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New Maliki Recording Reveals Coordination with Militia to Confront Sadrists

Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr speaks after preliminary results of Iraq's parliamentary election were announced in Najaf, Iraq October 11, 2021. (Reuters)
Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr speaks after preliminary results of Iraq's parliamentary election were announced in Najaf, Iraq October 11, 2021. (Reuters)
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New Maliki Recording Reveals Coordination with Militia to Confront Sadrists

Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr speaks after preliminary results of Iraq's parliamentary election were announced in Najaf, Iraq October 11, 2021. (Reuters)
Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr speaks after preliminary results of Iraq's parliamentary election were announced in Najaf, Iraq October 11, 2021. (Reuters)

A new damning voice recording of Iraqi former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been released.

The fifth recording of what is now known in Iraq as the "Maliki WikiLeaks" revealed that the former PM was discussing partnering up with an armed Shiite faction to wage a confrontation with the Sadrist movement, led by influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The new recording will only deepen the dispute between the rivals. Other leaks have Maliki severely criticizing Sadr, which prompted the cleric to demand that he turn himself over to the judiciary and quit political life.

In the latest recording, Maliki is heard having discussions with representatives of a largely unknown Shiite faction, the "Ummet al-Akhyar", whose religious reference is known as "Ayatollah al-Mirza".

One of the members of the group, “Abu Hassan”, was heard offering allegiance to Maliki to “shed blood”.

The hours-long conversation between the group and Maliki revealed that the faction enjoys support among Shiites in central and southern Iraq.

Maliki is also heard speaking of his “good” relationship with Qais Khazali, leader of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq militia, which is designated as terrorist by the United States.

He also said that the leaders of the Fatah Alliance, led by Hadi al-Ameri, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and Badr Organization are directly affiliated to Iran and “care about nothing but farms and money. They are in a different world.”

Maliki also called on armed factions to adhere to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and steer away from the orders of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry

On the ground, tensions have mounted between Sadr and Maliki supporters, especially after the cleric revealed that he had received death threats.

Maliki’s Dawa Party issued a statement on Tuesday calling for “putting out the strife” and accusing “internal and foreign secret agencies” of seeking to fuel strife and inter-Shiite fighting.

He insisted that the recordings were fabricated and fake.

Local media reported that the residence of Mahmoud al-Salami, an MP from Maliki’s coalition, was attacked by gunmen.

The attack on his home in the Dhi Qar province led to material damage, said a security source.

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Arab World

Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Members of Gaza's tiny Christian community said they were "heartbroken" on Monday at the death of Pope Francis, who campaigned for peace for the devastated enclave and spoke to them on the phone every evening throughout the war.

Across the wider Middle East, Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, praised Francis' constant engagement with them as a source of solace at a time when their communities faced wars, disasters, hardship and persecution.

"We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to keep patient and stay strong. We lost a man who fought every day in every direction to protect this small herd of his," George Antone, 44, head of the emergency committee at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, told Reuters.

Francis called the church hours after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Antone said, the start of what the Vatican News Service would describe as a nightly routine throughout the war. He would make sure to speak not only to the priest but to everyone else in the room, Antone said.

"We are heartbroken because of the death of Pope Francis, but we know that he is leaving behind a church that cares for us and that knows us by name - every single one of us," Antone said, referring to the Christians of Gaza who number in the hundreds.

"He used to tell each one: I am with you, don't be afraid."

Francis phoned a final time on Saturday night, the pastor of the Holy Family parish, Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, told the Vatican News Service.

"He said he was praying for us, he blessed us, and he thanked us for our prayers," Romanelli said.

The next day, in his last public statement on Easter, Francis appealed for peace in Gaza, telling the warring parties to "call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace".

'PEACE IN THIS LAND'

At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, on the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, the superior of the Latin community, Father Stephane Milovitch, said Francis had stood for peace.

"We wish that peace will finally come very soon in this land and we wish the next pope will be able to help to have peace in Jerusalem and in all the world," he said.

In Lebanon, where a war between Israel and Hezbollah caused widespread casualties and extensive damage last year, sending millions from their homes, members of the Catholic Maronite community spoke of Francis' frequent mentions of their plight.

"He's a saint for us because he carried Lebanon and the Middle East in his heart, especially in the last period of war," said a priest in the southern Lebanese town of Rmeish, which was badly damaged during Israel's military campaign last year.

"We always felt he was very involved and he mobilized all the Catholic institutions and funds to help Lebanon throughout the crises that we went through," said Marie-Jo Dib, who works at a social foundation in Lebanon.

"He was a rebel and I really pray that the next pope will be like him," she added.

Francis made repeated trips to the Middle East, including to Iraq in 2021 where he learned that two suicide bombers had attempted to assassinate him in Mosul, a once cosmopolitan city where the ISIS terror group proclaimed a so-called caliphate from 2014-17.

He visited the ruins of four destroyed churches there and launched an appeal for peace.

In Syria, Archbishop Antiba Nicolas said he was holding mass at the historic Damascus Zaitoun church when he was handed a slip of paper with the news.

"He used to say 'dearest Syria' every time he spoke of Syria. He called on all international organisations to support Syria, the Christian presence and the church in Syria during the crisis in the past years," Nicolas said.