Iraq’s Sadr tells his militia to ready for anti-ISIS operation

Rasa - Iraq’s powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has put his militia on alert to battle militants belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for the holy city of Samarra.

News ID: 1814

Date: 13 December 2014 - 18:48

RNA - “Given the exceptional conditions and imminent danger to the sacred city of Samarra from the legions of terrorists, our leader (Muqtada) al-Sadr has ordered the Peace Brigades to prepare within 24 hours for jihad,” Sumaria news agency reported a top brigade leader stating.

Earlier in the year, Sadr called on his followers to form a new militia of "Peace Brigades" to protect Iraq's shrines and holy sites as the ISIL pushed forward in Northern and Central parts of the country.

The predominantly Sunni city of Samarra, some 120 km North of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, is home to the Shiite shrine of Imam Ali al-Hadi. The shrine contains the tombs of Ali al-Hadi and his son Hassan al-Askari, the 10th and 11th of the Shiites' 12 most revered Imams. Shiite pilgrims visit the shrine from all over the world.

In February 2006 extrimist militants blew up a shrine of Imam Hassan Askari (A.S) the 11th shia Imam also called the Golden Mosque.

Sadr's statement came amid intelligence reports that the ISIL group was preparing for major attacks on several cities and towns in Salahuddin province, including the sensitive religious city of Samarra, which remains under government control.

Large parts of the province have been under the ISIL control since June 11, a day after bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the group which took control of the country's Northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.

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