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كشف مصدر مطلع  ان قائد فيلق قدس الايراني قاسم سليماني اجرى اتصالات هاتفية مع زعيم التيار الصدري مقتدى الصدر وامين عام منظمة بدر هادي العامري حول التطورات الجارية في سوريا. وقال المصدر الذي لم يشأ الكشف عن اسمه لاسباب تتعلق بامنه الشخصي ان سليماني طلب من الصدر أرسال عناصر جيش المهدي الى سوريا من اجل بسط الامن هناك ومحاربة الجيش السوري الحر المعارض لحكومة الرئيس السوري بشار الاسد لان امن العراق مرتبط بالاوضاع السورية وتماسك حكومة الاسد . واضاف ان سليماني اجرى اتصالا اخر مع امين عام منظمة بدر هادي العامري وطلب منه التدخل سياسيا في شؤون سوريا ولكن الاخير رفض ذلك مؤكدا موقفه بانه ضد مايفعله الجيش السوري الحر من ما وصفها عمليات قتل واضطهاد للشعب السوري الشقيق وما تتعرض له الحكومة السورية. وكان رئيس المجلس العسكري للجيش السوري الحر العميد مصطفى الشيخ قال إن حافلات مليئةً بمئات الجنود يتبعون لميليشيات واحزابٍ عراقية تخرج يومياً من العراق الى سوريا عبر المنافذ الحدودية  الواقعة تحت سيطرة قوات الاسد وبالاخص عبر منفذ اليعربية للمشاركة في عمليات قمع المتظاهرين في المدن والقرى تحت نظر السلطات العراقية المسيطرة على طول الحدود. واتهم الشيخ السلطات الامنيةَ العراقية بتقديم التسهيلات للمرتزقة من خلال تسجيل أسمائهم بقوائمَ خارجية مستقلة حيث يُشطب على أسمائهم منها فور عودتهم . واعتبر الشيخ هذه العملية بانها اعلان حرب من قبل بغداد .

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A new slogan has appeared in the past week on walls in eastern Baghdad and some southern Iraqi towns. Scrawled in paint, it is a simple and, to many Iraqis, chilling promise: "The Mahdi Army is returning."

On the buildings that line the streets and alleyways of neighbourhoods in the Shiite strongholds of north-eastern Baghdad, similarly foreboding messages admonish men against shaving their beards and women against forsaking the abaya for western clothing. Iraq’s security forces quickly whitewash over the warnings, only for them to reappear elsewhere.

They appear to be a calling card of the Mahdi Army which, at the height of its influence in Baghdad after the US-led invasion of 2003, prohibited Iraqis from watching football on television on the ground that sport was against the teachings of Islam. It also operated death squads and fought US troops and Sunni militants with equal ferocity.

The feared Shiite militia was disbanded in 2008, but the prospect of its return has never been far from the minds of Iraqis. That possibility inched closer to reality when the Sadrist movement, which encompasses the Mahdi Army, won a prominent role in the government in last year’s elections.

It is not only graffiti that has heralded a revival of the Madhi Army. Muqtada al Sadr, the cleric who leads the Sadrist movement, has openly threatened to deploy it.

In an address read out to thousands of his loyalists in Baghdad on Saturday, Mr al Sadr said he would revoke the orders freezing Mahdi Army activity and instruct the militia to resume military resistance against US troops if they remain in Iraq after the end of this year.

Under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington, all US military personnel are due to leave by the start of 2012, but US defence chiefs have hinted that they would like a sizeable force to remain beyond that point to prevent a security vacuum.

Hazem al Araji, a Sadrist official, underlined the point, telling Saturday’s cheering crowd they were "all time bombs and the detonators in the hands of Muqtada al Sadr" unless American troops withdraw on schedule.

Abu Ali, a former Mahdi Army commander from southern Baghdad, said he and his men were now on standby.

"That speech was zero-hour for us to begin our preparations," he said. Abu Ali was released from prison about four months ago as part of a political deal with Mr al Sadr that secured a parliamentary majority for the prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, and thus a second term of office.

"We are on alert, and if, by 2012, the American forces don’t leave, we will be at war with them," he said. "For now, we are watching and getting ready so that we are prepared for the end of the year."

If the order were given to resume the war, US forces would not be the only targets. "Disloyal" Iraqis who were assisting American troops would also be singled out, Abu Ali said.

He had no doubt the militia would be back in combat within eight months. "The Americans won’t leave, they want to keep at least 10,000 soldiers here," he said. "We have sources inside the Iraqi government so we know what they are planning."

The Sadrists’ office in Baghdad declined to comment, but a government official allied to the Sadrists’ political wing said militia preparations were under way.

"In the past two weeks we’ve seen them start putting weapons arsenals up in their neighbourhoods and towns, and preparing new strongholds for operations in places like Ameen [in Baghdad] and Kut [a city in southern Iraq]," the official said. "It will not be good, it’s going to cause problems for the community if they clash with the government forces and Americans again."

The official said hardline Mahdi Army leaders, many of whom had been released from jail or returned from exile in Iran, were motivated more by vengeance than by the desire to build a modern and prosperous Iraq.

"Their real goal is to take revenge against the army that defeated them," he said. Iraqi government forces routed the Mahdi Army in 2008 in a series of military clashes in which hundreds of militias fighters were captured, killed or fled to Iran.

"Unless he is careful, Muqtada al Sadr is going to lead the country back into battle and back into more problems," he said.

An Iraqi intelligence officer stationed in Kut, the administrative capital of Wasit province, 180km south of Baghdad, said security forces had information about Mahdi Army commanders trying to reactivate cells in the city and other southern provinces.

"At the moment we have no orders to move against them. We are waiting for national intelligence plans to be drawn up," he said. "There is a possibility of the Mahdi Army being reactivated in Kut. It’s a concern."

The officer said slogans promising the militia’s return had been painted on walls in towns in Wasit province, but that it was unclear who was behind it. "It might be the Sadrists, or it might someone else trying to make the people panic," he said.

Yacoub al Yasari, an independent political analyst who monitors the Mahdi Army, said he had "no doubt" it would return.

"The equation is simple: the Americans will not leave Iraq and they will clash with the Mahdi Army again," he said. "Certainly there will be new battles next year."

When the fighting resumes in earnest, he added, there will be plenty of fresh recruits.

"There is no shortage of people who will fight for them because a lot of young, poor Iraqis are very angry and disillusioned with the government and the Americans after all the years of failure."

Source: Iraqis fear return of the Mahdi Army – The National

Political analysts agreed that the Iraqi government has to deal cautiously with the statement issued by Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr who threatened to end the freeze on his armed wing Mahdi Army if U.S. forces did not pull out of Iraq as scheduled.

A spokesman for Sadr, Salah al-Obaidi, in a statement by the Sadrist Movement leader he read out in a massive rally of Sadr supporters who gathered to demand the exit of U.S. forces from Iraq on Saturday, had said that if the U.S. troops did not depart Iraq, the Mahdi Army will return to escalate military as well as peaceful resistance.

Analyst Rebin Rassoul termed Sadr’s move as a "political outbidding" in a bid to bring Nouri al-Maliki and his government in hot water "It’s high time the status of forces agreement is implemented. The U.S. forces will go out of Iraq in accordance with the agreement, not upon a request from the Iraqi side, but rather because the U.S. administration wants that," Rassoul told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

U.S. combat troops have withdrawn from Iraq by the end of August 2009 in light of the SOFA deal signed between Baghdad and Washington in late 2008, provided that the remaining force, 50,000 troops, would pull out of Iraq at the end of this year. "This political outbidding is tickling the popular sentiments on the street, now that the 100-day deadline is beginning to expire. Perhaps Sadr, a patriotic who leads a patriotic movement that has been resisting the occupation since the beginning, is trying to win the Iraq’s street’s confidence on the long run," Rassoul added.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had set on February 28, 2011, a deadline of 100 days for ministries and service departments to offer better services for Iraqi citizens, to be followed by a comprehensive assessment of the ministries’ work. Maliki’s move followed mass demonstrations in most Iraqi cities protesting deteriorating services, corruption in government departments and unemployment.

Sadr had announced in 2007 freezing all activities of the military wing of his movement, Jaysh al-Mahdi, or the Mahdi Army, for a period of six months. He later announced in February 2008 that the freeze would be extended for six months more.

Another political analyst, Ibrahim al-Samaydaie, said the Sadrist Movement and Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr were expected to return to the political arena away from any military wings. "The threat to use violence and return to resistance are very serious. Accordingly, I call on the Sadrist Movement to reverse its position for I expect an extension of the SOFA deal between the Iraq and the U.S. side," Samaydaie said.

He pointed out that Iraq needs another agreement providing clearly for its protection as long as Iraq’s military preparedness is incomplete.

Govt. has to handle Sadr statement with kid gloves – analysts : Aswat Al Iraq

Quotes of the day:

Muqtada al-Sadr:

"In the absence of the exit of the occupiers of the country, this will mean two things, escalation of military resistance work, and the escalation of peaceful resistance

Hazem al-Arajii:

"We are all ticking time bombs".

Who’s Hazem al-Araji? Hazem al-Araji, is the Imam of the largest Shia mosque in Baghdad. He and his brother Baha al-Araji (who leads the Sadrist bloc in parliament) are both very senior Sadrist leaders. You can take it that his "ticking time bombs" remark was cleared in advance. What else can can you take for granted?

You can take for granted that when Muqtada al-Sadr says flat out that he’ll order the resumption of military operations by the Jaish al-Mahdi if the hated American invaders don’t depart on time that he means it.

You can take it that when Hazem al-Araji says that they’re all "ticking time bombs" that he knows what he’s talking about and that he means it.

You can also take it that their audience approves, I was invited to witness the demonstration in al- Mustansiriyah Square, when the part of al-Sadr’s statement in which he discussed escalating military operations was read out there was a full throated roar of approval from the crowd the same was true when al-Araji made his ticking time bombs comment.

Finally you should not take for granted that the Jaish al-Mahdi have been inactive. They haven’t, they’ve been training. Some of them have been to training courses run by Hizbollah who, I’m reliably told, were more than pleased with their pupils’ progress.

markfromireland

In a statement released by his Najaf office yesterday Muqtada al-Sadr condemned takfiri scholars for issuing fatwas authorising attacks on Christians and even on other Muslims. He held these scholars responsible for for the massacre at the Church of Our Lady of Deliverance in Baghdad and the deadly attacks that followed in the mostly Shiite areas in Baghdad.

Sadr’s statement confirmed that the Sadrists were ready to volunteer to protect the holy shrines and mosques and above all the monasteries and churches of Irak, he called on the government to "open the door" for volunteering for this purpose and to publish an inventory of weapons in the hands of government forces.