A spokesperson for radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on Wednesday on Muslims worldwide to intervene urgently to save the holy Iraqi city of Najaf and warned United States soldiers against entering the sacred Imam Ali Shrine, Al-Arabiya television reported.
”All Muslims in the world should intervene urgently now” to save Najaf, Abdel Hadi al-Darraji, the imam of a mosque in Baghdad’s Sadr City, told the Dubai-based channel.
The call came as Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, returned to Iraq from London after undergoing medical treatment, having earlier called on Iraqis to be ready to march on Najaf to save the city.
”Ayatollah Sistani is going … to the homeland to save Najaf,” his spokesperson Hamad al-Khaffaf told Al-Arabiya.
”We call on all Iraqis … to prepare to march on Najaf” to save the city, he added.
The city, one of the holiest in Shi’ite Islam, is the site of fierce fighting between militiamen loyal to al-Sadr and US-led forces.
”If American [forces] enter the mausoleum of the prince of believers [Imam Ali], any building of Islam, any mosque will be violated by these iniquitous forces,” said Darraji. — Sapa-AFP