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Sadr's rally against the US presence in Iraq .... (BBC) |
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... Was followed by a crackdown on the protest sites in Baghdad and Basra |
Moqtada al-Sadr held his anti-U.S. protest in Baghdad’s Jadriya neighborhood on January 24. People protested against western forces being in the country and demanded that they leave. Sadr didn’t attend but issued a message to the crowd. He announced plans for this march on January 14. This was a day after he met with several leaders of pro-Tehran Hashd groups in Qom, Iran where he is currently living. Several of those groups participated in the march. Later in the day, the Iraqi forces attacked the sit-in sites in Basra and Baghdad. That pointed to an agreement between Sadr and the pro-Iran camp. Sadrists have been involved in the anti-government demonstrations since they began and provided unofficial security. They new round of attacks pointed to Sadr withdrawing this support and allowing Iran’s allies to make another attempt at breaking up the activists.
This move comes as stories appeared that Iran was courting
Sadr. Al-Aalem
reported that Tehran wanted Sadr to become its point person inside Iraq to
replace Abu Muhandis, the former deputy head of the Hashd Commission who was
killed by the United States. Some agreement has apparently been made hence the
crackdown, but this may prove difficult in the long term. First, Sadr has deep
rivalries with some in the Iranian camp like Asaib Ahl Al-Haq’s Qais Khazali
that used to be a top deputy. He’s also living in Qom reportedly because he
fears assassinations from some of the groups that he is now aligning with. Second,
Sadr has been known to often switch his positions as shown by his backing the
anti-government activists, and then turning on them. He has a history of
working with Iran, and then turning away from it.
However that may work out the real loser in this scenario is
the protests who demanded an end to all foreign influence in the country, and
are now suffering another attempt at stamping out their movement.
SOURCES
Al-Aalem, “A coup in
Iran’s policy towards Iraq: Sadr is a last resort to confront the United
States,” 1/20/20
Bas News, “Iraq’s
Sadr Calls for One Million Persons March against US Troops Presence,” 1/14/20
Hamzoz, “Basra
Protest was completely brutally suppressed by shock forces under governer orders,
Assad Aleidani Many Peaceful Protestors arrested, All tents burned,” Twitter
1/24/20
- “Live ammunition
fire by the security forces from Al-Khulani Square in an attempt to storm
Tahrir Square in #Baghdad after ending the sit-in by shooting force and burning
tents in #Basra,” Twitter, 1/24/20
Henna, Ayman,
“Iraqis mass to urge US troop ouster, youth rallies vie for spotlight,” Agence
France Presse, 1/24/20
Al Hurra, “A
definitive response from the Iraqi movement to the Millions for Sadr,” 1/15/20
Knights, Michael,
“Soleimani Is Dead: The Road Ahead for Iranian-Backed Militias in Iraq,” CTC
Sentinel, January 2020
NINA, “Factions
Leaders Hold Joint Meeting With Sadr In Iran,” 1/13/20
2 comments:
All this stuff about al Sadr ... takes me back to 2004.
Seemed to me then to be such a coward ... forever scuttling off to Iran when things got warm.
Seen nothing since to change that judgement .. what say you Motown?
Sadr has had a difficult relationship with Iran from the start. He talks about Iranian influence being bad but he lives in Qom, Iran and has taken their weapons and money. He's actually living in Iran now for 2 reasons. One is his religious studies because he is a very lowly cleric and needs to move up the ranks to make claimss to leadership and ironically because he fears assassination by other Iran-backed groups.
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