Iraq’s Najaf Airport Continues Operation as Turmoil Subsides
Hikmat Ahmad said the airport continues its operations and flights are routinely arriving and leaving, the Iraqi news agency INA reported.
The Iraq Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) also said on Monday that all the flights at the Baghdad International Airport are operated without any disruption.
This came hours after Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr held a press conference and expressed apologies to the Iraqi nation for the incidents of the past two days. He also urged his supporters to withdraw from Baghdad Green Zone immediately.
The unrest in the Arab country that has led to the deaths of at least 30 people over the past few days.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said emergency flights will bring Iranian nationals who have traveled to Iraq back home from Najaf.
Hassan Khoshkhu, the organization’s deputy, said permission have been obtained for two emergency flights to return Iranians from Najaf on Tuesday.
He added that operating emergency flights to Baghdad is not possible currently.
All flights to Iraq operated by the Iranian airlines have been canceled after the escalation of tensions in the Arab country.
The violence erupted on Monday as prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced that he is quitting political life and closing his political offices amid a deepening political stalemate that has left the Arab country without a new government since last October’s parliamentary elections.
“I’ve decided not to meddle in political affairs. I, therefore, announce now my definitive retirement,” Sadr wrote in an Arabic post published on his Twitter account.
In his statement, Sadr also attacked his political opponents and said they had failed to heed his calls for reform.
The statement comes as many of Sadr’s supporters have been participating in a sit-in outside the Iraqi parliament since the end of July.
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