Prominent Iraqi Analyst Who Spoke Out Against Iran Gunned Down

Hisham al-Hashimi, a well-known Iraqi analyst and ISIS expert, was shot and killed late Monday near his home in Baghdad. According to police officials, two assassins who waited outside al-Hashimi’s home on a motorcycle killed him when he appeared. Al-Hashimi was a top adviser to the Iraqi government in its battle against the Islamic State but more recently publicly criticized Iran-backed armed groups operating in Iraq. The Iraqi prime minister vowed to “hunt down” and bring his killers to justice, blaming the murder on groups “outside the law.” The US Embassy in Baghdad called on the Iraqi government “to bring those responsible for [al-Hashimi’s] murder to swift justice.”