BAGHDAD // The Iraqi prime minister called on Monday for residents of the western city of Fallujah to expel “terrorists” to avoid an assault on the city by security forces.
“The prime minister appeals to the tribes and people of Fallujah to expel the terrorists from the city to spare themselves the risk of armed clashes,” Nouri Al Maliki said.
Iraqi security forces are preparing to retake the city, which has been held by Al Qaeda-affiliated militants and anti-government Sunni tribesmen for days.
Mr Al Maliki’s message came as dozens of families were fleeing Fallujah, 65 kilometres west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in fear of a major showdown.
Iraqi troops have surrounded the city, in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, after it was overrun by militants last week. Along with Fallujah, militants last week also took control of most parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi.
Two local tribal leaders said meetings were being held with clerics and community leaders to find a way to persuade the militants to quit Fallujah and avert further bloodshed.
Mr Al Maliki – a Shiite – did not say how he expects Fallujah residents and pro-government tribesmen in the city to push the militants out. In his message, broadcast over state TV, he also urged Iraqi troops to avoid targeting Fallujah’s residential areas.
Discontent among Iraq’s Sunnis had been mounting for years, fanned by anger over their perceived exclusion from power in Baghdad and targeting by security forces.
But a decision by Mr Al Maliki to break up a year-old Sunni protest camp outside Ramadi on December 30 sparked unrest in Anbar’s main cities.
“The coming days will determine the fate of Iraq,” said Ihsan Al Shammari, a professor of political science at Baghdad University. “The country stands at a crossroads – reconciliation as a democratic state, or splitting in total chaos and civil war, leading to the division” of the country.
On Monday, the Iranian army’s deputy chief-of-staff, Gen Mohammad Hejazi, said Iran was ready to help Iraq with military equipment and advisers, should Baghdad ask for it. Any Iranian help would exacerbate tensions as Iraqi Sunnis accuse Tehran of backing what they say are their Shiite-led government’s unfair policies against them.
Fallujah residents said clashes continued on Monday along the main motorway that links the capital, Baghdad, to neighbouring Syria and Jordan.
It was not entirely clear who controlled the city. The Al Qaeda fighters, known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil), were reported to still be in control of the centre of the city where they could be seen on the streets and around government buildings.
But on Monday, Ali Al Hammad a senior tribal sheikh, claimed that Isil fighters had left Fallujah. “There is no Isil in the city,” he said. “They all left.”
“The gunmen inside are from the sons of the tribes, and they are here to defend” the city, he said, without elaborating.
Fighters from a pro-government Sunni militia killed six militants in a firefight outside Fallujah on Monday, a police officer said.
In Ramadi, sporadic clashes were taking place in some parts and also outside the city on Monday, residents there said.
In Baghdad’s western suburb of Abu Ghraib, militants in speeding car attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing two soldiers and wounding four, a police officer and a medical official said.
Violence in Iraq last year reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings.
More than 250 people have been killed in the first five days of this month, exceeding the toll for the whole of January last year.
* With reporting from Agence France-Presse, Reuters and the Associated Press
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
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if you go
The flights
Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow.
Where to stay
It is advisable to stay in Lucknow and make a day trip to Kannauj. A stay at the Lebua Lucknow hotel, a traditional Lucknowi mansion, is recommended. Prices start from Dh300 per night (excluding taxes).
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
