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Moqtada Sadr, one the most influential Shi’ite clerics in Iraq, on Friday claimed that extremists were poised to attack Iraqi capital Baghdad and promised to send his men to fight for the capital.
“There are terrorist groups that have completed their preparations for a breakthrough into Baghdad.We are ready to defend the city, we are ready to supply forces and coordinate with the authorities to face any scenario”, he said in a statement. He also announced the creation of a new group, the Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades) after the extremist offensive which had begun in June.
The group had included former fighters from the now dissolved Mahdi Army, which he had created in 2003 to fight US soldiers.
US fighter jets on Friday flew to Iraq after President Barack Obama had earlier ordered food and water drops to civilians stranded and displaced by extremist attacks. He added that he had authorized air strikes on IS positions so that US assets in Kurdistan could be safe after Sunni extremists got closer to the autonomous region of Kurdistan.
Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, Iraqi army chief of staff, said that he had thought US aircraft will also extend their campaign to other towns being controlled by the IS; however, he did not say which towns he’d act against.
IS has been in control of several parts of Syria for a while now. While it has had bases in Iraq, IS launched its offensive on June 9th to conquer a lot of Iraq’s Sunni heartland after which it proclaimed the formation of a “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria.
The extremist offensive stopped only a few dozen kilometers from Baghdad; most analysts agree that the Baghdad was safe for now as the IS does not have enough militants to seize the capital. The main flashpoints in Iraq are Jurf al-Sakhr to the south of Baghdad and Fallujah to the west of Baghdad.