Baghdad’s Pre-Dawn Raids Shake Green Zone
Residents of Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone awoke before dawn on Sunday to an unusual sight in one of Iraq’s most secure neighborhoods. Military vehicles blocked entrances, tanks were deployed around the perimeter, and dozens of security vehicles filled the area.
At around 1:20 a.m. that morning, Iraqi security forces had launched coordinated raids targeting current and former government officials, including members of parliament. The operation was carried out under judicial warrants linked to corruption cases, according to informed sources who spoke to Alhurra.
The raids focused on Baghdad Residence, a neighborhood located near the U.S. Embassy inside the Green Zone that houses many cabinet ministers, lawmakers and other senior Iraqi officials.
The actions were part of a broad judicial campaign targeting political and executive figures. Iraq’s state news agency, citing a senior official, said the operation centered on individuals accused in corruption cases, drawing on confessions allegedly made by Deputy Oil Minister Adnan al-Jumaili during questioning.
Preliminary information indicates that investigations are continuing and that additional individuals could be brought under investigation in the coming hours.
The sheer scale of the deployment struck many residents as extraordinary.
“When I saw the tanks while sitting at the café next to the compound, I thought a coup had taken place,” one resident told Alhurra. “When I tried to watch the tanks entering or take pictures, security personnel shouted at me.”
Another witness said security forces sealed the Green Zone’s gates and isolated the unit normally responsible for protecting the area.
“I realized something major was happening,” he said.
Witnesses said roughly 100 military vehicles entered the Green Zone as part of the operation before raid teams dispersed to multiple locations inside Baghdad Residence and elsewhere in the district.
The operation relied heavily on surprise, security sources told Alhurra, with multiple teams moving simultaneously toward separate targets. Units from the Rapid Response Forces’ Tactical Division and the Counter-Terrorism Service participated in the raids. Personnel from Iraq’s Integrity Commission accompanied the security forces to document and inventory assets found inside homes and apartments covered by search warrants.
Among the primary targets was the apartment of lawmaker Bahaa al-Nouri, an MP from former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition. According to informed sources, security personnel remained inside for nearly three hours, conducting searches and cataloging property before seizing cash and three vehicles, including a Cadillac and a Range Rover.
At the same time, another security team raided the homes of lawmaker Alia Nassif and former lawmaker Mohammed al-Sayhoud, located only a few hundred meters away within the same area. Sources said the simultaneous execution of arrest warrants was intended to prevent coordination or communication among those targeted.
Another team arrived at the apartment of lawmaker Bushra al-Qaisi and waited until around 4 a.m. before entering, only to find that she was not there. After reviewing surveillance camera footage with the cooperation of the compound’s management, authorities determined that she was staying in another apartment within the complex. Security forces then redirected the operation based on the updated information and later arrested her.
Security sources from one of the agencies involved told Alhurra that many officers and personnel had not been informed in advance of the identities of those targeted or the nature of the investigation. Their role, the sources said, was limited to carrying out field operations. They added that officials working with the judiciary and the Prime Minister’s Office directly supervised the operation.
The arrest warrants were issued by Integrity Court Judge Diaa Jaafar and executed under direct government supervision, according to an official in the Prime Minister’s Office who spoke to Alhurra. The official said additional names could be included in the investigation but declined to identify them at this stage.
The information also indicates that two lawmakers targeted in the operation had been meeting inside the residential complex only hours before the raids began, unaware that the security operation was imminent.
According to the information available, the warrants covered a number of current and former officials and members of parliament, including Bahaa al-Nouri, Mohammed Jamil al-Miyahi, Muthanna al-Samarrai, Bushra al-Qaisi, Hassan al-Khafaji, Ziad al-Janabi, Abdul Rahman al-Luwaizi, Mudhar al-Karawi, Mohammed al-Karbouli, Hind al-Abbasi, Alia Nassif, Deputy Oil Minister Ali Maarij, and former political adviser Ibrahim al-Sumaidaie.
According to the Iraqi news agency, the arrest warrants included members of parliament whose immunity had been lifted, as well as other officials identified in those confessions as part of investigations into corruption and the misuse of public funds.
The official added that the extensive security deployment across the Green Zone coincided with the execution of judicial arrest warrants against political figures, government officials and members of their security details after their names appeared in corruption and influence-peddling investigations.
Security measures remained in place around the Green Zone through Sunday evening. Witnesses said authorities had begun searching people leaving the area, including those holding permits allowing access to the zone, an unusual measure reflecting both the sensitivity of the operation and its broad scope.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.