Iraqi security and military leaders told Arab News that the agencies were deeply involved in “most” of the violence and vandalism witnessed throughout the country, including the burning of the Iranian consulate in Najaf, in a bid to sway opinion against demonstrators and justify their deadly suppression of protests.
Baghdad and nine southern Shiite-dominated provinces have seen major anti-government demonstrations since the beginning of October. Around 400 protesters have been killed and more than 17,000 wounded, mostly in the capital, after Iraqi forces used live ammunition and tear gas against them.
Demonstrations began peacefully, but the burning and destruction of private and public properties in Baghdad and the provinces has increased in recent weeks. The torching of the Iranian consulate in the southern holy city of Najaf on Wednesday evening, was the last major incident to take place.
Najaf is the largest Shiite stronghold in the world, where the shrine of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and the most sacred imam for Shiites, is located.
The consulate burning was followed by a flood of statements issued by Iranian-backed armed factions carrying veiled threats to demonstrators over the safety of the supreme religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, who has lived in Najaf for decades. Some factions were believed to have sent their fighters to the city under the pretext of securing the life of Al-Sistani.
Al-Sistani is the leader of the world’s Shiites and most Iraqis, even non-Shiites, have regarded him as their spiritual father and the safety valve to prevent infighting among the Iraqi people since 2003. He is the only person whose domestic and international powers, including Iran and America, fear his reaction.
Threatening Al-Sistani’s life or harming the imam’s shrine would turn Iraqis against demonstrators and give Iraq’s government and its allies the green light to crack down on protesters without paying attention to any domestic or international pressure.
Security and military leaders told Arab News that most of the arson, vandalism and violence “was orchestrated and implemented” by a number of security agencies associated with the Iraqi Interior Ministry and the Popular Mobilization Security Directorate.
The Popular Mobilization is the umbrella government that covers armed factions including Iranian-backed ones and volunteers who have fought Daesh alongside the Iraqi government over the past years.
“The aim is to bring down the legitimacy of the demonstrations and end the (public) sympathy for the demonstrators,” a senior national security official told Arab News. “What is needed is to sustain the momentum of the demonstrations and turn them into a threat, so that all people ask for an end to them at any cost.
“Even what happened in Najaf (the burning of the Iranian consulate) was planned. All the burning and the accompanying violence were planned.”
A senior military commander involved in securing Najaf told Arab News that intelligence indicated that the burning of the consulate was “fabricated” and that “the government partners close to the neighbor (Iran) carried out the burning.”
Military commanders and observers said the selection of Najaf to be the site of the sabotage was not “arbitrary” and reflected the impatience of the armed factions linked to Iran, and their “desperate” attempts to end the demonstrations as soon as possible and pressure Al-Sistani to stop supporting the protesters.
“They (pro-Iran armed factions) have run out of patience. They are trying to provoke people against the demonstrators by proving that their (people) religious symbols in Najaf are in danger,” a security analyst said. “If they prove that Najaf is under threat, then they have a pretext to get involved directly to crackdown on the demonstrators.
“Also, erupting the fight inside Najaf would twist Sistani’s arm and force him to give up his support to the demonstrators and stop protecting them. It is a powerful Iranian message to threat Sistani by telling him that they will start killing people in his name.”
A senior federal police officer involved in securing demonstration squares in Baghdad told Arab News: “Most of the arson and vandalism ... (in Baghdad) was carried out by members of the intelligence agency of the Ministry of Interior.”
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