Iraq’s parliament voted Saturday to elect Nizar Amidi, a political official with one of the country’s two main Kurdish parties, as president, five months after a parliamentary election that didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority.
His election comes as Iraq is reeling from the fallout of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Iraq became caught in the middle of the conflict, with Iran-backed militias launching attacks on U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities as well as on critical energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Israel carried out airstrikes targeting the militias, some of which killed members of the Iraqi military.
