Iraq’s supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani encouraged Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government on Sept. 14 to proceed with its campaign to crackdown on possession of illegal weapons by armed groups outside of state control, in a rare stance for the religious authority.
In the past, the authority would call for maintaining security in general, but this time, Sistani encouraged the government’s plan. Kadhimi now has Sistani’s support to focus on armed groups and factions claiming to work alongside the official Iraqi forces.