Iraq’s Muqtada al-Sadr is poised to engage in a complex “balancing” act
between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Shiite cleric and former militia
leader is regarded as an Iraqi
nationalist who wants to prioritize his country’s interests above those
of its neighbors and the US, to which end he’s trying to carve out a
strategic niche between the first-mentioned two as a “buffer zone” in
their region-wide proxy war. [ 571 more words ]
https://orientalreview.org/…/al-sadrs-balancing-act-might-…/
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (right) and Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr hold a press conference in Baghdad on May 20, 2018. Sadr’s
coalition won the largest number of seats in Iraq’s parliamentary
elections.
