(18)Muqtada al-Sadr left Iraq, in Iran
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| Muqtada al-Sadr. |
Under pressure, the leader of the Mahdi Army fled to Iran
Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Iranian backed leader of the Jaish al-Mahdi, or Mahdi Army, left Iraq several weeks ago and is staying with 'family' inside Iran, according to an ABC News report. Military officials told ABC News Sadr is said to have left Iraq just prior to the deployment of U.S. forces, and feared being targeted by U.S. Air Force.
While the reports indicate Sadr is staying with family, a source in the U.S. intelligence community told us Sadr is under the protection of the Iranian government. "Sadr is currently being protected by Qods Force," the same Iranian special forces unit that is believed to have executed U.S. soldiers in Karbala, Iraq, and has been supplying Sunni and Shia terrorists with weapons, support and agents to killed Coalition forces. Members of Qods Force are currently in U.S. custody.
Sadr's underlings have been reported to be fleeing Iraq to Iran in January. Sadr's departure from Iraq indcates he takes the Baghdad security plan seriously, and fears for his direct safety. U.S. and Iraqi forces battled Sadr's militia numerous times during the late summer and fall of 2006. U.S. and Iraqi forces detained over 15 leaders of the Mahdi Army and killed 1, and detained over 600 fighters from December 2006 to January of 2007.
U.S. and Iraqi forces targeted Iranian agents in Baghdad in December 2006, and Irbil in January 2007, capturing Qods Force agents, along with plans and documentation on Iran's support of the Iraqi death squads, al Qaeda and Ansar al-Sunnah. An Iranian 'diplomat' was kidnapped in Baghdad in broad daylight, while two Sadr aides were murdered. The deputy minister of Health, a Sadr underling, was arrested for "links with the death squads." Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki approved the arrest.
Sadr has tested the winds in Iraq, and deemed it unsafe for him to stay.
