ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Monday received a number of heads of factions within the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, in the holy Iranian city of Qom.
“Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr meets with the leaders of Iraqi resistance to discuss some topics related to the presence of American occupation in Iraq,” al-Nujaba TV, a channel belonging to prominent PMF faction Harakat-Hezbollah al-Nujaba revealed on Monday.
Those who met with Sadr included PMF leadership member Abu Zaynab al-Lami, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada faction head Abo Alaa al-Walae, and Akram al-Kaabi, head of al-Nujaba.
Sadr is the head of Sayirun alliance, the winner of Iraq’s May 12, 2018 parliamentary elections. A populist, Sadr has insisted on Iraq’s independence from foreign influence despite his close personal links to Iran.
Since the US’ assassination of high-profile Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and PMF deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis on January 3 at Baghdad International Airport, Sadr has increased his support for the expulsion of US troops from Iraq.
Soon after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Sadr became the founding leader of the Mahdi Army, responsible for the death and injury of tens of US troops. He disbanded the militia and moved to Iran in 2008.
In a sharp shift from his self-fashioning as a pro-reform, civilian leader, Sadr called for the group to reassemble following the death of Soleimani.
US presence in Iraq has long been subject to opposition from Shiite political parties.
In a January 5 vote catalyzed by Soleimani’s assassination and airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, Shiite blocs in Iraqi parliament passed a non-binding resolution to ask the government to expel US troops from the country. The vote was boycotted by Kurdish and Sunni contingents.
Washington has since refused to withdraw from Iraq.
As tensions between Iran and the US cooled, Sadr called on militias to practice patience until US forces are expelled through political means.
PMF leaders continue to vow to exact revenge on US for the death of Soleimani and Mohandis.
"God willing, you will hear the response and the revenge for killing al-Haj [Qasem Soleimani] very very soon,” Nujaba leader Akram al-Kaabi told Soleimani’s daughter after visiting the family to pay condolences on Sunday.
"I promise you that Iraq will no longer be safe for the Americans at all,” Kaabi further asserted.
