Al-Sadr closes Saraya al-Salam headquarters in all but four governorates, "Goodwill initiative" and "lesson in politics" he says

Shafaq News/ The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, has announced closing headquarters of Saraya al-Salam (the Peace companies), an armed faction affiliated with the movement, in all, but four, Iraqi governorates.

In a statement released earlier today, al-Sadr said that the headquarters of Saraya al-Salam in all the governorates will be shut down except Karbala, Najaf, Saladin (Samarra), and Baghdad.

"It is banned to carry a weapon or open a headquarters outside those governorates, even in the sacred governorates (Najaf and Karbala), without coordinating with the security forces."

The populist Shiite cleric deemed this step a "goodwill initiative", a "lesson in politics on the one hand and the state administration on the other, and a response to the rumors that stipulate I run the country and lead the people with a militia."

The Peace Companies are an Iraqi armed group linked to the Sadrist movement. It is a 2014 revival of the Mahdi Army that was created by the Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008.