Al Abyad: Sadr aims to form coalition

Political expert Ahmed Al Abyad revealed that the visit conducted by Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Al Sadr comes to gain political support for achieving his objective to form a new coalition in the Shiite trend in Iraq. He added that Sadr extremely criticized the Iranian role in Iraq, saying that he refuses the Iranian role inside his country.

He added, in a statement to “Al Maghrib Today”, that Sadr adopts a national speech not sectarian one, aiming to rally all Iraqi people behind him. He added that he managed to rally hundreds of Iraqi people from different ethics and sects in the streets. He added that Shiite-Shiite conflict looms in the horizon amid the calls for Iraqi Prime Minister to dissolve Popular Mobilization Forces.

He added that threats of battalions and factions of the popular mobilization of Muqtada al-Sadr seriously; what threatens a war between Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Najib and Kharassani on the one hand, and armed battalions belonging to the Sadrist movement on the other.

He stressed that Baghdad and the southern provinces will witness a fierce war between the Shiite armed factions, and America will move the conflict to the Ahwaz area in southern Iraq; in order to stir the Arab national sense; to weaken the role of Iran in Iraq.

He said that Sadr's positions on these issues differed completely during his last visit, in which he decided to focus primarily on Iraqi issues. Sadr's spokesman Salah al-Obeidi said in a TV interview on Aug. 2, “Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr said before going: Unless they raise issues that are not related to Iraq, I will be sticking to Iraqi developments because otherwise this would be an interference in their domestic affairs.

He argued that This position is a clear divergence from the religious discourse that defines the “umma” (nation) based on religious and sectarian affiliations and does not recognize the modern concept of the nation-state, which defines the nation based on the geographical boundaries of the state regardless of the religious or ethnic affiliations of its citizens.

He stressed that Sadr wants to confirm that he is Arab, but that does not mean that he is against Iran, and this trend resonates within the ranks of Sadr's popular base. He added that this Arab identity assertion goes in line with the Saudi policy toward the non-Iranian Shiite entities in the region. He continued that Iran does not seem to have many options regarding Sadr’s approach in his bid to distance himself from Tehran by relying on his broad popular base.