Dubai: The spiritual leader of Iraq’s Shiite majority called for a new, “effective” government on Friday, increasing pressure on the country’s prime minister as an offensive by militants rages on.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani’s comments at Friday prayers contained thinly veiled criticism that Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, in office since 2006, was to blame for the nation’s crisis over the blitz by the Al Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
“It is necessary for the winning political blocs to start a dialogue that yields an effective government that enjoys broad national support, avoids past mistakes and opens new horizons toward a better future for all Iraqis,” Al Sistani said in a message.
The newly elected parliament must meet by June 30 to elect a speaker and a new president, who in turn will ask the leader of the largest bloc to form a new government.
Al Maliki’s rivals have mounted a campaign to force him out of office, with some angling for support from Western backers and regional heavyweights. On Thursday, their effort received a massive boost from Obama, who said: “Only leaders that can govern with an inclusive agenda are going to be able to truly bring the Iraqi people together and help them through this crisis.”
Meanwhile, jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has seized at least three towns in eastern Syria as the Al Qaida offshoot pushes to expand its territorial gains near the Iraqi border.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Isil fighters had seized the towns of Muhassan, Al Buleel and Al Buamer in the Deir Al Zor near a major military base. “This advance marks an important strategic step as part of Isil’s attempt to link the areas under its control in Iraq to those under its grip in Syria.”
In New Delhi, India said it was “knocking on all doors” and not just in Iraq to free the workers abducted there, as one of them escaped from the custody of suspected Sunni insurgents.
UN aid agencies, meanwhile, said they were rushing supplies to conflict-torn Iraq to help over one million people driven from their homes by fighting.
