Iraq plunges into political crisis as Yazidi refugees flee into Syria

Iraq’s government has plunged into a political crisis at a time it is fighting advances by Islamic State militants.

The country’s embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in a surprise speech, resisted calls for his resignation and accused the new president of violating the constitution.

Mr al-Maliki is seeking a third-term as prime minister, but the latest crisis has prompted even his closest allies to call for his resignation.

A parliament session scheduled for today to discuss the election and who might lead the next Iraqi government was postponed until August 19.

In a nationally televised speech, Mr al-Maliki declared he will file a legal complaint against the new president, Fouad Massoum, for committing “a clear constitutional violation”.

Mr al-Maliki, whose Shiite-dominated bloc won the most seats in April elections, accused Mr Massoum of neglecting to name a prime minister from the country’s largest parliamentary faction by yesterday’s deadline.

He said the president has violated the constitution “for the sake of political goals”.

Mr al-Maliki, speaking on Iraqi TV for the first time since US forces launched airstrikes and humanitarian airdrops in Iraq last week, said the security situation will only worsen as a result of Mr Massoum’s actions.

“This attitude represents a coup on the constitution and the political process in a country that is governed by a democratic and federal system,” he said.

“The deliberate violation of the constitution by the president will have grave consequences on the unity, the sovereignty, and the independence of Iraq and the entry of the political process into a dark tunnel.”

The political infighting could hamper efforts to stem advances by Sunni militants who have seized a large area of northern and western Iraq in recent weeks.

President Barack Obama warned Americans on Saturday that the new campaign to bring security in Iraq requires military and political changes and “is going to be a long-term project”.

He said Iraqi security forces need to revamp to effectively mount an offensive, which requires a government in Baghdad that the Iraqi military and people have confidence in.

Critics say the Shiite leader contributed to Iraq’s crisis by monopolising power and pursuing a sectarian agenda that alienated the country’s Sunni and Kurdish minorities.

Just hours after Mr al-Maliki’s speech, the US State Department said it “fully supports” the new Iraqi president.

Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US supports the process to select a prime minister “by building a national consensus and governing in an inclusive manner”.

The US airstrikes have reinvigorated Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State militants in northern and western Iraq.

Kurdish forces retook two towns from the Sunni militants yesterday, achieving one of their first victories after weeks of retreating, a senior Kurdish military official said.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters were able to push the militants of the Islamic State group out of the villages of Makhmour and al-Gweir, some 28 miles from the Kurdish capital of Irbil, Brigadier General Shirko Fatih said.

The US launched a fourth round of airstrikes yesterday against militant vehicles and mortars firing on Irbil as part of efforts to blunt the militants’ advance and protect American personnel in and around the Kurdish capital.

US warplanes and drones have also attacked militants firing on minority Yazidis around Sinjar, which is in the far west of the country near the Syrian border.

In the Kurdish capital, the president of the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government, Massoud Barzani, said American military support has been effective so far.

But he said peshmerga soldiers require more firepower to defeat the militants.

“We are not asking our friends to send their sons to fight on our behalf,” he said.

“What we are asking our friends is to provide us support and to co-operate with us in providing us with heavy weapons that we are able to fight this terrorist group.”

Mr Barzani yesterday met French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who travelled to Baghdad and Irbil pledging France’s commitment to providing humanitarian aid.

Mr Fabius also met Mr al-Maliki and called on Iraqi leaders to unite in the face of the escalating crisis.

Meanwhile, thousands of Yazidi refugees fleeing the militants continued to pour across the border from Syria into Iraq after a week-long journey through blazing hot mountains.

Followers of an ancient religion with links to Zoroastrianism, the Yazidis said the militants had given them the choice of converting to Islam or dying.

As they crossed the border, many Yazidis said they had lost sisters, daughters, young children and elderly parents during the trip.

They said militants sprayed gunfire at fleeing crowds, sometimes splitting up families by taking the women and killing the men.

British officials estimated on Saturday that 50,000 to 150,000 people could be trapped on Sinjar Mountain, where they fled to escape the Islamic extremists, only to become stranded there with few supplies.

Britain said its air force has already dropped water containers and solar lanterns over the mountains.

US and Iraqi aircraft also have dropped humanitarian aid for the minority Yazidism. US Central Command reported that the US military conducted a fourth airdrop of food and water yesterday.

During his Sunday blessing at the Vatican, Pope Francis expressed outrage at the violence aimed at religious minorities in Iraq and called on the world “to stop these crimes”.

He cited “the thousands of people, including Christians, who have been brutally forced from their homes, children who have died from thirst during the escape and women who have been seized”.

The EU said it was “appalled by the rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation, with hundreds of thousands civilians, mainly from minorities, fleeing the areas of conflict”.