Iraqi men raise up weapons and shout slogans as they demonstration in the central Shiite Muslim shrine city of Najaf on June 14, 2014 to show their support for the call to arms by Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Hundreds of Iraqi young men are flocking Saturday to volunteer centers across Baghdad and elsewhere to join the fight against Islamist militants who have advanced across the north this week.
The volunteers are responding to a call to arms from Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric, Ayatolla Ali al-Sistani.
A spokesman for the ayatolla speaking Friday at a mosque in Karbala urged Iraqis to "fight the terrorists in defense of their country, its people and its holy sites." He said fighting the militants is "everyone's responsibility."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has told army officers in Samarra that volunteers are arriving there to help soldiers defeat the militants.
Maliki also said troops who abandoned their positions and left their uniforms in the streets in the northern city of Mosul earlier this week must return to their units or face possible severe punishment, including the death penalty.
In another development Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country is ready to help Iraq, if asked, and would consider working with Tehran's longtime foe, the United States in fighting Sunni extremists if Washington decides to take strong action against the fighters. Iran has developed close ties in recent years with the Shi'ite led government in Baghdad.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday his national security advisers are preparing "a range of options" for U.S. assistance to Iraq's government as it faces an assault by al-Qaida inspired Islamist militants.
Speaking at the White House, President Obama said the course of U.S. action will become clear "in the days ahead." He said no American troops will be sent to Iraq.
The president said the militants who have overrun parts of Iraq are a threat to the Baghdad government and people throughout the country, and pose an active threat to American interests as well. He said division among Iraq's leadership has led to the current crisis.
"Over the past decade, American troops have made extraordinary sacrifices to give Iraqis an opportunity to claim their own future. Unfortunately, Iraqi leaders have been unable to overcome, too often, the mistrust and sectarian differences that have long been simmering there," said Obama. "And that's created vulnerabilities within the Iraqi government as well as their security forces."
Obama said U.S. assistance to Iraq must be matched with a "serious and sincere" effort by Iraq's leaders to work together and set aside differences, and to improve their security forces. He said in the absence of any type of political effort, short-term military assistance will not succeed.
In quick strikes this week, militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, took control of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, and advanced within 90 kilometers of Baghdad.
Late Thursday, ISIL fighters seized the towns of Jalawla and Saadiyah in the ethnically divided eastern province of Diyala.
A spokesman for the Sunni militants, who wish to install an Islamic government, vowed they would push into Baghdad and on to Karbala, a city southwest of Baghdad that is one of the holiest sites for Shi'ite Muslims.
The forces of Iraq's Shi'ite-led government have seemingly been powerless to stop the advance, often abandoning their posts and fleeing, leaving weapons behind.
A spokesman for United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said Friday the U.N. is receiving reports suggesting the number of people killed in Iraq in recent days may run into the hundreds, and the number of injured may be approaching 1,000. Pillay's office also said the militants are believed to be hunting down anyone associated with the Iraqi government.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday said he expects President Obama to decide quickly on what steps the U.S. will take about Iraq. Speaking during a conference in London, Kerry also said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki should do more to address the sectarian divide in his country. He said the fighting has served as a "wakeup call" to the Iraqi government.
Prime Minister Maliki this week sought to convene an emergency session of parliament to declare a national state of emergency. But no quorum could be reached, as many of Iraq's Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers boycotted the session, objecting to handing Maliki, a Shi'ite, increased authority to combat the militants.
VOA News
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