March 23, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 19, 1424

DOHA, March 22: Iraq’s main Shia opposition faction, based in Iran, will not take part in the “aggressive war” being waged by the United States and its allies on Iraq, its leader said on Saturday.

“We believe that the method of dealing with (the Baghdad) regime should not be through war. War is harmful,” Mohammad Baqir Hakim of the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) told the Al Jazeera TV news network.

Therefore “we cannot ... be part of the US action since we do not believe in this action”, Mr Hakim said.

SAIRI’s armed wing, the Al Badr Brigade, is believed to number between 10,000 and 15,000 fighters. Many are said to have crossed into Kurdish-held northern Iraq in anticipation of the US-led invasion.

Mr Hakim told the Qatari television station that because the war defied international public opinion as well as UN Security Council resolutions, “we can consider it an aggressive war”.

He also said that his group along with the rest of the Iraqi opposition opposed any Turkish intervention in the north of Iraq, saying that this would “make the situation of the Iraqi issue very serious”.

Both SAIRI and one of the main Kurdish opposition groups said earlier on Saturday that the Iraqi opposition would be allowed to rule the country immediately after President Saddam is ousted from power.—AFP