How a 92-year-old cleric silently halted Iraq’s slide back into war

By John Davison, Parisa Hafezi and Laila Bassam

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – When a pronouncement by a spiritual scholar in Iran drove Iraq to the brink of civil struggle final week, there was just one man who may cease it: a 92-year-old Iraqi Shi’ite cleric who proved as soon as once more he’s essentially the most highly effective man in his nation.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani mentioned nothing in public concerning the unrest that erupted on Iraq’s streets. However authorities officers and Shi’ite insiders say it was solely Sistani’s stance behind the scenes that halted a meltdown.

The story of Iraq’s bloodiest week in almost three years exhibits the bounds of conventional politics in a rustic the place the facility to begin and cease wars rests with clerics – many with ambiguous ties to Iran, the Shi’ite theocracy subsequent door.

The Iraqis who took to the streets blamed Tehran for whipping up the violence, which started after a cleric based mostly in Iran denounced Iraq’s hottest politician, Moqtada al-Sadr, and instructed his personal followers – together with Sadr himself – to hunt steerage from Iran’s Supreme Chief.

Sadr’s followers tried to storm authorities buildings. By dusk they have been driving via Baghdad in pickup vans brandishing machineguns and bazookas.

Armed males believed to be members of pro-Iranian militia opened fireplace on Sadrist demonstrators who threw stones. No less than 30 folks have been killed.

After which, inside 24 hours, it was over as abruptly because it began. Sadr returned to the airwaves and referred to as for calm. His armed supporters and unarmed followers started leaving the streets, the military lifted an in a single day curfew and a fragile calm descended upon the capital.

To grasp each how the unrest broke out and the way it was quelled, Reuters spoke with almost 20 officers from the Iraqi authorities, Sadr’s motion and rival Shi’ite factions seen as pro-Iranian. Most spoke on situation of anonymity.

These interviews all pointed to a decisive intervention behind the scenes by Sistani, who has by no means held formal political workplace in Iraq however presides as essentially the most influential scholar in its Shi’ite spiritual centre, Najaf.

In response to the officers, Sistani’s workplace ensured Sadr understood that until Sadr referred to as off the violence by his followers, Sistani would denounce the unrest.

“Sistani despatched a message to Sadr, that if he is not going to cease the violence then Sistani can be compelled to launch an announcement calling for a stopping of combating – this could have made Sadr look weak, and as if he’d triggered bloodshed in Iraq,” mentioned an Iraqi authorities official.

Three Shi’ite figures based mostly in Najaf and near Sistani wouldn’t verify that Sistani’s workplace despatched an specific message to Sadr. However they mentioned it might have been clear to Sadr that Sistani would quickly communicate out until Sadr referred to as off the unrest.

An Iran-aligned official within the area mentioned that if it weren’t for Sistani’s workplace, “Moqtada al-Sadr wouldn’t have held his press convention” that halted the combating.

‘BETRAYAL’

Sistani’s intervention could have averted wider bloodshed for now. Nevertheless it doesn’t resolve the issue of sustaining calm in a rustic the place a lot energy resides outdoors the political system within the Shi’ite clergy, together with amongst clerics with intimate ties to Iran.

Sistani, who has intervened decisively at essential moments in Iraq’s historical past for the reason that U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, has no apparent successor. Regardless of his age, little is thought publicly concerning the state of his well being.

In the meantime, most of the most influential Shi’ite figures – together with Sadr himself at numerous factors in his profession – have studied, lived and labored in Iran, a theocracy which makes no try and separate clerical affect from state energy.

Final week’s violence started after Ayatollah Kadhim al-Haeri, a prime rating Iraqi-born Shi’ite cleric who has lived in Iran for many years, introduced he was retiring from public life and shutting down his workplace as a result of superior age. Such a transfer is virtually unknown within the 1,300-year historical past of Shi’ite Islam, the place prime clerics are usually revered till loss of life.

Haeri had been anointed as Sadr’s motion’s non secular advisor by Sadr’s father, himself a revered cleric who was assassinated by Saddam’s regime in 1999. In saying his personal resignation, Haeri denounced Sadr for inflicting rifts amongst Shi’ites, and referred to as on his personal followers to hunt future steerage on spiritual issues from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – the cleric who additionally occurs to rule the Iranian state.

Sadr made clear in public that he blamed outsiders – implicitly Tehran – for Haeri’s intervention: “I do not consider he did this of his personal volition,” Sadr tweeted.

A senior Baghdad-based member of Sadr’s motion mentioned Sadr was livid. “Haeri was Sadr’s non secular information. Sadr noticed it as a betrayal that aimed to rob him of his spiritual legitimacy as a Shi’ite chief, at a time when he is combating Iran-backed teams for energy.”

Sadrist officers in Najaf mentioned the transfer meant Sadr must select between obeying his non secular information Haeri and following Khamenei, or rejecting him and probably upsetting older figures in his motion who have been near Sadr’s father.

As an alternative, Sadr introduced his personal withdrawal from politics altogether, a transfer that spurred his followers onto the road.

The Iranian authorities and Sadr’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to request for remark for this story. Haeri’s workplace couldn’t instantly be reached.

Specialists in Shi’ite Islam say Haeri’s transfer to close his personal workplace and direct his followers to again the Iranian chief will surely have appeared suspicious in an Iraqi context, the place ideas of Iranian meddling are explosive.

“There’s robust motive to consider this was influenced by Iranian stress – however let’s not neglect that Haeri has additionally had disagreements with Sadr previously,” mentioned Marsin Alshammary, a analysis fellow on the Harvard Kennedy College.

“He directs followers to Khamenei when there is no (spiritual) want to take action. And it appears unlikely an individual in his place would shut down his workplaces that are in all probability fairly profitable,” she mentioned.

VIOLENCE IS ONE OF THE TOOLS

As gun battles raged in central Baghdad, Sadr stayed silent for almost 24 hours.

Throughout that point, Shi’ite spiritual figures throughout Iraq tried to persuade Sadr to cease the violence. They have been joined by Shi’ite figures in Iran and Lebanon, in keeping with officers in these international locations, who mentioned stress on Sadr was channelled via Sistani’s workplace in Najaf.

“The Iranians should not intervening immediately. They’re stung by the backlash towards their affect in Iraq and try to affect occasions from a distance,” an Iraqi authorities official mentioned.

Baghdad was calm on Friday, however the impasse stays.

Sadr insists on new elections, whereas some Iran-backed teams wish to press forward to kind a authorities. Clashes broke out late within the week in oil-rich southern Iraq.

The federal government has been largely silent. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi mentioned on Tuesday he would step down if violence continued, in an announcement made hours after combating had already stopped.

“The place is the prime minister, the commander-in-chief, in all of this?” mentioned Renad Mansour of the London-based Chatham Home suppose tank. Extra violence was attainable, Mansour mentioned.

“Sadr’s essential focus is to change into the primary Shi’ite actor in Iraq, and so he desires to go after his Shi’ite opponents. In Iraq, violence is among the instruments used to compete.”

(Reporting by John Davison in Baghdad, Parisa Hafezi in Dubai, Laila Bassam in Beirut; Further reporting by Timour Azhari in Beirut, Baghdad Newsroom; Modifying by Peter Graff)