iraq Shi'a Attack On Own Parliament Can Affect Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

 BAGHDAD ⁠— Parts of Iraq descended into deadly street clashes this week as followers of powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr traded fire with security forces and fellow Shi'a Muslim militias, a sudden outburst of violence that followed years of the country fading from the international spotlight. Twenty-four people were killed.  Iraq is a buffer state between Israel and Iran.  

Sadr was born 4 August 1974 and belongs to the Sadrist Political Party made up of much of the poor of Iraq who belong to the Shi'a Islam religion.   Because of this, it has become a religious fight where Iran, being Shi'a also is involved.  In 2012, a senior Sadrist official and former member of Parliament, said that convoys of buses from Najaf, under the cover story of pilgrims, were carrying weapons and fighters to Damascus, Syria.   Some of the pilgrims were members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.  

However, later in 2017 following the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack in Syria, Muqtada al-Sadr called for Syria's president Bashar al-Assad to step down from power.                                       

Iran and Iraq are at it again after experiencing an eight year war during the 1980s that took place from September 22, 1980 to August 20, 1988, 34 years ago. 

Muqtada al-Sadr is an Iraqi politician and militia leader. He is the leader of the Sadrist Movement of the Shi'a Muslims,  and the leader of the Peace Companies, a successor to the militia he had previously led during the American military presence in Iraq, the "Mahdi Army."    The Sadrist movement is religious and populist. Its goal is a society ordered by a combination of religious laws and tribal customs.                                 

Iraq has been a state with Shi'a and Sunni believers with Islam being a Secular state with 97% of its citizens with the main fiqh being Jafari and Hanafi.  

Iran is a Shi'a follower and an Islamic  state, not a secular one.  The fiqh they follow is Jafari for 98% of their citizens. Religion determines their political views.  Their last war in the 80's almost wiped our their male population as theyi ended it fighting with their boys, as the men were wiped out.

Israel is concerned because Jordan and Iraq are buffer states between Israel and Iran.  

Many Americans got to know al-Sadr when his Mahdi Army fought pitched battles against American soldiers after the 2003 invasion of Iraq that deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. Now, he has positioned himself as a nationalist leader in opposition to militias closely aligned with neighboring Iran.  

On Monday, al-Sadr, whose party won the most seats in parliamentary elections but not enough to form a government, announced he would resign from front-line Iraqi politics after months of political wrangling.  This caused his supporters to become hysterical and attacked  the Bagdad government palace.  Sound familiar to the US January 6th Washington DC attack?  They even clashed with the Iraqi security forces. To them, al-Sadr will revolutionize a political system they believe has forgotten about them.

Back in July, his supporters broke into the Parliament in an attempt to deter these rivals from forming a coalition. Though oil rich, Iraq’s has struggled since the U.S. invasion and the ensuing chaos and civil war. The country’s hollowed-out economy is plagued by 14% unemployment and a creaking infrastructure that often does not deliver the most basic services.  (November will see Israel on the 5th vote for a new government and most likely Netanyahu is Likud's man.  I hope it doesn't come to this, as many hate him and many love him.)  

To Americans, however, he is better known as one of the leading opponents of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq after the invasion in 2003, inciting protests for the troops to leave. His Mahdi Army — later renamed the Peace Brigades — clashed with coalition troops during the chaotic and violent post-invasion years.  

Iran has much at stake, relying on Iraq as a buffer and commercial gateway to the Arab world. Tehran is beset by international sanctions, pressure to revive a nuclear agreement with the United States, and a realignment of Middle Eastern alliances. Without Iraq in its sphere of influence, Tehran could lose yet more power in a region where some of its Islamic neighbors, including the UAE, in recent years have established closer ties with the United States and Israel, its traditional foes.                                     

Muqtada al-Sadr gained popularity in Iraq following the toppling of the Saddam government by the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Sadr has on occasion stated that he wishes to create an "Islamic democracy".

 Prior to his arrival in Najaf, he had been instrumental in the formation of the 2011 Iraqi government and six years later condemned the Trump administration's open support of Israeli claims about Jerusalem and advocated the closure of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad due to American announcements related to their forthcoming embassy move in Israel which he saw as a 'declaration of war on Islam.'

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqtada_al-Sadr

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iraq-muqtada-al-sadr-violence-iran-backed-militias-rcna45593

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadrist_Movement#:~:text=The%20Sadrist%20Movement%20(Arabic%3A%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1,a%20poor%20in%20the%20country.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/iraq-iran-shiites/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62719497