The head of the Iraqi Sairoon bloc, Muqtada al-Sadr, Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Suleimani have recently met in Beirut for talks on handing Faleh Al-Fayadh the Interior Ministry portfolio in the Iraqi government, informed sources said.
The sources said Suleimani was mediating between Sadr and his opponents, including Hadi al-Ameri, who heads al-Fatah Alliance, to solve a dispute over Fayadh’s insistence on being nominated for the Interior Ministry post in the government of Adel Abdul Mahdi.
Sadr rejects such a nomination while Ameri supports it.
Another meeting was held in Baghdad on Tuesday between the Sairoon bloc and al-Fatah to coordinate stances regarding US President Donald Trump’s plan to watch Iran from military bases in Iraq.
While Sadrists denied a meeting took place in the Lebanese capital, political observers in Baghdad linked the mysterious talks in Beirut with the Fatah-Sairoon meeting.
According to reports from the two meetings, an agreement was reached to settle the case of the Interior Ministry by merging the Iraqi Government’s national security advisory committee and the presidency of the National Security Apparatus in a new ministry called the National Security Ministry, to be headed by Fayadh, while political forces agree on another name for the Interior Ministry portfolio.
Sairoon MP Burhan al-Maamuri told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Baghdad meeting was important at this particular stage because it succeeded in bringing together two main alliances, both playing a leading role in Iraq’s political process.
Badr Bloc lawmaker Siham al-Musawi also said such meetings help limit disputes among political parties and overcome difficulties obstructing the completion of the cabinet lineup.
