Al-Sadr calls on the Revolutionary Guard and militias to stop dragging Iraq into the regional conflict.
On Wednesday, Shiite nationalist leader Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and “militias” not to drag Iraq into the regional conflict, demanding that the government impose state sovereignty and control security.
In a statement seen by Shafaq News Agency, Sadr said that Iraq is “the land of holy sites,” calling on the Revolutionary Guard not to bomb Iraqi territory as long as it is “not a launching point for bombing the Islamic Republic.” He also called on “unruly militias” not to give the Gulf Arab states an “excuse” to target Iraq.
He added that everyone is required to have a “spirit of brotherhood and peace” and not to be drawn into what he described as “the Zionist-American enemy’s schemes” to drag the parties into fighting and conflict.
Al-Sadr condemned the targeting of Iraqi territory “by all countries and parties,” and, according to the statement, he also condemned “the actions of the militias,” which he said were trying to drag Iraq into a “pointless” war.
He called on the Iraqi government to establish security, enforce sovereignty, and work to protect the Iraqi people and their holy sites, warning against being drawn into “sectarian myths,” and stressing that Iraq “needs peace after the wars that have depleted its resources.”
He also called for caution regarding “sleeper terrorist cells” at home and abroad, considering that they exploit sectarianism to destabilize security, and concluded his statement with a call for peace with neighboring countries and to move away from “bases, normalization and colonial hegemony.”
Al-Sadr’s statement comes after several headquarters belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces in various parts of Iraq were subjected to Saudi-American bombing at dawn on Wednesday, which resulted in the death of at least 20 of its members and the injury of 32 others, in a toll described as “not final”.
Shafaq.com