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AP Explains: Iraq Unrest Comes at Critical Time in Region

Associated Press

   BAGHDAD - The young men and women coordinated on social media. Fed up
   with an Iraqi political elite they blame for their many grievances,
   they agreed on a mass demonstration Oct. 1.

   They were met with bullets, water cannons and tear gas, plunging the
   country into renewed instability just as it was starting to emerge from
   a bloody war against the Islamic State group.

   The response to the unrest has triggered ongoing confrontations with
   protesters across the country and has claimed the lives of more than 30
   people in three days. Hundreds have been injured.

   The turmoil in Iraq, a country central to America's Middle East policy,
   comes at a critical moment in the region amid soaring tensions between
   Iran and the United States -- both allies of the Iraqi government. Iraq
   hosts thousands of U.S. troops and also is home to powerful
   Iranian-backed militias. There were already concerns the country was
   turning into a proxy battlefield between the two sides.

   A look at what happened this week:

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