Prominent Iraqi cleric: US-Saudi strikes open new chapter in confrontation
Shafaq News- Najaf
The joint US-Saudi strikes on Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) sites mark a “new chapter in the confrontation,” senior Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq leader Sadr Al-Din Al-Qubbanji said on Friday, questioning whether the country was facing “a new alliance.”
Al-Qubbanji, who is also Najaf’s imam, opposed disarmament while the country remains exposed to external attacks. “When the thief is in your house, handing over weapons makes no sense,” he remarked during a religious sermon, recalling the 2014 fatwa* issued by Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, after ISIS seized large parts of the country, which mobilized volunteers to fight the group and led to the formation of the PMF, a state-sanctioned umbrella of predominantly Shiite factions.
Addressing the more than 50 people killed or wounded in the US-Saudi operation, including Iranian nationals, Al-Qubbanji declared, “Once again, Iraqi and Iranian blood is mixed.”
* A fatwa is a formal religious ruling or legal opinion issued by a qualified Islamic scholar or religious authority on matters of Islamic law and practice.
Read more: Wednesday's US-Saudi attack on Iraq: What Is Known
