# 2019 in Iraq

Events of 2019 in Iraq.

## Incumbents

* President: Barham Salih
* Prime Minister: Adil Abdul-Mahdi

## Events
### January

* 24 January – Iraqi parliament approves the yearly budget after weeks of deadlock.
* 26 January – After a 16 months ban, Türkiye allows flights to the city of Sulaimaniyah to resume.

### March

* 11 March – Iranian president Rohani visits Iraq for the first time since becoming president in 2013.
* 21 March – Mosul ferry sinking in the Tigris river results in about 100 dead revelers who were celebrating the Kurdish the new year and Iraqi mothers day.

### April

* 17 April – The Iraqi parliament votes on a bill to ban several video games, such as PUBG and Fortnite, accusing them of being harmful and too violent.

### May

* 20 May – A rocket lands near US embassy in Baghdad with no casualties.

### June

* 27 June – Iraqi protesters storm the embassy of Bahrain in Baghdad over the country hosting a US sponsored workshop on Palestine. Bahrain responded by recalling their envoy to Iraq.

### July

* 5 July – The ancient ruins of Babylon are listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list after decades of campaigning.

### August

* 20 August – Popular Mobilization, a Shia-dominated military group, blames the United States and Israel for an explosion at Balad airbase in Salahuddin province, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad.

### September

* 10 September – 31 people killed and 100 injured due to a stampede that occurred during Ashura commemorations in the city of Karbala.
* 20 September – A bomb planted in a bus explosion kills 12 and wounds several others outside the city of Karbala.
* 30 September – Iraq reopens a border-crossing with Syria after 8 years of closure.

### October

* 1 October – anti government Protests break out all across Iraq. The Iraqi government declared a curfew in few cities as well as limit social media and internet access in an attempt to suppress the protests.
* Protesters in Baghdad, 1 October 20199 October – The death toll of classes between security forces and protesters rises to around 110 with 6,000 wounded since the beginning of the protests. Iraq's prime minister declares 3 days of mourning for those killed.
* 11 October – Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s senior Shia cleric demands the Iraqi government investigate the violence against demonstrators.
* 25 October– A fresh wave of protests is met with violence leaving 40 dead and hundreds injured.
* 28 October – The Iraqi government institutes a curfew as the total death toll of the protests climbs to 200 since their start on the 1st of October. Protesters defy the curfew and refuse to disband.

### November

* 4 November – Iraqi protesters storm the Iranian consulate in Karbala, 3 people are killed as security forces fire on the protesters to disperse them.
* 17 November – The protest expand as protestors seal of several bridges and vital roads in Baghdad contracting traffic. Thousands of students join the protests as calls for a general strike continued.
* 27 November – Iraqi protesters storm and burn down the Iranian consulate in southern city of Najaf.
* 28 November – 34 protesters are killed in the city of Nasiriyah, and another 18 are killed in Najaf, in what was described as the deadliest day of the protests.
* 30 November – Iraqi prime minister Adel Abd al- Mehdi formally submits his resignation to the parliament.

### December

* 1 December – Iraqi parliament accepts the prime minister's resignation during an emergency session, without naming a replacement.
* 6 December – Unidentified gunmen open fire on protesters camped at Al-Tahrir square in Baghdad, killing 25 and wounding another 130 protesters.
* 29 December – The united states launch airstrikes at a base associated with the Kataib Hezbollah Iraqi militia, killing 25 people.
* 31 December – Iraqi protesters, angry at the American airstrikes, attack the US embassy compound in Baghdad.

## Deaths

* 18 January- Lamia Al-Gailani Werr, 80, Iraqi archaeologist.
* 28 January- Tahseen Said, 86, Iraqi politician, Emir of the Yazidis (since 1944).
* 2 February - Alaa Mashzoub, 50, Iraqi novelist and writer, expert on the History of the Jews in Iraq, shot.
* 3 May - George Hanna, 90, Iraqi-American basketball player.
* 13 May - Kochavi Shemesh, 75, Iraqi-born Israeli lawyer and social activist, leader of the Black Panthers protest movement.
* 26 May - Qays Abd al-Hussein al-Yasiri, 78, Iraqi media scholar, academic and poet.
* 7 July- Mohammad Hussaini Shahroudi, 93, Iraqi Marja'.
* 29 October - Safaa Al Sarai, 26, activist