Iraqi cleric Ahmed al-Safi, an aide of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, speaks as he delivers the text of a sermon by Sistani during Friday prayers at the Imam Hussein shrine in the holy city of Kerbala August 15, 2014. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Tribal leaders and clerics from Iraq's Sunni heartland offered their conditional backing on Friday for a new government that hopes to contain sectarian bloodshed and an offensive by Islamic State militants that threatens to tear the country apart.
One of the most influential tribal leaders said he was willing to work with Shi'ite prime minister-designate Haider al-Abadi provided a new administration respected the rights of the Sunni Muslim minority that dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
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