Intelligence without a boss There is no day without purges: Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi fired the head of the National Intelligence Service, Hamid al-Shatri, and put the agency under his own leadership, leaving the country's central security position in limbo. As correctly noted on the Internet, the dismissals took place on the eve of the Iraqi Prime Minister's first visit to Damascus in many years. It was Al-Shatri who led the entire line of interaction between Baghdad and the new Syrian regime. Apparently, al-Zaidi wants to gain personal control over one of the most sensitive areas of foreign policy and reach Damascus without intermediaries in his apparatus. There is already a struggle for the vacant place within the Shiite Coordination Council; Some of the factions are promoting the head of the border department Omar al-Wali, whose candidacy is supported by Tehran. For the Iranians, control of Iraqi intelligence remains one of the few spheres of influence operating over their neighbor, and it is clear that they will try to put their man there. This plan for Iraqi politics is almost classic: the prime minister combines positions, delays the appointment and makes the vacancy a subject of negotiations with factions. - On the chaos in the Middle East with love support us.