STORY – Supporters of Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr took over the green zone on Monday, where clashes with the army and pro-Iran militias left more than 20 dead.
Middle East
Moqtada Sadr was able, in time, to extinguish the fire that he himself had lit, creating the conditions for the beginning of appeasement when Iraq was on the verge of civil war. Tuesday at midday, his supporters, who occupied the green zone of Baghdad, seat of the main centers of power and several Western embassies, began to leave the scene after twenty-four hours of violence between Shiite groups.
Shortly before, their leader, as powerful as he was unpredictable, had given «60 minutes» to his fighters to withdraw from the sector, failing which he threatened to “disavow”. The army, shortly after, lifted the curfew it had established Monday afternoon on the Iraqi capital, where there are more than 20 dead and 300 injured, mostly among the Sadrists.
An insurrectionary climate
“I apologize to the Iraqi people, the only ones affected by the events”said the Shiite leader during a press conference in his stronghold of Najaf, the holy Shiite city 150 kilometers away…