BAGHDAD — Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric urged followers to take up arms against a full-blown Sunni militant insurgency to topple Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, escalating a conflict that threatens civil war and a possible break-up of the country. In a rare intervention at Friday prayers in Kerbala, a message from Ali Al-Sistani, who is the highest religious authority for Shiites in Iraq, said people should unite to fight back against a lightning advance by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Fighters under the black flag of ISIL are sweeping south toward the capital Baghdad in a campaign to recreate a medieval caliphate carved out of fragmenting Iraq and Syria that has turned into a widespread rebellion against Maliki.



US President Barack Obama said Iraq was going to need “more help from the United States and from the international community” to strengthen security forces. He also threatened military strikes against ISIL, highlighting the gravity of the group’s threat to redraw borders in the region which is sending shockwaves through the Middle East. Amidst the spreading chaos, Iraqi Kurdish forces seized control of Kirkuk, an oil hub just outside their autonomous enclave that they have long seen as their historical capital, three days after ISIL fighters captured the major city of Mosul. – Reuters