On Monday August 29th, Iraq came closer to civil war than it has for year. The fears of many Iraqis that political tensions would spill out into violence were coming true.

After 11 months of parliamentary elections, government formation is still help up by complete political gridlock. As violent clashes between the followers of Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and members of militias affiliated with the Coordination Framework led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki escalated, 30 Iraqis lost their life. However, by Tuesday afternoon, Al Sadr had called back his followers from the streets and restated his intention to “retire from politics”. Since then, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi has threatened to resign, which would add further chaos to Iraq’s political scene.

In this week’s episode of Beyond The Headlines, The National’s Editor in Chief Mina Al-Oraibi discusses these developments and what could come next, with guests Chairman of the Iraqi Advisory Council Farhad Alaadin and Senior Foreign Reporter Mina Al Droubi.