US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Islamic “number one” successor for the terminated ISIS leader has been killed by the US forces. Multiple reports previously revealed that Baghdadi appointed in August a former official of the Iraqi Baath regime, identified as Abdullah Qardash, to replace him. Trump did not mention any names but tweeted and confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by the American troops.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi rejected on Tuesday a call by powerful Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for early elections while protests against the government is ongoing in capital Baghdad and other major cities. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr joined protesters in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf on Tuesday. A meeting between Moqtada al-Sadr and Fateh leader Hadi al-Amiri was reported to have been held on Tuesday evening in Najaf to discuss the dismissal of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri has turned in his resignation to President Michel Aoun, satisfying one of the main demands of the country’s protest movement. The announcement on Tuesday came on the back of 13 days of mass protests demanding the departure of the country’s entire political elite amid growing anger over official corruption, poor public services and years of economic mismanagement.
Hundreds of protesters have closed the gates of the northern and southern port of Umm Qasr in Basra. The port of Umm Qasr is one of the most prominent ports of Basra, and the largest in Iraq. Basra police said that “hundreds of demonstrators gathered, on Tuesday evening, in front of the gates of the northern and southern port of Umm Qasr, and then closed it with tires, stones and iron pieces.”
Resolution comes at delicate time in the US-Turkey relationships, shortly after House votes to impose sanctions. The US house of representative voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide of a century ago. The House voted in favor of the resolution to formally recognize the 1.5 million Armenians have been killed under the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.
