Sadr, Barzani Seeking Alliance to Lead New Iraq Govt

Masoud Barzani welcomes the Sadrist delegation. (Rudaw)
Masoud Barzani welcomes the Sadrist delegation. (Rudaw)
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Sadr, Barzani Seeking Alliance to Lead New Iraq Govt

Masoud Barzani welcomes the Sadrist delegation. (Rudaw)
Masoud Barzani welcomes the Sadrist delegation. (Rudaw)

Iraqi parties are scrambling to forge new alliances that may create changes in the current political arena or at least revive old partnerships as the country edges closer to holding early parliamentary elections in October.

The instability in the country may, however, force the postponement of the elections. This possibility has not impeded the parties, which are preparing themselves to both hold the elections on time or bracing for their delay to their constitutional date of May 2022.

Amid these preparations, a delegation from the Sadr movement held talks in Erbil this week with head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud Barzani and President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani. The delegation was led by Nasar al-Rubaye, head of the movement's political body.

The surprise meeting between the largest Shiite party, the Sadrist movement, and largest Kurdish party, the (KDP), may pave the way for an alliance that may upend the political scene in Iraq. Whoever joins the alliance will have the upper hand in the formation of the new government after the polls.

The Sadrists are expected to emerge as victors in the elections, and therefore hold sway over the formation of the government or appointment of a prime minister, who does not necessarily have to be a member of their movement.

Beyond the government level, a Sadrist-Kurdish alliance may hold sway over the three presidencies (president, prime minister and parliament speaker) in Iraq. According to the 2003 constitution, the president is always a Kurdish figure, the speaker is always a Sunni Arab and prime minister a Shiite.

If influential Shiite and Sunni figures join the potential Sadrist-KDP alliance, then they may control who is named to the three presidencies, regardless of their sect, confirmed observers.

To clarify, they cited Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, leader of the largest Sunni bloc in the western provinces, openly speaking of the desire of Sunni Arabs to assume the presidency. In return, the position of parliament speaker would be occupied by a Kurdish figure.

The sticking point would be persuading the two major Kurdish parties in the Kurdistan Region – the KDP in Erbil and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Sulaymaniyah – to agree to the switch before even agreeing with Baghdad on the issue.

More time, however, is needed for alliances to take shape.

Another noticeable development, was head of the Hikma movement, Ammar al-Hakim’s visit to the disputed Kirkuk province. His movement does not hold sway in the province, which is predominantly Kurdish and Turkmen with a Christian minority, but he may be attempting to garner its support during the polls.



Tribal Leader Says Evacuations from Syria’s Sweida are ‘Temporary’

Syrian Bedouin families ride in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles in Busra al-Harir, heading to Daraa after being evacuated from Sweida following more than a week of violent clashes, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Malek Khattab)
Syrian Bedouin families ride in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles in Busra al-Harir, heading to Daraa after being evacuated from Sweida following more than a week of violent clashes, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Malek Khattab)
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Tribal Leader Says Evacuations from Syria’s Sweida are ‘Temporary’

Syrian Bedouin families ride in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles in Busra al-Harir, heading to Daraa after being evacuated from Sweida following more than a week of violent clashes, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Malek Khattab)
Syrian Bedouin families ride in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles in Busra al-Harir, heading to Daraa after being evacuated from Sweida following more than a week of violent clashes, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Malek Khattab)

Hundreds of Bedouin civilians were bussed out of Syria’s mainly Druze city of Sweida on Monday under a US-backed ceasefire aimed at halting days of fighting between Bedouin tribesmen and Druze militants that witnesses said has killed scores of people.

The head of Syria’s Supreme Council of Tribes and Clans said on Monday that hundreds of the Arab families who began leaving the southern city of Sweida were undertaking a “temporary displacement” to allow the army to secure the area, rejecting accusations of a wholesale forced exodus.

Sheikh Mudar Hamad al‑Asaad told Asharq al‑Awsat daily that homes belonging to Arab Bedouin families in several Sweida neighborhoods had been burned, looted and wrecked during recent unrest.

“The streets are blocked and the houses are uninhabitable,” he said. “The departure is only until the army and internal security forces can restore order across the city and its outlying villages.”

State news agency SANA said earlier that the Interior Ministry had brokered an agreement allowing “all civilians who wish to leave Sweida because of the current conditions” to do so until their safe return can be guaranteed. Buses began moving families from Sweida at dawn on Monday.

Asaad dismissed social‑media claims that the transfers amounted to sectarian “ethnic cleansing” of Arabs from the Druze‑majority province.

“Electronic trolls are stirring up sedition,” he said. “The aim is to prolong the dispute between the government, the militias of Sheikh Hikmat al‑Hijri and the Arab tribes, and to push the region towards instability.”

He accused “remnants of the Assad regime, PKK elements, arms and narcotics traffickers – and Hijri himself – of exploiting the chaos” to carve out a Druze‑run enclave.

Asaad said most of the evacuees were women and children from farming and trading families who had fled other parts of Syria during the civil war.

The tribal leader denied the withdrawal was a capitulation. He said the clans had agreed to leave only after a presidential statement urged them to quit the flashpoint areas.

“Without that order, the tribes would be in complete control of Sweida today,” he said, adding that Druze elders and local political figures had also asked them to help stop Hijri’s “destructive project”.

Arabs have lived in Sweida “since before Islam” and make up roughly 30 percent of the province’s population, alongside Syriac Christians (just over 10 percent) and Druze who settled in the 11th century, Asaad said.

He estimated that more than 150,000 young tribesmen had mobilized during the recent flare‑up. According to Asaad, the tribes back the Syrian army’s deployment in Sweida and want all weapons – whether held by Druze, tribes or others – placed under state control.

“The clans seek to spread peace among the Syrian people, settle disputes and bury sectarian strife,” he said.

“We stand with all components of Syrian society and have no ambition to replace the state, only to defend the gains of the Syrian revolution and support national stability.”