Al-Sadr would return as a popular, not political leader, source

Shafaq News/ A Source close to the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, revealed that Al-Sadr would resume his work within a few days.

Earlier, Al-Sadr announced his resignation from political life.

The source told Shafaq News Agency, "Al-Sadr would return to the Iraqi arena as a popular leader, not a political and opposition man, and he would follow steps to oppose the formation of any consensus government that is based on quotas."

"Al-Sadr would not interfere in politics; he will secure popular pressure to prevent forming any consensus government dissolve and run early elections." The source pointed out.

Since the aftermath of the US-led invasion in 2003 that toppled longtime dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has been governed under a sectarian power-sharing system.

Sadr, whose father was one of Iraq's most respected Shiite clerics, has gradually grown into a key political player in this landscape, bolstered by a Shiite support base that he often mobilizes to press his demands.

Since elections last October, disagreements between Sadr and a rival Iran-backed Shiite force known as the Coordination Framework have left Iraq without a new government, prime minister, or president.

Tensions escalated sharply on Monday when Sadr loyalists stormed the government palace inside the Green Zone after he announced he was quitting politics.

But Sadr's supporters then left the Green Zone on Tuesday afternoon when he appealed for them to withdraw within the hour -- a demonstration of the cult-like following that earned him his kingmaker status.