Two anti-government protesters were killed in clashes with security forces in the Iraqi capital on Friday, hours after thousands of supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr rallied separately to demand the ouster of US troops.

Four NGO workers, three of them French nationals, were also reported missing in Baghdad, rocked since October by a youth-dominated protest movement demanding a government overhaul, early elections and more accountability.

More than 470 people have died in protest-related violence since October, most of them demonstrators, and violence has spiked this week.

On Friday, one protester was struck in the neck by a live round while another died after being hit with a military-grade tear gas canister in clashes with security forces, medical and police sources told AFP.

It marked a sudden and bloody turn as thousands of men, women and children had gathered in Baghdad earlier the same day without incident to demand US troops withdraw.

A vowed enemy of US troops, Sadr had called for "a million-strong" rally but did not attend himself.

"Get out, get out, occupier!" they chanted.

One protester carried a cardboard cut-out of Donald Trump on the gallows, another of the US president banging himself on the head with a shoe.

A statement read by his representative at the rally demanded all foreign forces leave Iraq, Iraqi-American security agreements be cancelled, Iraqi airspace be closed to US military aircraft and for Trump not to act "arrogant" when addressing Iraqi officials.

"If all this is implemented, we will deal with it as a non-occupying country -- otherwise it will be considered a country hostile to Iraq," the statement read.

- Four NGO workers missing -

America's military presence has been a hot-button issue in Iraq since a US drone strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and a top Iraqi commander in Baghdad on January 3.

Outraged parliamentarians swiftly voted all foreign forces, including 5,200 US troops helping fight the Islamic State group, should leave.

Baghdad offered to discuss a withdrawal timeline, but the US special envoy for the anti-IS coalition, James Jeffrey, said Thursday there was no "real engagement".

In response to Soleimani's killing, Iran fired ballistic missiles on an Iraqi airbase where US troops are stationed, prompting fears of a regional war.

The US said it had received prior warning of the strikes on Ain al-Asad, allowing troops to take cover.

No Iraqi or US forces were killed and Trump had insisted no one was wounded either, but the Pentagon on Friday said 34 American soldiers had suffered traumatic head injuries or concussions.

Tehran seized on the US strike to insist American troops leave the region, and its Supreme National Security Council issued a statement backing Sadr's rally on Friday.

Pro-Tehran groups in Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi military force also endorsed the protest.

"To Trump, the fool -- the people's message of rejection was clear: if you don't leave voluntarily, you'll be ousted despite yourself," Hashed commander Qais al-Khazali tweeted.

There had been worries Sadr supporters might storm the high-security Green Zone, home to the US embassy and other foreign missions, or the main anti-government protest camp in the capital's Tahrir Square.

But they did not head for either, and instead several thousand youth flocked to Tahrir to insist on domestic reform.

Some had feared that with all the attention on Sadr's rally, security forces would try to clear their camp.

"The return of protesters to Tahrir is meant to prove ourselves, first, and to protect its peacefulness," demonstrator Karrar al-Saadi told AFP.

Baghdad has been gripped by kidnappings and shoot-outs which protesters say are meant to intimidate them.

Separately, French NGO SOS Chretiens d'Orient (Christians of the Middle East) said three French and one Iraqi worker went missing on Monday in Baghdad, where the foreigners were renewing their Iraqi visas.

No group has claimed responsibility and no ransom demand has been received, the organisation's director Benjamin Blanchard told reporters in Paris.

- Sadr hedges bets -

Sadr, 46, battled US forces with his Mehdi Army militia after the 2003 invasion of Iraq but is now a fickle politician, notorious for switching alliances.

He backed anti-regime protests early on, but also controls parliament's largest bloc and top ministerial posts.

On Friday evening, Sadr tweeted to hail the turnout at his rally but said he would no longer be involved in anti-regime efforts.

"From now on, I will try not to intervene in their business, neither negatively nor positively," he said.

Carnegie Middle East Center expert Harith Hasan said Sadr sought to sustain his "multiple identities" -- one as a reformist and populist, the other as a leading anti-American voice.

Playing both sides could earn Sadr favour with Iran and empower him in paralysed negotiations over the next premier, Hasan said.

But Friday's intra-Shiite alliance was not likely to last, Hasan said, predicting: "Once this protest is over, this honeymoon between Sadr and the other pro-Iran factions will eventually vanish,"

Four employees of French Christian charity in Iraq missing
Paris (AFP) Jan 24, 2020 - Three French nationals and one Iraqi working with a French Christian charity in Iraq have been missing since Monday, the group announced Friday.

The four men with SOS Chretiens d'Orient (Christians of the Middle East) went missing near the French embassy in Baghdad, the organisation's director Benjamin Blanchard told a news conference in Paris.

No ransom demand has been received as yet and no group has claimed responsibility for their disappearance, he added.

SOS Chretiens d'Orient has been working with persecuted Christians in Iraq since 2014 when Islamic State jihadists overran the province of Mosul, displacing tens of thousands of minority Christians and Yazidis.

It is principally active in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil, where many Christians sought refuge.

The missing workers were in Baghdad "to renew their visas and register the association with Iraqi authorities," Blanchard said.

They were also due to inspect the group's activities in the city, including the opening of a new school.

They left their hotel by car for a meeting "which posed no problem," Blanchard said, adding that French and Iraqi authorities were working together to try locate them.

However they did not return and the charity sought in vain to contact them on Tuesday before contacting the French authorities early Wednesday.

- Help Christians stay -

The charity's director described the men as "experienced staff members who have been working with us for years" and who had "perfect knowledge of conflict zones".

He declined to give the men's identities.

The French foreign ministry and the French embassy in Iraq refused to comment on their disappearance.

"The French and Iraqi authorities are coordinating today on the enquiry and to retrace their steps," said Blanchard, stressing that he was in "close contact" with the worried families.

Baghdad has been gripped by demonstrations for several months.

The protests initially targeted a government widely seen as corrupt and meddling by neighbouring Iran.

But in recent weeks America's military presence in Iraq has become a hot-button issue since a US drone strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and a top Iraqi commander in Baghdad on January 3.

SOS Chretiens d'Orient, which is also active in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, is one of several Western charities working with Christians in the Middle East.

The aim of the group is to "help Christian communities remain (in the region) and rebuild" their lives, Blanchard said.

- Persecution after Saddam fell -

The organisation, which is fiercely critical of Islam, portraying it as a threat to Christianity in the Middle East, drew criticism in the past for sending young French volunteers to Syria and Iraq for months at a time.

Photos regularly published by the non-government organisaiton on Twitter show volunteers visiting Christian families in Arbil and conducting French language classes.

Before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number of Christians in Iraq, home to one of the world's oldest Christian populations, ran to an estimated 1.5 million.

After the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein they suffered widespread persecution, culminating with the purges carried out by IS in 2014.

By the summer of 2019, their number had fallen to around 250,000, Arbil Archbishop Bashar Warda said during a speech in Britain last year, warning the community was "close to extinction".

Several Western countries including France had nationals kidnapped by armed groups in Syria in 2013 and 2014 but in recent years the situation has eased.

Radio France Internationale said Friday that two of its freelancers were kidnapped briefly last month before being released.

Currently, the only French person confirmed being held hostage anywhere in the world is Sophie Petronin, an elderly charity worker abducted by gunmen in northern Mali in December 2016.

No group claimed responsibility for kidnapping until July 2017, when Al-Qaeda's Mali branch released a video showing her.

Related Links
Iraq: The first technology war of the 21st century

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Thousands join anti-US rally in Baghdad, rattling rival protesters
Baghdad (AFP) Jan 24, 2020
Thousands of supporters of volatile Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr gathered in Baghdad on Friday for a "million-strong" march to demand the ouster of US troops, putting the protest-hit capital on edge. The march has rattled the separate, months-old protest movement that has gripped the capital and the Shiite-majority south since October, demanding a government overhaul, early elections and more accountability. In the early hours of Friday, thousands of men, women and children of all ages massed und ... read more