Iraq’s Ayatollah Sistani Sends Food, Medicine to Sunni Families

Alwaght- Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Sistani, the highest Shiite religious authority in Iraq, has been trying to extract the seeds of sectarianism that have been planted in Iraq for many years.   Having already issued many fatwas aimed at prohibiting sectarian acts in the torn up country, Ayatollah Sistani has sent food and medicine supplies for 8,000 Sunni families in Iraq’s Saladin Governorate.   The governorate is predominantly Sunni and declared itself a semi-autonomous region in 2011. It is also the home province of former dictator Saddam Hussein and is the site of the shrines of the 10th and 11th Shiite Imams, al-Askari Shrine.   It has also been a fertile ground for ISIS terrorists since the group captured large swathes of territory in the north in 2014. Tikrit and Baiji have been liberated by the Iraqi army and national forces but the cities remain largely affected by the war. It is largely held up by government forces.