Key Takeaway

: Popular protests against the Iraqi government have surged again in the lead-up to anti-U.S. protests planned for Friday, January 24 by nationalist Shi’a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Iranian proxy militias. Protesters in Baghdad and across Southern Iraq attempted to block roads and infrastructure by burning tires and holding sit-ins starting on January 19. Unidentified security forces again used violence, killing at least a dozen. Protesters also burned a headquarters of the Iranian proxy Badr Organization in Basra City. Meanwhile, Sadr has rhetorically distanced himself from Iranian proxy militias by calling on his supporters to demonstrate separately from the militias on January 24.