Why did Sadr meet with Assad?
It’s no surprise that Moqtada Sadr (click here for a profile) is still active in Shia politics even though we’ve not seen him for a long time. Some have wondered if he has been hiding out in the holy city of Qom in Iran since the 2007 ceasefire in Iraq; but his absence from view should never have been interpreted as a resignation from political influence. Now he has shown himself again. But why was his first public appearance with Syrian President Bashar Assad?
The only part of the conversation they have made public is the discussion they had over Iraq’s future. Fair enough. With the US reducing its commitments there, Sadr would want to be involved in shaping the new Iraq. But why Assad, and what about Sadr’s connections with the hardliners in Tehran?
Could they have also discussed the situation in Iran? Assad has supported Hezbollah who has also been financed and supported by the Iranian leadership. And Sadr has reportedly been camping in Qom, but even if he hasn’t, he has for years had close ties with Tehran. Was Sadr an ambassador to Assad for the radical clerics of Iran? What message would he have brought?
Was Sadr’s meeting with Assad publicly to indicate where the future of Iraq may be headed? Assad most certainly shares Sadr’s view that US-occupation has been an imperialist wolf in the sheep’s clothing of ‘freedom-fighting’. And I don’t disagree completely (see my nuanced discussion here). But does Sadr see an opportunity to make in Iraq what is falling apart in Iran?
I have no answers at the moment. But I’m thinking out loud with you. Let me know what you think.
