Influential Shia leaders in the Middle East have criticised the US for the continued instability in Iraq. However, they stopped well short of endorsing the young radical Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, whose forces clashed with coalition troops for the second day yesterday. “The direct responsibility for this insecurity lies with the occupiers who should immediately leave Iraq and return sovereignty to the Iraqi nation,” said Hamid Reza Asefi, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, in his weekly press briefing. Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who is Lebanon’s most influential Shia cleric, has denounced the “horrible massacres” committed by US forces and called on Iraqis to exercise restraint in any response.Full Story
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