Despite the warnings of several Iraqi politicians regarding the consequences of the Iranian interference in Iraq, still the provocations continue.

The most recent of these events occurred last week with the opening of a school named "Imam Khomeini" in Mosul, north of Iraq.

The establishment of the school incited controversy calling it a "provocation" for the people of the city.

Hussein Hamid, director of the school buildings department at the Education Directorate of Ninawa said that "A dispute between Nineveh Education Directorate and the beneficiaries of the project was raised as the school was registered as Al-Zahra School, but on the ground it stayed Imam Khomeini."

Mosul school named after Khomeini raises eyebrows

"The school was built at the expense of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with a capacity of 10 classes," Hamed told Anatolia news agency.

"The school was opened Thursday by the Iranian consul in Erbil (Murtada Abadi), who came to the area specifically for opening it,” he added.

He explained that after the completion of the primary school in the village of Khazna in the area of Bartala east of Mosul, it was named “Imam Khomeini’ in reference to the late Iranian leader.

"The school was already completed by the time ISIS organization entered Mosul, in June 2014, but was reformed after the damage caused during process of liberating the area under ISIS control,” he added.

Mosul school named after Khomeini raises eyebrows

A minority of Shabak (Kurdish), Sunni, and Shi'a communities along with Christians who live in Bartala accuse each other of trying to change the city demographically.

New Provocation

On the other hand, activists commented on the name of the school through social networking sites, expressing their surprise and disapproval over its naming.

The former governor of Nineveh, Athil Nujaifi said that the opening of the school in Bartla named "Khomeini" is a new provocation to citizens.

On his Facebook page, he said: "Iraq is barely coming out of a whirlwind to find itself in a new spiral without a solution or a vision. We still rely on the international intervention to resolve the crises that we are creating with our weak planning and the absence of our vision.”

“Mosul emerged from the authority of ISIS without a vision and in the absence of security services and a political role for the Sunni society, which is supposed to be active, a primary school named (Khomeini) start with a new provocation to citizens,” he said.

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:51 - GMT 06:51