The third edition of the Baghdad Conference on Regional Stability has been postponed for an unspecified period due to events in the Middle East. The conference was planned for the end of November, with the participation of Emmanuel Macron, to strengthen a regional agenda in favor of Iraqi sovereignty.
The Baghdad 2023 Conference for Economic Integration and Regional Stability has been “postponed sine die due to regional events and in particular what is happening in Palestine,” Farhad Alaaldin, an advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Chia al-Soudani, told AFP, confirming a report in the French daily Le Figaro.
Iraq, he continued, was “concentrating its efforts on achieving a ceasefire and helping the Palestinian people.”
Alaaldin did not specify who was behind the postponement.
This new edition of the Baghdad Conference was due to have taken place in the Iraqi capital at the end of the month, in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron. It aims to “consolidate a regional agenda supporting Iraqi sovereignty,” declared the French President when announcing it at the end of August.
The two previous editions were held in Baghdad in August 2021 and Jordan in December 2022.
In Iraq, the defense of the Palestinian cause enjoys broad consensus and transcends political differences. Like its neighbor Iran, a sworn enemy of the Israeli state, Baghdad does not recognize Israel.
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The Iraqi Prime Minister has been vituperating the “Zionist occupation” since the start of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which he describes as “genocide” of the Palestinian people.
In addition, for the past two weeks, US forces and their allies deployed in Iraq as part of the international anti-jihadist coalition have been the target of attacks claimed mainly by a group called “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” on Telegram channels affiliated to powerful pro-Iranian Iraqi factions.
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These groups have stepped up their threats against the United States because of Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
Washington accuses Tehran of being involved in these attacks by proxy.
Gabriela De La Cruz, with AFP
