Unidentified groups on Tuesday fired rockets at the presidential palace complex in Basra, which houses a number of Iraqi security forces including the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), leading to heavy clashes between the armed groups.
Salih Mohammed al-Iraqi, a close associate of Sadr, said in a statement on behalf of the Shiite leader that they were freezing all armed factions, including the Saraya al-Salam, and banning the use of weapons in all Iraqi provinces except for Salahaddin to “avoid sedition” in Basra, adding “otherwise, we will take other measures later.”
Iraqi also called on the commander-in-chief of the armed forces Kadhimi to control the “disrespectful” militias of Qais al-Khazali, secretary-general of AAH, as they “know nothing but terror and money and power.”
Khazali responded to Iraqi’s statement hours later, saying that he was renewing calls for “restricting of arms into the hands of the state,” calling on security services to take “deterrent and decisive measures” otherwise.
AAH is part of the PMF, an umbrella group of Shiite paramilitary forces that was formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) under a fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. A number of forces within the umbrella group are backed by Iran.
Saraya al-Salam was founded by Sadr himself in 2014 and considered as a revived version of Sadr’s Mahdi army, militants who fought the Americans following their invasion in 2003.
At least one was killed and another injured when clashes broke out between the AAH and Saraya al-Salam early Sepetmber in Basra, reportedly in response to the killing of a member of the Sadrist militia outside the offices of AAH.
