After influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said he would leave politics, his supporters stormed the government palace in Baghdad and fought with competing groups, resulting in over twenty deaths on Monday.
The heaviest combat the Iraqi capital has seen in years broke out as darkness fell, with machine-gun fire, explosions, and tracer fire filling the sky above the Green Zone, which is home to government buildings and international embassies.
It came after a day of violence that had been sparked by Sadr’s statement that he was leaving politics altogether. Sadr explained that he was leaving politics because other Shi’ite leaders and parties had failed to change the country’s corrupt and deteriorating government.
At a later time, Sadr announced he was going on a hunger strike to condemn the use of violence by both sides.
As Iraq struggles to recover from decades of war, sanctions, internal unrest, and endemic corruption, a political impasse between Sadr and Shi’ite Muslim adversaries who are primarily backed by Iran have sent the country spiraling into yet another round of violence.
Since 2003, many factions in Iraq have fought one another for religious and ethnic affiliations in the context of sectarian warfare.
Sadr’s supporters, who include a heavily armed militia, have been pitted in the most recent round of violence against rival paramilitaries and the security forces who are affiliated with Iran.
The latest outbreak of violence dates back to Monday and has its roots in a buildup of tensions that began with Sadr’s election victory in October, his attempts to form a government free of Iran-backed groups, and his eventual withdrawal from parliament in favor of street protests and the occupation of government buildings to block political activity.
Some of the fighting, according to security authorities, was between Sadr’s Peace Brigades and Iraqi security personnel guarding the Green Zone, with possible participation from Iran-aligned militias.
There was a shooting on Monday night, but Reuters was unable to confirm who was shooting at whom.
Sadr made the decision to leave politics public earlier today. He took to Twitter to announce his departure, writing, “I hereby declare my definitive withdrawal” after blasting his fellow Shi’ite political leaders for ignoring his calls for reform.
