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Southern Iraq has been suffering from extreme drought for months. Since December, large amounts of water have been diverted from the Mosul Dam, Iraq's most important water reservoir, to prevent harvests from drying out.

Due to the low water level, the remains of a 3,400-year-old city that disappeared decades ago emerged on the edge of the reservoir.

"I saw on satellite images that the water level was falling but it wasn't clear when the water would rise again. So, we had an unknown window of time," says German archaeologist Ivana Puljiz, a junior professor at the University of Freiburg.

But archaeologists knew that the site known as Kemune was interesting. They had been there before.

Archeologists had little time to uncover and document the site

So, Puljiz got together with Hasan Ahmed Qasim, a Kurdish archaeologist and director of the Kurdistan Archeology Organization, and Peter Pflzner, a German archeology professor at the University of Tbingen, to carry out a spontaneous rescue excavation.

They quickly put together a team of German and Kurdish archaeologists to uncover and document as much of the large site as they could.

The team surveyed the Bronze Age city for seven weeks in January and February 2022 before it was completely flooded again.

During a similar dry phase in 2018, the researchers had discovered a fortress-like palace located nearby on a small hill. It was bordered by a large terrace wall.

'We had an unknown window of time," archaeologist Puljiz told DW

At the time, Ivana Puljiz's team found the remains of wall paintings in bright red and blue tones, thought to be a typical feature of such palaces.

The fact that the pigments were preserved despite the flooding was "an archaeological sensation," Puljiz told DW after their 2022 visit to the site.

"Of course we had high hopes. Based on the things we had found in 2018, we knew that this site could bring interesting findings. But we didn't know what exactly we would find [this time]," said Puljiz.

The team was not disappointed: During this year's excavation, the archeologist said they were able to uncover other large buildings, such as a massive fortification with a wall and towers that surrounded the city.

The researchers' discovery of a large, multi-story warehouse full of supplies was particularly exciting.

The extent of what was once possibly a mighty city can only truly be viewed from above

"The sheer size of this building alone shows that it had to have housed an enormous amount of goods. And these goods had to be produced and brought there first," said Puljiz. It suggests the city obtained its supplies from a surrounding area it controlled.

Puljiz said their initial findings suggested the extensive city complex could be ancient Zachiku, an important center in the Mitanni empire (circa 1550 to 1350 BC). Zachiku controlled large parts of northern Mesopotamia and Syria.

However, not much is known about ancient Zachiku. "There are very, very few mentions of this city name in other sources, so we are only now bringing new knowledge to light about it," Puljiz said.

The walls and foundations of the building appear to be in surprisingly good condition, said Puljiz, despite their being made of unfired adobe bricks that have been under water for decades.

The researchers discovered clay vessels containing numerous cuneiform tablets

It's possible that a massive earthquake that struck the city around 1350 BC helped preserve those walls when the building was destroyed and the rubble fell, it may have covered the lower parts of the wall, thereby preserving them.

One of the most fascinating finds, said the researcher, was the discovery of five ceramic vessels, containing over 100 cuneiform tablets, as if in a kind of archive.

Cuneiform is one of the oldest forms of writing. Some of the clay tablets were even found in clay "envelopes."

"When you think that these clay tablets which aren't fired, they're just solid clay were underwater for so long and survived and hopefully can soon be read by a philologist, then that's really a sensation," said Puljiz.

Those clay tablets were created in the Middle Assyrian period, shortly after that devastating earthquake, when people may have started to settle on the ruins of the ancient city again.

The archeologists says it's a "sensation" that unfired clay tablets found at the site weren't destroyed

The cuneiform texts may now provide information about the end of the Mitanni-period and the beginning of Assyrian rule in the region. The kingdom of Mitanni is still considered one of the least explored states of antiquity.

During its heyday in the middle of the second millennium BC, the kingdom stretched from the Mediterranean coast across modern-day Syria to northern, modern-day Iraq.

Mitanni royalty are said to have maintained a lively exchange with Egyptian pharaohs and Babylonian rulers. Around 1350 BC, however, the Mitanni empire was conquered by neighboring Hittites and Assyrians.

Archeologists hope plastic sheeting will protect the site until the next time the water is low

The events that led to the city's fall remain unclear. To learn more about the Mitanni empire, researchers would need to investigate the center of the former empire which was probably located in what is now northern Syria said archaeologist Puljiz.

But the many years of war in the region have made such archaeological digs impossible.

"Without finding notable texts from the center of the empire, it is very difficult to get a picture of how it functioned, what held it together or what landowners did. So far we only have single, spotlight sources from peripheral areas, like now from what is probably ancient Zachiku," said Puljiz. "But the core area remains in the dark."

Before the ruined city was submerged again by the reservoir, the archeologists covered the excavated buildings with a tight-fitting plastic film and gravel to protect them from further damage. With luck, the lost city of the Mitanni will reappear another time.

The ancient city, reported to be the largest ever found in Egypt, dates back to the era of king Amenhotep III, who ruled the ancient kingdom from 1391 to 1353 BC. That's according to Zahi Hawass, the Egyptian archaeologist who led the expedition. "Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it," Hawass, a former antiquities affairs minister, said in an online statement.

Digs unearthing rings, scarabs, colored pottery vessels and mud bricks bearing seals of king Amenhotep III have helped to confirm the dating of the city, archeologists say. "The discovery of this lost city is the second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun," said Betsy Brian, a professor of Egyptology at John Hopkins University.

The above photo taken on April 8, 2021 shows a preserved animal skeleton that has been in place for thousands of years under the desert sands. It is part of what was unearhed during seven months of excavations at the site that has been dubbed the "Lost Golden City" in Luxor.

Excavations between the temples of Ramses III and Amenhotep III near Luxor had started in September 2020, about 500 kilometers south of Cairo. Within weeks, the team found mud bricks. "What they unearthed was the site of a large city in a good condition of preservation, with its walls almost intact, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life," said the archeology team in a statement.

The team unearthed several neighborhoods, discoveriung things like a bakery complete with ovens and storage pottery, as well as administrative and residential districts. The city "will give us a rare glimpse into the life of the ancient Egyptians at the time where the empire was at his wealthiest," says US professor of Egyptian art and archaeology, Betsy Bryan.

Just days ago, king Amenhotep III made the news in connection with a lavish parade of vehicles bearing the mummies of 22 ancient Egyptian kings and queens that paraded through Cairo to take them to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. The national treasures are on display at the new Royal Hall of Mummies among them the mummified remains of Amenhotep III.

Author: Dagmar Breitenbach

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The Bronze Age city in Iraq gifted to archeology by drought - DW (English)

In the years since 2003, Iraqs political system came under several challenges, including a Sunni political boycott, the threat of Kurdish secessionism, and two sectarian wars. The post-Saddam state survived these existential threats, but it now faces new instability as leading Shia political figures fight for domination among themselves. Shia infighting has prevented the formation of a government following the October 2021 parliamentary election and risks triggering popular protests among the Iraqi public, which is already frustrated with poor services and corruption. In their dealings with Iraq, European policymakers should understand that, as sectarian political fighting has diminished, intra-sect battles have taken centre-stage.

In Octobers election, the Sadrist Movement, a populist Shia party, won 73 seats, the largest secured by any party. Iraq operates a system of proportional representation designed to reflect the ethno-sectarian make-up of the country. As a result, no one party has been able to secure a majority since 2005. The last eight months have seen the country stuck in political limbo.

While some in the West will be tempted to view these events as a struggle between pro-Western and pro-Iranian camps, the reality is that the competing parties overlap in their ideological leanings.

Since Iraqis went to the polls, the Sadrist Movements leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, has been seeking to assert his own dominance and relegate his long-standing Shia rival, former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, to the political margins. He has attempted to translate his seat share into a bid to consolidate the Shia share of power, allying himself with the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Sunni Siyada (Sovereignty) Alliance. Sadr has rejected the traditional consensus model that incorporates all political parties, and instead wants to force other Shia parties into opposition. But this tripartite coalition lacks the two-thirds majority required to elect the president of the republic, who then designates the prime minister.

Having failed to form a majority government, Sadr has tried to persuade some of the Shia groups to join his coalition but to no avail. They are adamant on joining forces as one Shia bloc to prevent any single Shia party monopolising the political scene. Just as in the past when smaller parties worked with Sadr against Maliki to prevent the latter from forming a government alone, so today some of these same groups have switched sides to balance against Sadr.

In a bid to break the impasse Sadr has now directed his parliamentarians to resign. This move allows him to deflect blame for the delay in government formation. It also allows him to express his frustration with all political parties, including his allies, who he does not believe are committed enough to a majority government. However, because parliament is in recess, the new MPs have not been sworn in. As a result, Sadr is positioned to benefit from this move, as it forces his rivals to present more concessions such as offering lucrative ministries and his choice of prime minister to keep him in the system. Outside it, he poses a threat to the state, whether through delegitimisation of the political system, the mobilisation of protests, or the spectre of violence.

By having his MPs resign during the parliamentary recess, Sadr is also protecting himself from any backlash from summer protests, as his move attempts to demonstrate his own dissatisfaction with the political elite. In fact, he is in a position to co-opt potential protests and use them as a tool to pressure his political rivals. Even before the October poll, Sadr threatened not to support any government formed without him. Having invested in, and benefited from, the political system for years, Sadr will only leave it if he has concluded that the best route to political dominance is through mass mobilisation.

This is a battle for Shia dominance. While some in the West will be tempted to view these events as a struggle between pro-Western and pro-Iranian camps, the reality is that the competing parties overlap in their ideological leanings. Both Sadr and Maliki have longstanding albeit at times prickly relations with Tehran. For this reason, other Shia political figures (such as former prime minister Haider al-Abadi and Ammar al-Hakim), who are considered more Western-leaning, are opposing Sadr and siding with other Shia groups. These include groups such as the Fatah Alliance, which have more antagonistic views towards the West. Shia parties are invested in preserving the political equilibrium in order to maintain their share of the political spoils.

In fleeting moments of stability, Shia parties have challenged one another for power. After the 2008 civil war, Maliki attempted to establish himself as the dominant Shia leader and launched the Charge of the Knights military campaign, taking on Sadrs Mahdi Army. But in times of Shia internal conflict, the clerical establishment in Najaf normally intervenes to prevent instability in Iraq generally and among the Shia in particular. And, even though its ability to impose discipline on paramilitary groups in Iraq has weakened since the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Irans role as a potential mediator between Shia political parties should not be underestimated.

This political uncertainty is hindering urgently needed governance reforms. In the past, supporters and allies of Shia leaders excused the neglect these leaders had shown to their communities because of the more pressing concerns of fighting terrorism and pushing back against secessionist Kurdish lobbying. Today, such threats are less immediate, and the Iraqi population is more focused on improvements in governance and services. This pressure has manifested itself through mass protests, which reached their zenith in the October protest movement in 2019, with hundreds of people killed in associated violence. Those protests effectively caused the collapse of the previous government and led to the most recent election. The wider Shia public could again turn to popular protest in response to the political impasse.

In examining the political situation in Iraq, European policymakers need to grasp that an important shift has occurred. Although the Iraqi political system no longer faces existential crises, the political infighting among the Shia risks creating a new form of crisis. In this struggle, Sadr may be considering moving the fight from parliament to the street.

High summer temperatures tend to expose the states inability to provide basic services, as rising demand for water and electricity goes unmet and creates cause for protest. In this environment of simmering public dissatisfaction, Shia political parties need to quickly recalibrate their role towards their Shia voter base and Iraqis as a whole. Iraqs political system may have withstood numerous challenges to it since 2003, but current public dissatisfaction, if manifested through revolution-orientated (rather than reformist) protest, could create a new existential crisis.

The European Council on Foreign Relations does not take collective positions. ECFR publications only represent the views of their individual authors.

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From parliament to street: Iraqs emerging politics of domination - European Council on Foreign Relations

Russia should warn the UK: Iraq to Libya but no nation trained to kill their soldiers

Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

In the United Kingdom, austerity became a buzzword for the ruling Conservative Party. Now, the convulsions of the coronavirus and economic sanctions on the Russian Federation are leading to poorer members of society needing food banks. Also, others are making dramatic cutbacks concerning recent energy and food hikes. However, despite this and countless recent scandals that blight the leader of the United Kingdom and others within his party endless money is found to support the armed forces of Ukraine.

At no point did the Russian Federation seek to train the armed forces of Afghanistan, Iraq, or Libya to kill British soldiers. On the contrary, the IRA terrorist group obtained funding via NORAID in America during a period when many people were killed in Northern Ireland (and sometimes on the mainland).

The President Barack Obama doctrine in Syria was to bleed the armed forces of Syria and various terrorist groups to a standstill once ISIS (Islamic State IS) entered the fray. This concerns the armed forces of Syria and various Sunni Islamist terrorist groups supported by Gulf powers and NATO Turkey. However, with the support of the Russian Federation and Iran, the government of Syria managed to survive despite NATO Turkey and its continuing intrigue in Northern Syria (and Islamist terrorist groups in a limited area of the country).

However and of major importance the nations of America, Iran, the Russian Federation, and several European NATO powers implemented a policy to avoid clashes with each other. Also, to avoid air force mistakes or other types of military operations that might overlap concerning Iraq and Syria. Therefore, no nation openly trained the armed forces of others to attack another major nation involved in the ensuing chaos of Iraq and Syria.

Yet, the crisis concerning Ukraine and the Russian Federation sending in military forces to protect Russians and non-ethnic Russian speakers in the Donbas (Donbass) region and adjacent areas is out of control. This concerns European Union nations, NATO, and G7 countries that have put tough economic sanctions on the Russian Federation along with sending tens of billions of military hardware to the armed forces of Ukraine.

It is abundantly obvious that covert training of the armed forces of Ukraine is happening related to NATO powers. However, now Prime Minister Boris Johnson is openly gloating about training the armed forces of Ukraine to kill Russian Federation soldiers and Russian and non-ethnic Russian speakers who are bombarded by Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region. Therefore, the Russian Federation should warn the United Kingdom that they are crossing a line: if not, this line will be expanded by the United Kingdom and other NATO powers.

The Guardian reports, Boris Johnson has announced that the UK will oversee a new three-week training programme for Ukrainian soldiers, as he visited Kyiv for the third time this year for talks with the Ukrainian president,Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Johnson said, As Ukrainian soldiers fire UK missiles in defence of your nations sovereignty, they do so also in defence of the very freedoms we take for granted. That is why I have offered President Zelenskiy a major new military training programme that could change the equation of this war harnessing that most powerful of forces, the Ukrainian determination to win.

The working class got the vote earlier in the United Kingdom because of the convulsions of World War One. Then the armed forces of this nation protected its Empire that benefited the ruling elites. After the collapse of the Empire, the United Kingdom supported the genocide of Biafra concerning the support of the armed forces of Nigeria to the brutal deeds done in Indonesia along with America (two million killed related to the butchering of communists, East Timor, and the ongoing crisis in West Papua).

The nations of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen (UK military arms and training of the Saudi-led alliance that bombs Yemen) are failed states. America and the United Kingdom have killed untold numbers in these nations and deaths continue long after both nations leave. Indeed, after the Libya debacle: the entire Sahel is now awash with terrorism and millions of displaced people have little hope for the future.

The sovereignty of the nations above became violated by America and the United Kingdom (and other allies). However, no war crimes, no democracy to speak of that is functioning, and no modernity. Instead, broken nations that are now failed states, minorities barely surviving (Yazidis in Iraq to Christians of Syria), women facing greater hardship, and other horrendous convulsions.

It is time for the Russian Federation to draw red lines and for nations to seek an ending to the conflict. Since 2014, the European Union, G7 nations, and NATO countries didnt concern themselves with Ukrainian forces bombing the Donbas region. Therefore, a deal needs to be done that recognizes the annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk and other adjacent regions that support the re-alignment with the Russian Federation (the Soviet Union and the Communist Party altered the borders of Ukraine to the detriment of Russians and non-ethnic pro-Russian Federation groups).

At the same time, Ukraine should be outside the NATO bloc and the Russian Federation and Ukraine should sign an agreement that neither side will seek land changes agreed to or attack the other side. In other words, turn the crisis into a frozen conflict and then for both nations to develop economic and political dealings along with other nations.

The United Kingdom needs to pull back from its open hostility by stealth. Hence, nations should focus on the Iraq and Syria model where no nation sought open confrontation and no nation trained other armed forces to attack rival nations. Therefore, the Russian Federation should warn the United Kingdom to desist immediately.

It is hoped that wise heads will emerge because the armed forces of Ukraine are dying in increasing numbers NATO military hardware means the Donbas region is being bombed more extensively again and the international economy is fraying concerning energy, foodstuffs, and so on.

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Russia should warn the UK: Iraq to Libya but no nation trained to kill their soldiers - Modern Tokyo Times

Droughts can be a normal part of the climate. But as temperatures rise in the wake of global heating, these dry spells are becoming more severe and longer in many regions. The trend can disrupt entire food systems, pushing millions into starvation and dehydration.

In an unusual twist, our current high-emitting lifestyle has also helped reveal how we used to live before the climate crisis became quite so urgent. Thats because droughts have uncovered remnants of past communities, some of them thousands of years old.

Little is known about the Mittani Empire

A 2018 drought in the Kurdish region of Iraq provided a rare glimpse into a little known society: The Mittani Empire.

German and Kurdish archeologists discovered a3,400-year-old palace from the Bronze Age on the shore of the Tigris river after water levels in the Mosul Dam reservoir went down enough to reveal the ruins. The ancient palace belonged to a kingdom that once dominated large parts of northern Mesopotamia and Syria.

"The Mittani Empire is one of the least researched empires of the Ancient Near East," archaeologist Ivana Puljiz of Germany's University of Tbingen said at the time. "Even the capital of the Mittani Empire has not been identified beyond doubt."

The team partially found preserved wall paintings and 10 cuneiform clay tablets in the rooms it excavated. By studying the tablets, archaeologists hope to learn more about the empire.

Aceredo was flooded to make way for a reservoir in the 1990s

More recently, a Spanish village that was flooded to create a reservoir reemerged when a drought hit this February. Visitors flocked to Aceredo on the Spanish-Portuguese border to see the eerie ruins and 1992 mementos beer bottles and rusty cars included.

Maria del Carmen Yanez, mayor of the larger Lobios council that Aceredo belongs to, told Reuters it had rained very little in recent months. But she also blamed the situation on the Portuguese power utility EDP and its "quite aggressive exploitation" of the reservoir where the company runs a hydropower plant.

EDP acknowledged that reservoir levels were low because of the drought, but told Reuters it ran its water resources efficiently" and above the minimum requirements.

California's drought crisis has exposed previously submerged relics from the gold rush era

In the mid-1800s, a gold rush in California attracted hundreds of thousands of miners trying their luck. Last year, it was tourists traveling to this area after a drought significantly emptied the lake in which gold rush towns were submerged in astark reminder of the US state's ongoing water crisis.

"With historically low water levels that have been worsened by the impacts of climate change, artefacts and ruins once belonging to past communities and cultures of the area are now appearing along the lakebed,"a Facebook post by the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area read.

Visitors could look at the ruins of places like Mormon Island, which attracted thousands of Mormon fortune seekers in its heyday. The town had several shops, four hotels and an express office before it burned down in 1856. Tourists risk a fine if they tamper with the remains at the site.

The region is known as Edersee's Atlantis because the ruins are usually submerged in water

The Edersee in the western German state of Hesse is the second largest reservoir in the country. But as extreme heat and low rainfall haveintensified droughts across Germany, when the Edersee's water levels drop, they revealwhat is known as the regionsAtlantis. Here lie ruins, including those ofa bridge, three villages and gravestones of onetimelocals. The area was originally flooded to make way for the reservoir.

The project was built more than 100 years ago to provide water for the Weser River and Mittelland Canal, ensuring ships could travel on them during driersummer months. German Emperor Wilhelm II even paid a personal visit to the construction site in 1911.

Now, the sunken villages have turned into a tourist attraction when Edersee's levels drop low enough during hot periods.

This bridge is only visible when water levels drop

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

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Severe droughts reveal sunken relics of the past - DW (English)

BAGHDAD, June 14 (Reuters) - Moqtada al-Sadr has raised the stakes in the struggle for Iraq with a major political escalation that could lead to conflict with his Iran-backed rivals or force a compromise in their tussle over government.

Frustrated at being unable to form an administration eight months after his party won the biggest share of seats in parliament, the Shi'ite Muslim cleric steered Iraqi politics into uncharted territory on Sunday when his lawmakers quit. read more

The step points to a deepening struggle for influence in the Shi'ite community that has been ascendant since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein two decades ago.

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A serious challenge to the post-Saddam order, Sadr's move has presented his Iran-backed rivals with a major dilemma.

In theory, they could now form an administration of their choosing to replace the outgoing government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who continues as caretaker.

But in reality, analysts say such a move would likely provoke unrest and even conflict with Sadr's vast support base, which has previously taken up arms.

For Iran, the latest twist in Iraq's political crisis is an unwelcome development, underlining intra-Shi'ite fissures that risk undermining its influence and playing to the advantage of its Gulf Arab adversaries.

Sadr, who has positioned himself as an opponent of U.S. and Iranian influence, has not detailed his reasons for quitting parliament. In a handwritten note, he described it as "a sacrifice" for the homeland.

Sadr's Iran-backed opponents appear to be moving cautiously, well aware of his capacity to mobilise. They convened a meeting on Monday but announced no new decisions.

"We are caught off guard by Sadr's surprising decision and we think a bad scenario is waiting for us in case we move ahead and form a government," Ahmed Kinani, an Iran-aligned Shi'ite politician, told Reuters.

"We must read the recent, crucial development very carefully before deciding the next step, because forming a government without Sadrists will be a huge risk. We don't want to be ambushed."

Sadr has not declared his next move.

He has a track record of radical action, including fighting U.S. forces, quitting cabinets, and protesting against governments. Last year, he declared he would boycott the election, before reversing course. read more

"We are out of the political scene now, and let's see how a new government will stand without Sadrists," said a source at his office, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to make media statements.

Ihsan al-Shammari, head of the Iraqi Centre for Political Thought, did not expect Sadr's rivals to form a government alone. "Such a government will be born dead because Sadr followers will not accept to see Moqtada broken and politically isolated by powers supported by Iran," he said.

Heir to a clerical dynasty, Sadr shot to prominence after the invasion, establishing a force of fiercely loyal fighters that waged war on U.S. forces and later clashed with Iraqi authorities. read more

He has sought to set himself apart from Iran-backed rivals in recent years, emphasising his Iraqi nationalist credentials.

He has also installed many followers in state positions, whilst tapping public anger at the government's corruption and failure to provide services despite Iraq's oil wealth.

Iraq has been politically deadlocked since October's election, in which Sadr won 73 of 329 seats and the Iran-backed factions - which retain militias - performed poorly.

Alleging vote rigging, Sadr's opponents have thwarted his efforts to form a new administration with Kurdish and Sunni Arab allies.

Parliament has failed three times to elect a new president - reserved for a Kurd in Iraq's power-sharing system - because a two-thirds quorum could not be secured. read more

Sadr's efforts to form a new government excluding key Iranian allies have also gone nowhere.

Underlining intra-Shi'ite tensions since the vote, the residence of the Shi'ite Prime Minister Kadhimi came under drone attack in November. Iraqi officials and analysts have said the attack, from which Kadhimi escaped unhurt, was meant as a message by some of the Iran-backed groups. read more

Sharp divisions among Iran-backed groups on how to respond to Sadr's move surfaced at Monday's meeting, according to an attendee who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proceedings were secret.

Following the meeting, Hadi al-Amiri, head of an Iran-backed militia, urged intervention by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, to save the situation.

Sistani, who rarely weighs in on politics except in times of crisis, holds massive influence in Shiite majority Iraq.

Hamdi Malik, an associate fellow at the Washington Institute, expected Iran would seek to calm the situation.

"What they don't want to see happening is for the Shia to go to war with each other, and (avoiding) this is going to be their main effort at this stage," he said.

"Iran thinks this will benefit others in the region, including the Arab Gulf states, allowing the Kurds to grow more powerful, and the Sunnis to strengthen their ties with Sunni states. So they do not want this current system ... to collapse," he said.

Sadr "knows his cards very well, and he is playing them, but in a completely radical manner".

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Additional reporting by Amina Ismail and Charlotte Bruneau in Baghdad and Tom Perry in Beirut; Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by William Maclean

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Analysis: Sadr raises the stakes in struggle for Iraq | Reuters