IRAQI SHIA CLERIC SADR CALLS ON PRO-IRAN MILITIAS TO DISBAND

Fri 19 November 2021:

On Thursday, Iraq’s powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called Iraq’s paramilitaries to purge “undisciplined” members and non-state armed groups to hand over their weapons.

Sadr’s comments come after a Shi’ite Militia group backed by Iran was accused of attempting to assassinate Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi by armed drone on November 7.

The militias are disputing the result of an October general election that handed them a crushing defeat and have also staged sit-ins in Baghdad which turned violent this month.

“The whole world has witnessed that the elections were held in a transparent manner. We have two ways before us, either to form a national majority government or to form a national opposition,” Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shia cleric, said at a press conference in Najaf city in southern Iraq.

Muqatada al-Sadr also asked the factions to hand over their weapons to the government-sanctioned umbrella known as Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hash al-Shaabi in Arabic. In turn, he also asked the PMF to “purify” its ranks from “undisciplined elements” and surrender “corrupt individuals” to the judiciary.

Sadr, who has his own militia but opposes all foreign involvement in Iraq, including Iran’s, is seen as the main Shi’ite rival of the paramilitaries backed by Tehran.

He called on Iraq’s state paramilitary grouping the Popular Mobilisation Forces, which is dominated by the Iran-aligned factions, to purge “undisciplined elements” and for non-state armed groups to dissolve themselves and lay down their weapons.

According to Iraqi officials and independent observers, Sadr would likely have a large role in the establishment of the future Iraqi administration, a prospect that worries his primary adversaries, Iran-backed militias.

The Sadrist Bloc made big gains in Iraq’s parliamentary election on Oct. 10, taking 74 seats in the 329-member parliament.

The pro-Iran factions lost a significant number of parliament seats in the October 10 elections and have called the vote fraudulent, rejecting the results. Their supporters have held protests outside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to government offices and foreign embassies.

The country’s election commission has yet to announce the final results of an ongoing recount.

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