ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi intelligence officials say they have foiled an attempt by ISIS to attack the home of Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Two officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they foiled an attempt by ISIS to carry out a series of suicide attacks in Karbala and Najaf where the home of Sistani is located, as well as shrines which are revered by the Shiite community, The Associated Press reported on Sunday. Sistani has been a leader of Shiite opposition to ISIS in Iraq. In June 2014, he called upon all able-bodied men within Iraq’s Shiite population to take up arms against ISIS militants and to defend Baghdad and other Shiite cities after the extremist group captured Mosul. Sistani, Iraq’s supreme Shiite authority 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. ISIS militants have a history of destroying shrines and mosques which belong to the Shiite community in Iraq. An ISIS militant attack on a Shiite shrine in the town of Balad north of the capital last year killed 35 and wounded many others.
