Sadr’s Supporters Throng Baghdad Streets in Show of Strength

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr perform a collective Friday prayer in Sadr City, east of Baghdad on July 15, 2022. (AFP)
Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr perform a collective Friday prayer in Sadr City, east of Baghdad on July 15, 2022. (AFP)
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Sadr’s Supporters Throng Baghdad Streets in Show of Strength

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr perform a collective Friday prayer in Sadr City, east of Baghdad on July 15, 2022. (AFP)
Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr perform a collective Friday prayer in Sadr City, east of Baghdad on July 15, 2022. (AFP)

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's followers thronged the streets of Baghdad on Friday, answering the populist leader's call to a mass prayer in a show of strength to his political rivals.

Sadr, a Shiite whose party came first in a general election in October, has vowed to disband Iraqi militia groups loyal to Iran and to hold corrupt Iraqi politicians to account.

But the mercurial leader ordered all 74 of his lawmakers - around a quarter of the parliament - to resign last month after his attempts failed to form a government free of Iran-backed parties that have dominated many state institutions for years.

Divisions between Sadr and the Iran-aligned groups as well as Kurds vying for the post of Iraqi president have already forced the country into its second-longest period without an elected government. The country is currently being run by the outgoing government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Iraqi officials, especially those close to Iran, fear Sadr will now use his large popular following of mainly working-class Shiites to disrupt attempts to form a government, or to threaten to bring down future leaders with protests.

"We could be millions strong today," said Riyadh Husseini, 42, a manual laborer from the southern town of Hilla who travelled to Baghdad and slept on the street overnight in front of the podium where he hoped Sadr would appear.

"If Sadr calls for the removal of the corrupt parties in power, they'll be gone within the hour," Husseini said.

Loyalists from across southern and central Iraq attended the Friday prayer in stifling summer heat in Sadr City, the vast Baghdad district where millions of Sadr's followers live.

Sadr did not attend the prayer, despite rumors he would deliver a fiery address.

Instead, a representative reiterated Sadr's calls for the next government to disband militia groups loyal to Iran and punish corrupt politicians for squandering Iraq's vast oil wealth, which Iraqi officials and independent analysts view as directed at his arch rival former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"It's not possible to form a strong Iraqi government with unlawful militias. You must dissolve those all those factions," the representative, Mahmoud al-Jayashi, said, adding, "the first step to repentance is to punish the corrupt without delay".

The task of forming a government now falls to Sadr's Iran-aligned rivals and the country's Sunni and Kurdish parties.

One foot in power

Before withdrawing his lawmakers, Sadr had pushed for a coalition with Sunni and Kurdish allies to form what he called a national majority government - a euphemism for a government free of Iran-backed parties.

Many Iraqis blame those groups for mismanaging the country since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Sadr distances himself from day-to-day politics and does not run for office, but has always kept one foot in power.

His politicians still control hundreds of powerful jobs across the government, including ministerial and civil servant posts.

On Friday, some of those who spent hours in the heat to see Sadr were disappointed he did not show up - several young men privately complained, but declined to give their names.

Others said they had faith that Sadr has a strategy.

"Sadr was here watching us. Loyalty is about answering his call," said Safaa al-Baghdadi, a 42-year-old religious instructor who works in the southern city of Najaf.

"His message to the political establishment is to disband the militias who killed Iraqis," he said, referring to mass anti-government, anti-corruption protests in 2019 when police and militias shot hundreds of peaceful demonstrators.

"He's also telling Iraqis - if you rise up, I'll support you. We'll do whatever he says."



Hamas Names Four Israeli Female Soldier Hostages to Be Freed in Second Swap

 Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
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Hamas Names Four Israeli Female Soldier Hostages to Be Freed in Second Swap

 Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)

Palestinian group Hamas announced the names on Friday of four Israeli women soldier hostages to be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in the second swap under the ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag would be released on Saturday, the group said.

The exchange, expected to begin on Saturday afternoon, follows the release on the ceasefire's first day last Sunday of three Israeli women and 90 Palestinian prisoners, the first such exchange for more than a year.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed that the list had been received from the mediators. Israel's response would be presented later, it said in a statement.

Israeli media reported that the list of hostages slated for release was not in line with the original agreement, but it was not immediately clear whether this would have any impact on the planned exchange.

In the six-week first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has agreed to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier released, officials have said. That suggests that 200 Palestinian prisoners would be released in return for the four.

The Hamas prisoners media office said it expected to get the names of 200 Palestinians to be freed on Saturday in the coming hours. It said the list was expected to include 120 prisoners serving life sentences and 80 prisoners with other lengthy sentences.

Since the release of the first three women on Sunday and the recovery of the body of an Israeli soldier missing for a decade, Israel says 94 Israelis and foreigners remain held in Gaza.

The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in Nov. 2023.

In the first phase, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

In a subsequent phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which lies largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and Israeli bombardment.

Israel launched the war following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, when fighters killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities there.

The release of the first three hostages last week brought an emotional response from Israelis. But the phased release has drawn protests from some Israelis who fear the deal will break down after women, children, elderly and ill hostages are freed in the first phase, condemning male hostages of military age whose fate is not to be resolved until later.

Others, including some in the government, feel the deal hands a victory to Hamas, which has reasserted its presence in Gaza despite vows of Israeli leaders to destroy it. Hardliners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have demanded that Israel resume fighting at the end of the first phase.

Most of Hamas' top leadership and thousands of its fighters have been killed but the group's police have returned to the streets since the ceasefire.