Iraq teeters towards civil war

Iraq's most senior Shi’ite cleric urged his followers to take up arms to defend themselves against a relentless advance by Sunni militants, in a sharp escalation of a conflict which is threatening civil war and the potential break-up of the country. I n a rare intervention at Friday prayers in the holy city of Kerbala, a message from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is the highest religious authority for the Shi'ites in Iraq, said people should unite to fight back against advancing militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Fighters under the black flag of ISIL captured two more Iraqi towns overnight in a lightning sweep south towards the capital Baghdad in a campaign to recreate a mediaeval caliphate carved out of fragmenting Iraq and Syria. ‘People who are capable of carrying arms and fighting the terrorists in defence of their country ... should volunteer to join the security forces to achieve this sacred goal,’ said Sheikh Abdulmehdi al-Karbalai, delivering Sistani's message to the faithful. Those killed fighting ISIL militants would be martyrs, he said as worshippers chanted in acknowledgement. US President Barack Obama threatened military strikes against ISIL on Thursday, highlighting the gravity of the group's threat to redraw borders in an oil-rich region. In the spreading chaos, Iraqi Kurdish forces have seized control of Kirkuk, an oil hub just outside their autonomous enclave that they have long seen as their traditional capital. Thrusting further to the southeast after their seizure of the major Iraqi city of Mosul in the far north and the late dictator Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, ISIL entered two towns in Diyala province bordering Iran. Saadiyah and Jalawla had fallen to the Sunni insurgents after government troops fled their positions, according to a news agency.