ is an outdated title which expired months ago,” writes Atwan.

“What is happening in Syria is not only sectarian cleansing, it is a regional proxy war between two camps. The first is the Russian camp which includes Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and some Iraqi Shiite militias. This camp enjoys the direct support of China and indirect support of India and Brazil. The second camp is the American, including Western European states and Turkey, along with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, with indirect support from Jordan.”

“Why has Russia’s insistence on Assad increased?” A-Sharq Al-Awsat editor-in-chief Tareq Homayed asks in his editorial Thursday.

‘Civil war’ is an outdated title which expired months ago”

“The situation on the ground indicates that Assad has begun to lose control… this would be a severe blow to Russia,” writes Homayed. “Assad’s sudden fall or a deterioration in the situation in Syria would make Russia lose an important ally.”

Meanwhile, columnist Abd Al-Rahman Rashed writes in A-Sharq Al-Awsat that a group of Russian businessmen who traveled to the Saudi city of Jedda this week could not schedule any meetings with local businessmen due to the public anger against Russia for its support of Assad.

“This reaction to the Russian stance was to be expected, as it is so insolent in its disregard for the situation in Syria and its role in killing people there,” writes Rashed. “And thus the short-lived bloom in relations between the Arab world and the new Russia deteriorates.”

Al-Hayat columnist Hussan Haidar writes that the Syrian regime is waging a war similar to the notorious Iraqi “Anfal campaign” in which Kurdish Iraqis were gassed to death by the forces of Saddam Hussein.

He adds that the selection of a Kurd, Abdul Basit Sida, to lead the Syrian opposition is merely a coincidence, but “it is no coincidence that the perpetrator in both cases [Iraq and Syria] is the Baath regime.”

Will Islamists take control of the Gulf next year?

Saudi-owned news website Elaph quotes Kuwaiti writer Ahmad Sarraf who warns against the growing power of Islamist politicians in the Gulf region. In an article published in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabs, Sarraf notes that political Islam has attempted to establish itself in Kuwait since the 1940s, but is now closer to achieving that goal than ever before. He quotes a statement by Dubai police chief Dhahi Khalfan saying that Islamists will come to power in Kuwait as early as 2013, “due to the government’s inability to employ violence against them.”