THE SHIITE JIHAD IN SYRIA AND ITS REGIONAL EFFECTS

14 n THE SHIITE JIHAD IN SYRIA
to draw both radical and more quietist Iraqi clerics and laypeople to the
Iranian way of thinking. 85
In its effort, Iran has tapped clerics who attempted to convey a level of
closeness to Sistani and who backed the Syrian jihad. One of these figures
is Sheikh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, the leader of Baghdad’s important Buratha
Mosque. Once described as a representative for Sistani, Saghir had headed
the council for the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI; formerly known
as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI) and
led the ISCI National Iraqi Alliance in parliament. 86 He had even openly
stated that it would be a “huge mistake” to impose a Khomeinist form of
government in Iraq. 87 However, Saghir’s historical links with ISCI and its
former military wing, the velayat-e faqih–backing Badr Organization, likely
helped shape his opinions on the conflict in Syria.
Under the leadership of Ammar al-Hakim, ISCI partially turned away
from Iran and instead backed Sistani, going so far as to drop “Islamic Revolution”
from its name and distance itself from absolute velayat-e faqih. 88
This step reportedly led the ISCI’s militia, the Badr Organization, to split
off and form a new party, the Badr Organization. 89 Additionally, the ISCI
has not publicly announced that it has sent any fighters to Syria. Despite
these changes, Saghir maintained links to Badr and fully backed the
Shiite jihad in Syria.
Since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s fall, Saghir, whose mosque was
bombed in 2006 by Sunni jihadists, has also espoused a more hostile public
view of Sunnis than most of his ISCI compatriots. 90 In 2007, his mosque
was raided by Iraqi government forces over accusations it was used as a base
for Shiite death squads. 91 Demonstrating his sights were focused on Syria as
a potentially new sectarian battlefront, Saghir was quoted by Al-Arabiya in
April 2011 saying, “We have to take into consideration that Iraq would be the
most affected by instability in Syria.” 92
By May 2013, Saghir had already taken to the pulpit and extolled Shiites
fighting ostensibly to defend Sayyeda Zainab. 93 In January 2014, in another
public demonstration of support, Saghir announced via his official web page
that he had visited Shiite fighters wounded in Syria being treated in an Iranian
hospital. 94 This was followed by posts from February intimating he was
a recognized leader of a new militia group, Saraya al-Aqidah (a.k.a. Saraya
Ansar al-Aqidah), which had reportedly been deployed to Syria and had
links to the Badr Organization. One of the group’s commanders, Muhammad
Jaafar Shakr al-Musawi, had been a security official in Saghir’s court. 95