Saraya al-Salam swarms Iraqi provinces after al-Sadr threat

Shafaq News – Baghdad

On Sunday, Saraya al-Salam, the armed wing of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Patriotic Shiite Movement (PSM), deployed to multiple provinces including Baghdad and Basra after an assassination warning, local sources said.

Security officials did not immediately comment and no clashes were reported.

The mobilization followed a televised report naming lawmaker Yasser al-Maliki in an alleged drone plot against al-Sadr. Al-Maliki — a senior figure in the State of Law coalition led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a political rival of al-Sadr — dismissed the allegations as “baseless fabrications” on Facebook, vowing to take legal action.

Saraya al-Salam, formerly the Mahdi Army, is one of Iraq’s largest Shiite armed groups and has mobilised in past disputes.