Weekly news update 18-24 June

Belarus presents Iraq with evidence of mass killings of refugees by Poland

An Iraqi delegation visited Belarus this week and received the report published this week by the Belarus monitoring body (Investigative Committee of Belarus). The report presents evidence of the abuse and killing of Iraqi refugees by the Polish army on the Poland-Belarus border.

The report speaks about Polish crimes against humanity, war propaganda, and deliberate failure to provide assistance to refugees, which resulted in the deaths of many of the refugees. “Belarusian investigators have documented criminal actions committed against 135 Iraqi (majority Kurdish) citizens, who were physically injured in the violence used against them by Polish security forces,” the statement read.

Belarus also accused Poland of the execution and secret burials of refugees. They further alleged that the abuse and killing of refugees was discriminatory against those originating from West Asia and Afghanistan, which included a large number of Iraqi refugees.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will start to investigate the statements of the Belarusian committee in February 2023.

Missile attack on UAE-owned Dana gas and oil field in Northern Iraq

Two missile attacks in two days targeted the UAE-owned private energy company Dana gas and oil field in Kirkuk and Suleymaniya. There were no causalities reported. The missiles were launched from the Qadir Karam district in the northern Iraqi area.

According to an agreement in 2007 with the authorities of the Kurdistan Region (KRG), "Dana Gas" company produces, markets and sells oil and natural gas from the Kormor and Chemchemal fields in the region.

Dana Gas has a production rate of 66,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and proven and probable gas reserves of more than one billion barrels of oil equivalent in 2019 only.

Iraq parliament members replaced by new candidates

Muqtada al-Sadr withdrew his seventy-three parliamentarians. Following the mass resignation, the seats defaulted to candidates with the second highest number of votes during October’s polls in the respective districts.

Al Kadhimi participates in Biden summit

Iraqi PM Mustafa Al-Kadhimi joined Biden in a joint summit in Jeddah at the invitation of the Saudi monarch alongside the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries Egypt and Jordan.

Biden stated that the most important goal in the Jeddah summit, next to bringing down oil prices, is to enhance Israel's security and promote normalization between the Arab-Israeli alliance.

Military and commercial cooperation and the war in Yemen were also discussed, this while the Saudi-led Coalition continues their airstrikes on civilian targets and infrastructure in Yemen, including homes, hospitals and communication towers.