---- Title: Iraq chaos as al-Sadr supporters storm Green Zone... after he quits ---- ... Muqtada al-Sadr’s ‘final withdrawal’ from politics announcement spurred followers to violently force their way into Baghdad’s presidential palace. Iraq’s powerful Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has announced he is quitting political life and closing his political offices in a move that inflamed tensions and prompted protests by his supporters. Gunfire rang out in the Green Zone of the capital Baghdad and security forces launched tear gas canisters on Monday to disperse al-Sadr supporters converging on the area. At least 10 people have been killed, the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies reported. Al-Sadr’s statement, published on Twitter, came after months of protests by supporters backing his call for new elections and for the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament, which has seen 10 months of deadlock – representing the longest Iraq has gone without a government. “I hereby announce my final withdrawal,” al-Sadr said. He added that “all the institutions” linked to his Sadrist Movement will be closed, except the mausoleum of his father, assassinated in 1999, and other heritage facilities. The head of the Sadrist parliamentary bloc Hassan Al-Athary announced in a Facebook post later on Monday that al-Sadr began a hunger strike “until the violence and use of weapons” end. My Opinion: Indeed, it is very sad that an important section of the population, an important group of Shia Muslims opposed to Iranian extraterritorial medling, is no longer represented in any form politically. It is an important setback for the young Iraqi Democracy, and for balance in the whole region _in my view_. They had a relative majority, but were not able to negociate a government. The others must have united, unless it was a lack of negociating skills...