Iraq's top cleric supports Abadi's government

Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Monday met with the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and expressed his support to Abadi's new government and its fighting against the extremist Islamic State ( IS) militant group.
"Sistani welcomed and blessed the formation of the new government and stressed on the necessity for Abadi to be opened to other Iraqi factions to preserve the country's national unity," Abadi told reporters after the meeting with Sistani in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, some 160 km south of Baghdad.
Abadi said that the Grand Ayatollah supports Abadi's stance to reject foreign ground troops on the Iraqi soil.
"We can liberate our territories by ourselves because there is no state in the world ready to fight instead of you and give you the land. We have to work hand in hand to liberate our territories, " Abadi said.
He also said that the Iraqi capital is secured enough against any possible attack by the IS militants saying "our defensive lines are far away from the Baghdad and there is security and intelligence efforts by the security forces to monitor the situation around the capital".
Abadi confirmed that the Iraqi security forces have recently carried out military operations and made some progress in their fight against the IS militants, including the latest advance of the troops toward the militant-seized town of Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad.
Abadi's meeting with Sistani is widely seen as gaining symbolic significance. The top Shiite cleric has refused to receive all politicians during the past four years as a signal of discontent toward the way they run the country.
Abadi is scheduled to fly to Tehran later in the day to meet with Iranian leaders to discuss the bilateral relations and the international effort to fight against IS militants in Iraq and Syria.
Abadi's visit to Iran is his first since he took over the post as the prime minister. The significance of his visit to Iran came as the neighboring Shiite state is playing a major role during the past months in helping Baghdad in its fight against the IS militant group.
Relations between the Shiite Muslim country of Iran and the Shiite-dominated government of Iraq have been picked up considerably since Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime was ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Iraq and Iran fought a bloody eight-year war in 1980s, resulting in the loss of one million lives.