Iraqi PM & Shia cleric announce alliance between their political parties

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have announced that their political blocs will enter into an alliance. The move between Abadi's Victory Alliance and Sadr's Saeroon will "cross sectarian and ethnic divisions," the leaders said during a news conference on Saturday. It remains unclear whether the two parties will be working together with the Fatih coalition, which Sadr had previously committed to enter an alliance with. The Victory Alliance and Saeroon placed third and first in the May parliamentary election, respectively.