Latest news with #ShiiteMuslims
Al-Ahram Weekly
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
PHOTO GALLERY: Mass demonstrations against Israel in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Pakistan
Supporters of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans and wave the national flag as they march to protest Israel's strikes on Iran after Friday prayers in holy shrine city of Najaf on June 20, 2025. AFP Supporters of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans and wave the national flag as they march to protest Israel's strikes on Iran after Friday prayers in holy shrine city of Najaf on June 20, 2025. AFP Supporters of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn the flag of Israel after Friday prayers to protest Israel's strikes on Iran in holy shrine city of Najaf on June 20, 2025. AFP Supporters of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn the flag of Israel after Friday prayers to protest Israel's strikes on Iran in holy shrine city of Najaf on June 20, 2025. AFP Shiite Muslims shout anti-Israel slogans during a protest in Karachi on June 20, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. AFP Shiite Muslims shout anti-Israel slogans during a protest in Karachi on June 20, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. AFP Shiite Muslims carrying placards shout anti-Israel slogans during a protest rally in Lahore on June 20, 2025. AFP Shiite Muslims carrying placards shout anti-Israel slogans during a protest rally in Lahore on June 20, 2025. AFP Shiite Muslims carrying placards shout anti-Israel slogans during a protest rally in Lahore on June 20, 2025. AFP Shiite Muslims carrying placards shout anti-Israel slogans during a protest rally in Lahore on June 20, 2025. AFP An Iranian carries a placard during an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran on June 20, 2025. AFP An Iranian carries a placard during an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran on June 20, 2025. AFP Iranians wave their national flag and wave placards during an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran on June 20, 2025. AFP Iranians wave their national flag and wave placards during an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran on June 20, 2025. AFP Lebanese Hezbollah supporters lift placards as they demonstrate in support of Iran, after the Friday noon prayer in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 20, 2025. AFP Lebanese Hezbollah supporters lift placards as they demonstrate in support of Iran, after the Friday noon prayer in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 20, 2025. AFP Iranians wave the national flag and chant slogans next to a replica of the Dome of the Rock mosque during an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran on June 20, 2025. AFP Iranians wave the national flag and chant slogans next to a replica of the Dome of the Rock mosque during an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran on June 20, 2025. AFP Lebanese Hezbollah supporters wave Palestinian and Iranian flags as they demonstrate in support of Iran, after the Friday noon prayer in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 20, 2025. AFP Lebanese Hezbollah supporters wave Palestinian and Iranian flags as they demonstrate in support of Iran, after the Friday noon prayer in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 20, 2025. AFP
Nahar Net
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Hezbollah supporters demonstrate in support of Iran
by Naharnet Newsdesk 20 June 2025, 14:53 Hundreds of supporters of Hezbollah gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs after Friday afternoon prayers to demonstrate in support of Tehran in the ongoing Israel-Iran war. Demonstrators carried the Iranian, Lebanese and Palestinian flags as well as that of Hezbollah, and chanted "death to America" and "death to Israel." Some also chanted pledges of allegiance to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is revered as religious authority by many Shiite Muslims. Hezbollah suffered severe losses in a war with Israel that ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November and has so far remained on the sidelines the Iran-Israel war. -Thousands demonstrate in Iraq - Thousands of supporters of the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr also took to the streets on Friday in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad, in response to a call by al-Sadr to show support for Iran in its conflict with Israel. The demonstration began after Friday prayers with protesters wearing white burial shrouds in a symbolic gesture of readiness to sacrifice. Some burned Israeli and U.S. flags. The protest comes during escalating regional tensions. Iran-backed Iraqi militias have so far largely stayed out of the fray in the Israel-Iran war but have threatened to attack U.S. forces and interests in Iraq and the region if Washington launches direct attacks on Iran.
Free Malaysia Today
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Iraq's top Shiite cleric warns against any targeting of Iran's leadership
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the top religious authority for millions of Shiite Muslims, holds the power to mobilise much of Iraq's Shiite base. (EPA Images pic) BAGHDAD : Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned against targeting Iran's leadership and said that the Iran-Israel war could plunge the whole region into chaos. Sistani said in a statement Thursday that any targeting of Iran's 'supreme religious and political leadership' would have 'dire consequences on the region'. He warned that it could spark 'widespread chaos that would exacerbate the suffering of its (the region's) people and severely harm everyone's interests'. Sistani urged the international community to 'make every effort to end this unjust war and find a peaceful solution' to Iran's nuclear programme. Sistani, an Iranian, is the highest religious authority for millions of Shiite Muslims in Iraq and around the world, with the power to mobilise a huge portion of that base in Iraq. With warnings of all-out regional war intensifying following Israel's surprise assault on Iran last week, fears are growing over an intervention by Iran-backed Iraqi factions, mostly against American interests in the region. Despite his Iranian roots, Sistani is seen as an essential figure in Iraq's recent history and has been known for pushing back against Tehran's growing clout in Iraq. Israel launched a devastating surprise attack on Friday targeting Iran's military and nuclear sites and killing top commanders and scientists, saying it is acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran denies. The assault has prompted Iran to retaliate wirh barrages of missiles on Israel. Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule out plans to assassinate Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying it would 'end the conflict'. US President Donald Trump had earlier said his country would not kill Khamenei 'for now', but demanded Tehran's 'unconditional surrender'. Khamenei rejected Trump's demand, as the US president warned he was weighing military action in the conflict. Shiite Muslim clerics rallied late Wednesday, wearing military fatigues in southern Iraq, near the Iranian border. They held Iraqi and Iranian flags and shouted slogans condemning Israel's attack.
Nahar Net
a day ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Hezbollah says threats to kill Khamenei 'foolish and reckless'
by Naharnet Newsdesk 5 hours Hezbollah condemned Thursday Israel's threats to kill Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after an Israeli hospital was hit during an Iranian missile attack. "Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed -- he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals. He considers the destruction of the state of Israel to be a goal," Israel's defense minister Israel Katz told journalists in Holon near Tel Aviv. "Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist." Hezbollah said the Israeli threat is "foolish and reckless" and "would have grave consequences". It "constitutes an offence to hundreds of millions of believers", the group added. Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani also warned against targeting Iran's leadership and said it would have "dire consequences on the region". Sistani, an Iranian, is the highest religious authority for millions of Shiite Muslims in Iraq and around the world, with the power to mobilize a huge portion of that base in Iraq. Despite his Iranian roots, Sistani is seen as an essential figure in Iraq's recent history and has been known for pushing back against Tehran's growing clout in the country. Shiite Muslim clerics rallied late Wednesday, wearing military fatigues in southern Iraq, near the Iranian border. They held Iraqi and Iranian flags and shouted slogans condemning Israel's attack.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Relieved Pakistanis recall 'horrifying nights' as Israel, Iran trade strikes
Mohammad Hassan anxiously returned to Pakistan from neighbouring Iran this week after witnessing drones, missiles, and explosions tear through Tehran's sky during what he called long, "horrifying nights". The 35-year-old University of Tehran student is one of about 3,000 Pakistanis who, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have returned home since Israel launched its aerial war against its long-time enemy last week. Governments around the world are scrambling to evacuate their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling conflict as Israel and Iran trade missile and drone strikes. "I was in the city centre where most of the strikes took place and even one of the student dormitories was attacked and luckily no one was dead, but students were injured," Hassan said. There are more than 500 Pakistani students at his university alone, he said, all of them on their way "back home". "Those days and nights were very horrifying... hearing sirens, the wailing, the danger of being hit by missiles. As one peeped out the window in the night, you could see drones, missiles with fire tails," he told AFP. - Ghost town - Pakistan and Iran have a shaky diplomatic relationship. They bombed each other's territory little more than a year ago, both claiming to target rebels using their neighbour's land to launch attacks. Yet they have never suspended trade, tourism and academic ties. Iranian consulates across Pakistan have stepped up efforts to promote their universities. Between 25 million and 35 million Pakistani Shiite Muslims also hope to make at least one pilgrimage in their lifetime to holy sites in Iran, foremost among them the sacred city of Qom. Mohammad Khalil, a 41-year-old petroleum engineer, left Tehran three days ago, the capital of the Islamic Republic looking like a ghost town as residents sheltered indoors and families fled. "In the last two days, I saw people moving out of the city in different vehicles with necessary commodities," Khalil said. Abdul Ghani Khan sells medical equipment in his hometown of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan and travels to Iran regularly for supplies. He had been in Tehran for a week when the first Israeli missiles fell on Friday. Iran and Israel have traded heavy missile fire in the days since, raising fears of a wider regional conflict. Pakistan is in a difficult position as the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons. It, like Iran, does not recognise Israel but is also a major ally of the United States. Khan had to make the journey home by road because the airspace is now closed. Pakistan has also shut its border crossings with Iran to all except Pakistanis wanting to return home. "We saw drones, red lights of anti-aircraft guns and I spotted one building catch fire," Khan said. - 'Offering prayer' - Mohammad Asif, a lawyer from Lahore in Pakistan's east, heard about the air strikes while on a pilgrimage in Qom. He wasn't initially afraid and continued his pilgrimage to Mashhad in Iran's northeast, home to the golden-domed Imam Reza shrine. That was until Israeli strikes hit the airport in Mashhad, nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the Pakistani border. Samreen Ali was also in Mashhad but, like Asif, cut her trip short and returned with her husband and 15-year-old son. She was praying in a mosque in Mashhad when Israel struck the city. Ali said she had visited Iran nine times before on pilgrimages and never imagined witnessing war there. "I was offering prayer when I heard two explosions," she told AFP. She then noticed she wasn't receiving messages on her phone and assumed that "communication was being restricted... because of the war". Syed Saqib, 46, was in Qom and had to travel 500 kilometres (310 miles) by bus southeast to Yazd. "We had to take alternative routes, spend an entire night waiting at a bus terminal," Saqib said. They then boarded buses to Zahedan, a city near the border with Pakistan's Balochistan province. A relieved Saqib recalled making the border crossing at Taftan, surrounded by families carrying heavy luggage. mak-sam/stm/pbt
