It was a routine 4 day visit that Moqtada al-Sadr made to Beirut during which credible Iraqi sources confirmed to Janoubia that he had left Lebanon -on Tuesday- with no contact between him and Hezbollah officials occurring. He did not meet Hezbollah’s general secretary during that visit sources confirmed.
According to sources Sadr flew to Beirut to conduct routine medical examinations, and he had not made any contact with Hezbollah political leadership to arrange a meeting with Nasrallah. Meanwhile, Hezbollah as well did not initiate a request of their own.
The lack of initiation was mutual between the two parties who were both expecting to receive contact. According to the Iraqi sources, Sadr hoped to establish a channel of communication with Iranian officials during a volley of accusations he is receiving claiming he is waging war against Iran in Iraq. Sadr does not wish to have bad relations with Iran. However, he is holding some Iranian delegates responsible for the deterioration of this relationship. Consequently, he was expecting an initiative from Hezbollah to resolve this issue on the condition that it does not require him to halt the political track he is pursuing; especially the one against those who are considered Iran’s men in the Shiite community.
On the other hand, Hezbollah is upset with the role al-Sadr is being a part of which they consider to have strayed too far from Iran. In Hezbollah’s view, Sadr has participate heavily in the dispersion of the Shiite bloc since the last parliamentary elections. Hezbollah have not forgiven the visit he made to Saudi Arabia, nor the meeting that hosted him with Prince Bin Salman. Although Sadr was accompanies by associates who regularly arrange contact with Hezbollah, no sign of contact in the slightest was recorded between Nasrallah and al-Sadr. A meeting between the two never occurred. Observers attribute this incident as evidence to the dissatisfaction of Iran with what is now being called “Breaking up the Shiite parliamentary bloc” whom Sadr is primarily accused of. This means that Sadr is accused of breaking the unity of the Shiite who formerly were under one bloc supported by Iran.
Al-Sadr left Beirut bringing back nothing that could help ease the tensions. The message that can be inferred from the visit is that the key to the Irans door belongs solely to Suleimany, and that this fact remains unchanged despite all disappointments suffered by his Iraqi program in the past few months. These failings have culminated in the removal of Sulaimani’s arm Falih al-Fayad from the leadership of the Popular Mobilization Forces (Al-Hashd Al-Shaaby) in a decision issued by Prime Minister Haydar al-Abady.
