Based on an analysis of 463 trending X \/ Twitter posts on February 20, 2025, Miqrab AI identified several key narratives dominating Iraqi social media. The most prominent theme was the reaction to the death of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, with numerous posts discussing travel to his funeral in Lebanon and the Baghdad Provincial Council’s decision to declare a public holiday for the occasion, sparking both praise and debate. Significant anger was directed at Syria’s new government for imposing a $250 visa fee on Iraqis, with many calling for reciprocal measures. Concurrently, a strong anti-Hamas sentiment emerged from several accounts, which condemned the group’s actions as terrorism. Domestic political issues were also highly visible, led by a viral post from politician Faiq Al Sheikh Ali accusing the government of unlawfully denying him his university graduation documents.<\/p>\n
Widespread discussion surrounded the death and funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Abu Darandash Al-Askari<\/a> (Post Impact: 74%)<\/strong> claimed that hundreds of thousands from Iraq, Iran, and Yemen were traveling to Lebanon for the funeral. This was accompanied by announcements that Baghdad would hold a symbolic funeral and declare a public holiday on Sunday. Accounts like Dr. Haidar Al-Barzanji<\/a> (Post Impact: 16%)<\/strong> and Steven Nabil<\/a> (Post Impact: 13%)<\/strong> shared the news of the holiday, while others like Omar Al-Janabi<\/a> (Post Impact: 9%)<\/strong> questioned the decision, asking, “Does the council belong to Hezbollah in Lebanon? Or to the Velayat-e Faqih in Iran?”<\/em> Meanwhile, supporters praised Nasrallah’s legacy, with Ghazwan Jassem<\/a> (Post Impact: 36%)<\/strong> arguing that Hezbollah’s strength is social and ideological, not just military, and Issam Hussein<\/a> (Post Impact: 36%)<\/strong> defended Nasrallah’s sacrifice for the Palestinian cause.<\/p>\n A significant wave of anger erupted following reports that Syria’s new administration imposed a $250 visa fee on Iraqis. Mashaan Al-Jabouri<\/a> (Post Impact: 43%)<\/strong> described the fee and the “humiliating” treatment of Iraqis at Damascus airport as “provocative and completely unacceptable,”<\/em> and called on Syrian leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa to intervene. Others expressed similar outrage; Haydar<\/a> (Post Impact: 39%)<\/strong> contrasted the high fee with the presence of over 400,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq. The sentiment led to calls for retaliation, with Wasan Al-Shaikhli<\/a> (Post Impact: 18%)<\/strong> stating it is now “incumbent on the Iraqi government to deport all Syrian refugees”<\/em> and impose a $750 visa fee on Syrians. Yasser Eljuboori<\/a> (Post Impact: 22%)<\/strong> mockingly asked supporters of the new Syrian government how they would justify this policy.<\/p>\n Several high-engagement accounts launched scathing attacks against Hamas, labeling the group as a terrorist organization. Ghaith Al-Tamimi<\/a> (Post Impact: 53%)<\/strong> posted a strong condemnation, stating, “Hamas is terrorist and deserves hell and nothing but hell.”<\/em> This sentiment was echoed repeatedly by Sufian Al-Samarrai<\/a> (Post Impact: 31%)<\/strong>, who in one of several posts decried the alleged celebration over the bodies of infants, questioning the morality of such actions. Similarly, David Yassin<\/a> (Post Impact: 25%)<\/strong> referred to Hamas as a “terrorist movement” and suggested that its actions would provoke renewed Israeli military operations.<\/p>\n In the highest-impact post of the day, political figure Faiq Al Sheikh Ali publicly accused Iraqi authorities of illegally withholding his university graduation documents. In a direct address to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Higher Education, and the President of Baghdad University, Faiq Al Sheikh Ali\/My Word for History<\/a> (Post Impact: 100%)<\/strong> stated that while he is an opponent of “militia rule,” government departments have no legal basis to deny him a document confirming his graduation from the University of Baghdad in 1986\/1987. He framed the issue as a violation of his rights, saying, “it is not your departments’ right, nor do they have any legal basis to deny me my right.”<\/em><\/p>\n A post by the prominent paramilitary figure Abu Azrael – Abu Azrael<\/a> (Post Impact: 91%)<\/strong> sparked discussion on regional politics. He criticized a Syrian foreign minister, who he claimed went “from the caves of Daesh to the halls of Davos” and was meeting with “the most lethal Zionist deputies against Arabs.” He compared this to the West’s past support for bin Laden, suggesting that Western powers use and then discard such figures, and asserted, “The Levant and its civilization will not be ruled by backward people.”<\/em> This prompted a response from Shaho Al-Qaradaghi<\/a> (Post Impact: 29%)<\/strong>, who questioned if Syria should instead remain under the rule of “captagon makers.” Separately, Omar Abd Al Sattar Mahmud<\/a> (Post Impact: 29%)<\/strong> criticized former PM Nouri al-Maliki for his statements about Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, implying hypocrisy.<\/p>\n A widely circulated claim from political analyst Omar Abd Al Sattar Mahmud<\/a> (Post Impact: 88%)<\/strong> alleged a significant diplomatic slight against Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani. According to the post, Al-Sudani contacted the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs to request an invitation for a meeting, but the request was rejected. The account attributes this rejection to the view that the current Iraqi government is a “secondary administration subordinate to Iran”<\/em> with which other countries cannot deal directly, suggesting a perception of diminished Iraqi sovereignty.<\/p>\n A disturbing and “very painful” allegation was made by Mahdi Majeed<\/a> (Post Impact: 48%)<\/strong>, who claimed that a young Iraqi man had his organs stolen during a surgical operation in the city of Babil. The post directly blames “militias affiliated with Iran” for the alleged crime. The author urged all Iraqis and Arabs to make the issue a matter of public opinion so that the “oppressed and poor” victims can get their rights, describing the situation as “heart-wrenching.”<\/p>\n Attention was drawn to the “Allalhiya” movement, described as a deviant religious group spreading in southern Iraq. Othman Al-Mukhtar<\/a> (Post Impact: 27%)<\/strong> shared a leaked photo of its leader, Abd Ali Al-Yaqubi, stating he is currently in Mashhad, Iran. The post details the group’s belief in suicide as a “sacrifice” to hasten the appearance of the Mahdi, linking it to over 90 suicides in 2023-2024. Al-Mukhtar notes the group is active in poor and uneducated areas and its followers believe their leader receives direct guidance from Imam Al-Hujjah. Hiba Al-Nnayib<\/a> (Post Impact: 9%)<\/strong> also shared the image and information about the group’s beliefs and the number of suicides committed by its followers.<\/p>\n Author and analyst Rusly Al-Maliki \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf6 \u0631\u0633\u0644\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0627\u0644\u0643\u064a<\/a> (Post Impact: 56%)<\/strong> unveiled the cover and summary of his new book, titled “A Year of Decline… The Daily Iraqi Reality for the Year 2024.”<\/em> He describes the book as a “photograph of a full year of corruption and decline” and a “historical document armed against future falsification.” The book’s cover art depicts a yellow snake, representing “malice, autumn, disease, death, and ruin,” constricting an Iraqi sword, symbolizing the loss of Iraqi sovereignty and freedom. Maliki presents the book as a factual, documented record intended to serve as a reference for future generations.<\/p>\n A general sense of discontent with the Iraqi political class was evident in several posts. Dr. Zaid Abdulwahab Al-Azami<\/a> (Post Impact: 17%)<\/strong> shared a clip of analyst Dr. Ayad Al-Anbar criticizing “political teenagers” for being preoccupied with issues like the retirement age and election law while the country faces major regional shifts and an uncertain future. This theme of public frustration was echoed by Husham Ali :: husham ali<\/a> (Post Impact: 18%)<\/strong>, who quoted politician Adnan Al-Zurfi’s warning: “Do not ignore the citizen, he may decide to return to the street to search for his rights as he did before.”<\/em> In another post, Safaa Al-Asadi<\/a> (Post Impact: 13%)<\/strong> addressed fighters in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), arguing that politicians view them merely as “electoral votes and a weapon to protect their political interests” rather than addressing their rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Based on an analysis of 463 trending X \/ Twitter posts on February 20, 2025, Miqrab AI identified several key narratives dominating Iraqi social media. The most prominent theme was the reaction to the death of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, with numerous posts discussing travel to his funeral in Lebanon and the Baghdad Provincial Council’s decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,73,78],"tags":[82,52,81,83],"class_list":["post-9376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-twitter-x","category-iraq","category-daily","tag-daily-reports","tag-iraq-daily-social-media-trends","tag-iraq-public-opinion","tag-trending-x-twitter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9378,"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9376\/revisions\/9378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miqrab.ai\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Anger Over New Syrian Visa Fees for Iraqis<\/h2>\n
3. Harsh Condemnation of Hamas<\/h2>\n
4. Faiq Al Sheikh Ali Denied University Documents<\/h2>\n
5. Criticism of Regional Figures and Alliances<\/h2>\n
6. PM Al-Sudani Allegedly Snubbed by Saudi Arabia<\/h2>\n
7. Allegations of Organ Theft by Militias in Babil<\/h2>\n
8. The “Allalhiya” Sect and Its Leader in Iran<\/h2>\n
9. Rusly Al-Maliki’s New Book “A Year of Decline”<\/h2>\n
10. General Political Discontent and Warnings<\/h2>\n