ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has appointed Qasim al-Aboudi as national security advisor on Thursday, replacing Qasim al-Araji, an informed source told Rudaw.
A senior source within the Presidency of the Iraqi Council of Ministers told Rudaw, “Qasim al-Aboudi will take over the post of Iraqi National Security Advisor, replacing Qasim al-Araji.”
Araji served as the former minister of interior and was appointed in July 2020 as the national security advisor. Qasim al-Aboudi has also previously held several positions, including spokesperson and legal director at the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council, and was a senior member of the Iraqi Electoral Commission.
According to the same Rudaw source, “Nizar Nasir will assume the post of Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, replacing Ali al-Alaq.”
The source noted that the decisions were made today and the changes will be officially implemented starting Sunday, when Qasim al-Aboudi and Nizar Nasir will assume their new roles.
Similarly, earlier in the day, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported that a senior government official stated that, "Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi has appointed Bassem al-Badri to head the National Security Service, replacing Abdul Karim al-Basri."
Having served as the former head of the Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice, Bassem al-Badri is a senior figure in Iraq’s former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki-led Islamic Dawa Party.
Badri, a prospective candidate for the Iraqi premier in mid-April, was not agreed upon by the Shiite bloc Coordination Framework, which holds the majority of seats in the Iraqi parliament. The bloc chose to nominate Zaidi as the prime minister instead, ultimately resulting in his appointment in May.
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