Antichrist Warns Obama

Shia faction leaders warn US of armed resistance

Borzou Daragahi in Cairo

A powerful political faction in Iraq opposes the Obama administration’s decision to send additional military personnel to help in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and warned it could lead to armed “resistance” by Shia militias against American presence in the country.

Supporters of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Sunday cautioned against the deployment of troops without the approval of Iraq’s parliament. The White House announced on Friday it would double the number of American boots on the ground with the deployment of 1,500 extra non-combat troops to train and advise Iraqi forces to fend off the group, known as Isis or Isil, in Baghdad, Anbar province and other hotspots.

“The option of military resistance is already there,” said Dhiaa Assadi, a Shia parliamentarian and adviser to Mr Sadr. “I am afraid [the US military personnel] are going to be considered occupiers and for occupiers to be present in any country, this will call for a military resistance.”

Mr Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia and other armed groups loyal to the 41-year-old cleric’s family of religious leaders fought against US troops from shortly after their 2003 invasion until their 2011 withdrawal. The Isis threat has revived and strengthened the Shia militias, which now play a key role in the fight against Sunni insurgents, especially inside and around the capital, Baghdad.

Mr Assadi said in addition to the Sadrists, other Shia political tendencies including cleric Ammar Hakim’s Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq were uncomfortable with the expanding US military footprint, arguing that it would not help defeat Isis. “Iraqis can face [Isis] or all other terrorists groups provided that they get the equipment and the weapons and the ammunition,” he said.

While the Sadrists have quietly accepted US air strikes targeting Isis positions in the country’s mostly Sunni north and west regions, Mr Sadr himself said he opposed a US military presence whether troops, intelligence operatives or advisers. Mr Assadi predicted that the proposed deployment would encounter obstacles in the Iraqi parliament.

On Friday, US-led forces struck a convoy of alleged senior Isis militants and the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi. On Sunday night, an Iraqi-government controlled TV station claimed that Mr Baghdadi had been wounded in a US air strike.

A US military spokesperson confirmed that three air strikes struck an armed truck and a convoy of 10 vehicles, while Iraqi officials said they believed a number of top militants were killed.