WATCH: Helicopter Evacuates US Embassy Personnel from Iraq
A helicopter evacuated U.S. Embassy personnel in Iraq, according to a video circulating on Twitter.
Iraq has been experiencing chaos since prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced on Monday he was stepping away from politics.
“I’ve decided not to meddle in political affairs,” he said in an announcement posted on Twitter. “I therefore announce now my definitive retirement.”
This is not the first time Al-Sadr, who has never served in Iraq’s Parliament, announced his retirement from politics and therefore the latest announcement may be a bluff.
Iraq has had a caretaker government since October despite pro-al-Sadr candidates winning the largest bloc of seats, but not an outright majority, in the Iraqi Parliament in that month’s election. Al-Sadr’s militia opposed the U.S. military during its invasion of Iraq. In addition to being anti-U.S., al-Sadr is anti-Iran.
The evacuation is reminiscent of the evacuations of U.S. personnel from the U.S. embassies in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1975, and Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2021.
Video has been circulating on Twitter of pro-al-Sadr demonstrators storming the Iraqi government palace, the Republican Palace, in Baghdad’s Green Zone, which is heavily fortified and includes, among numerous sites, the U.S. Embassy.
The Sadrists have entered #Iraq‘s Republican Palace. pic.twitter.com/6fHFkcukdM
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) August 29, 2022
There is also video of pro-al-Sadr people in the swimming pool of the Republican Palace:
#Iraq: Followers of the Sadrist movement are swimming in the swimming pool of the Republican Palace. pic.twitter.com/KKvU1yXF8U
— خالد اسكيف (@khalediskef) August 29, 2022
The Iraqi military has enacted a national curfew.
Watch above.
