ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The office of Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said Tuesday that the Shiite call for jihad against the Islamic State (ISIS) did not mean to include Iranian soldiers fighting in Iraq.
“The Grand Shiite Jurisdiction denies having welcomed the participation of some Iranian soldiers in the war against ISIS,” said Sistani’s office in a statement. “Any such news is distant from the truth.”
Sistani called on Iraq’s Shiite population in June to take up arms against ISIS militants and defend Baghdad and other Shiite cities, after the jihadists captured Mosul in the Sunni heartland.
Sistani, Iraq’s supreme Shiite authority and who has a considerable following among Shiites outside the country as well, is known for his opposition to Iran’s Shiite jurisdiction and their interference in Iraqi affairs.
Iranian commanders, among them Qassem Soleimani of the Quds Forces, have reportedly helped Iraqi Shiite militias in Diyala push back the Sunni militants from Shiite-populated towns.
