Iran Warns Sadr of Divisions Leading to ISIS Resurgence

File photo: Supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr during Friday prayers in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad (AFP)
File photo: Supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr during Friday prayers in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad (AFP)
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Iran Warns Sadr of Divisions Leading to ISIS Resurgence

File photo: Supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr during Friday prayers in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad (AFP)
File photo: Supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr during Friday prayers in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad (AFP)

While Iraq’s Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties, holds meetings to announce a new political initiative, Iran’s Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani warned head of the Sadrist Movement Moqtada Al Sadr against the resurgence of ISIS amid Iraqi divisions.

Qaani had met with Sadr on Tuesday in the central Iraqi city of Najaf.

Multiple sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Qaani conveyed Tehran’s fears of “unacceptable consequences” in the event of the disintegration of Shiite forces, including the possibility of “a new invasion of (ISIS) according to a foreign conspiracy.”

A political source who spoke with the team accompanying Qaani said that the Iranian commander assured Sadr that Tehran did not object to the government he wanted to form.

Nevertheless, Qaani stressed that Tehran is rather interested in obtaining realistic guarantees that Iran’s national security will not be threatened.

Mediation efforts continue in Iraq, to bridge the gap between the two largest Shiite blocs that have been at daggers-end since the country's latest parliamentary elections in October.

One bloc, headed by Al Sadr, swept the polls winning 73 out of 329 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Challenging those numbers is the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties — all former allies of Al Sadr — who claim that they collectively hold the majority of 88 seats, rather than the Sadrists.

A source quoting a member of Qaani’s accompanying delegation said that “not involving the Coordination Framework does not constitute a guarantee against threats to Iran’s national security, because it means an unprecedented Shiite division.”

After meeting with Sadr, Qaani returned to Baghdad in conjunction with talks held by the Coordinating Framework to announce a new political initiative.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Wednesday reiterated his government’s rejection of some parties exploiting political divisions in Iraq to settle scores.



Gunfire Breaks up Congo Rebel Leader’s Rally in Bukavu, Residents Say 

A member of the M23 movement stands guard as people board a truck during an enrollment of civilians, police officers, and former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) who allegedly decided to join the M23 movement voluntarily in Goma on February 23, 2025. (AFP)
A member of the M23 movement stands guard as people board a truck during an enrollment of civilians, police officers, and former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) who allegedly decided to join the M23 movement voluntarily in Goma on February 23, 2025. (AFP)
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Gunfire Breaks up Congo Rebel Leader’s Rally in Bukavu, Residents Say 

A member of the M23 movement stands guard as people board a truck during an enrollment of civilians, police officers, and former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) who allegedly decided to join the M23 movement voluntarily in Goma on February 23, 2025. (AFP)
A member of the M23 movement stands guard as people board a truck during an enrollment of civilians, police officers, and former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) who allegedly decided to join the M23 movement voluntarily in Goma on February 23, 2025. (AFP)

Crowds fled as gunfire rang out at a rally held by the leader of the M23 rebel group, Corneille Nangaa, in Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern city of Bukavu on Thursday, residents said.

There was no immediate information on who was shooting, or whether there were any deaths or injuries at the event organized by the force that has battled Congo's army and seized swathes of territory in the east since the beginning of the year.

Congo, the United Nations and Western powers say neighboring Rwanda is backing the M23 group - accusations Rwanda denies. The rebel advance has stirred fears of a regional war that could draw in Congo's neighbors.

It was Nangaa's first public appearance in eastern Congo's second largest city since his forces seized control of it nearly two weeks ago.

M23 has been trying to demonstrate that it can restore order in the territory it has captured from Congo's army, and has re-opened ports and schools.

This M23 advance is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo, rooted in the spillover of Rwanda's 1994 genocide into Congo and the struggle for control of Congo's vast minerals resources.

Rwanda has said it is defending itself against the threat from a Hutu militia, which it says is fighting with the Congolese military.