A close associate of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, attacked his political opponents without explicitly naming them, accusing them of establishing relations with regional countries and carrying out killings, while the Sadrists’ Friday prayer sermon expressed his rejection of dialogue with those forces.
Al-Sadr’s minister said in a Facebook post that his opponents are “closer to eastern or western foreign agendas”, accusing them of going to Saudi Arabia and establishing a friendship with Qatar and “followers of those sitting with the Emiratis” after they were accusing Al-Sadr of these accusations.
Al-Sadr’s minister added that these people “have no policy other than killing and ruling,” threatening them that he still possesses the “red card” in order to remove them from his path.
In the Friday sermon called for by the Sadrist movement and held in the Green Zone in Baghdad, the preacher Muhannad al-Moussawi, who is close to al-Sadr, expressed his rejection of dialogue. He said, “The political dialogues you hold for your political and partisan interests are not in the interest of the country and the people.”
He added, “These dialogues are of no value to us, and we do not give them any weight.”
This comes after thousands of supporters of the Sadrist movement performed Friday prayers in the vicinity of the Iraqi parliament inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, while they have continued their sit-in for three weeks to put pressure on their political opponents, on the impact of a stifling political crisis.
The level of escalation between the Sadrist movement and the coordination framework has risen since late July, with the two sides exchanging pressure in the street and in statements, without things developing into violence.
The Sadrist movement demands the dissolution of Parliament and the holding of early legislative elections, while the coordination framework wants to hold these elections, but with conditions, calling for the formation of a government before holding early elections. Since August 12, supporters of the coordination framework have also held a sit-in on a road leading to the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.
On Wednesday, the leaders of the Iraqi political blocs held a meeting at the government palace in which they called on the Sadrist movement, which was absent from the meeting, to “engage in the national dialogue.”
Al-Sadr had confirmed his rejection of the dialogue’s outcomes, according to a statement issued by someone close to him on Thursday, in which he considered that “the dialogue session resulted in only some points that do not make people fat or sing from hunger,” vowing to continue the “revolution.”
Leaders in the coordination framework, especially former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and head of the Al-Fateh bloc Hadi al-Amiri, participated in this dialogue, which was attended by the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, and the United Nations envoy, Jenin Plasschaert.
Less than 24 hours after the meeting, the leader of the Wisdom Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, one of the leaders of the coordination framework, visited Saudi Arabia, during which he met Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.