Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Iraqi Sadrist movement, decided last Wednesday to freeze the work of Saraya al-Salam in the province of Basra for two years, in addition to “expel” its official in the province. It should be noted that the Saraya al-Salam , the military arm of the Sadrist movement, has played a role in the war against the terrorist organization ISIS , during the past years, it was under the authority of popular mobilization, and had a role in the operations against US forces while they were in Iraq after Years of invasion. Sadr’s office said in a statement that “according to the guidance of the leader of the Sadrist movement , Moqtada al-Sadr , it was decided to freeze the work of the Saraya al-Salam in Basra for two years,” noting that “it was also decided to expel the man in charge of the Saraya al-Salam in Basra, Samir Mohammed Luaibi.” The office added that “the directives also included the freezing of the work of the man who is in charge of Saraya al-Salam in southern Iraq, Haidar Mustafa (Abu Ayat) for two years,” noting that “a Sadrist delegation will be sent to Basra to support the security services and non-interference in its professional and functional affairs.” The office added that “it is strictly forbidden for Saraya al-Salam to interfere in any action other than jihadist action,” pointing out that “whoever intervenes will expose himself to punishment,” stressing that “the need to limit cooperation with political and security bodies in the province to the politicians and some representatives of Sadr in particular.”
The reason for the freezing of the work of Saraya al-Salam in the province of Basra is that Samir Mohammed Luaibi commander of the Basra division of Saraya al-Salam, and Haidar Mustafa Mansouri Abu Ayat, commander of Saraya al-Salam of the southern region have summoned Major General Jassem al-Saadi, the Basra police chief to the headquarters of the division to find out the reasons that pushed him to the transfer of many officers, and his dialogue in cases not related to the nature of their work as their dialogue with the police chief was conducted in an ascetic way.
In view of the importance of this meeting, after several days, Mr. Mohammed Taher al-Tamimi, the first deputy of the governor of Basra, one of the political leaders of Saraya al-Salam and Mr. Udi Abu Muhammad al-Hamdani, the former commander of the division of the former commander of the division of Saraya al-Salam have met with chief of Basra police, to inquire about the reason for the visit to the headquarters of Saraya al-Salam , he does no hesitate to inform them about the reason for the visit, and the bad way he was treated by Samir Mohammed Laibi and Haidar Mustafa.
Because of an internal disagreement between the leaders of the Saraya al-Salam, Mohammed Tahir al-Tamimi and Uday al-Hamdani arranged a meeting for the Basra police chief with Mr. Moqtada al-Sadr to explain the abuse and interference in the security affairs of the province of Basra by Samir Mohammed Luaibi and Haidar Mustafa, and following the excesses done by them, Moqtada al-Sadr issued this statement against them.:
Iraqi Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies