By Ali Asghar Pahlavan

@T= TEHRAN (Press TV) -- On January 18, 2008, clashes erupted between Iraqi security forces and members of a cult in the southern Iraqi cities of Nasiriya and Basra.
Dozens of people were killed in the battle with the Soldiers of Heaven (Jund al-Samaa) who reportedly launched coordinated attacks on police positions and Shia pilgrims.
But who are the Soldiers of the Heaven, and how did such a mysterious cult materialize out of nowhere and launch an insurgency against the Iraqi government.
On the second day of the lunar month of Muharram while the residents of al-Toairij were preparing to mourn the third martyred Shia Imam 20 kilometers from his shrine in Karbala, a middle-aged man wearing a green turban with a long beard dressed up to resemble a saint, was addressing his followers in a date garden.
The deceitfully dressed Ahmad Ismail Kamel known as Ahmad al-Hassan al-Yamani claimed to be in contact with and receiving instructions from the 12th Shia leader, the hidden Imam Mahdi (AS).
He alleged that he was the commander of Imam Mahdi's disciples and his fifth envoy and that the Imam had told him the Seminary of Najaf had 'gone astray and should be stopped'.
He urged his companions who were armed with automatic rifles to be prepared for the 'Day of Cry' (Yaum al-Sihah). Hassan al-Yamani's followers believe the first Friday of Muharram is called the 'Day of Cry' on which a universal voice is reverberated throughout the globe and that the true companions of Imam Mahdi (AS) must be prepared for 'Red Friday'.
The cult maintains all pilgrims of the Holy Shrine of Hussein (PBUH) must be massacred on 'Red Friday' in order to set the stage for the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (AS).
Hassan al-Yamani, who was addressing his followers urging them to kill any and all pilgrims with a firm hand, suddenly stopped in mid-sentence to inspect the premises.
He was shocked when he realized Iraqi security forces had surrounded the garden, leaving him no escape route.
Upon entering the garden, Iraqi forces found numerous 'David Stars' with Qur'anic verses inscribed on them.
In his confessions, al-Yamani revealed he had some 5,000 disciples in Basra, Samaveh and Najaf and that his cult was funded by one of the 'rich Persian Gulf littoral states'.
Yamani alleged that this Arab state spends a large sum of money to promote superstition and create sectarian conflict in Iraq.
It's noteworthy that Hassan al-Hammami, the son of one of Najaf's Shia clerics and the publisher of Iraq's Sarat al-Mostaqim (The Right Path) newspaper, is one of the high-ranking members of the cult.
Hammami also runs the al-Mahdiyun web site which publishes news and articles in Farsi, Arabic, English, French and German.
Not long ago the previous leader of the cult Dia Abdul-Zahra known as Abu Kamar was killed in Najaf while trying to upstage the assassination of the city's Shia clerics.
Before he was killed on January 29, 2007, Abu Kamar claimed to be the reincarnation of the first Shia Imam and the son of Imam Mahdi (AS).
In Muharram last year, security forces attacked and disbanded 'Jund al-Samaa', arresting 700 and killing 300 members in the process.
Mahmud al-Hassani al-Sarkhi, who heads another cult in Iraq, has declared himself the 'Guardian of Muslim affairs'.
The egotistic leader, who has followers in Basra, Samaveh, Najaf and al-Naseriyah, refrains from debating with other clerics, claiming they do not possess his level of knowledge and are therefore unworthy opponents.
Sarkhi, who runs a website propagating his beliefs, forbids participation in political activities and No one knows who is behind these cults and financially supports them.
But who benefits from the existence of such cults and their activities?
It is plain simple that cults such as these with sophisticated propaganda machines cannot be funded by Iraqi sources.
The prime suspect could be perhaps one of the foreign powers which has a background in 'divide and rule' policies.
It is no secret that many seek to undermine and marginalize the mainstream Shia clerics who have played a decisive role in Iraq's political arena since the fall of Saddam; what better way to do this than to support such cults?
The outcome of Iraq's elections surprised Western powers, which fantasized establishing a puppet government in the country.
Certain extremist groups, financially and politically supported by the US and its regional allies, have been waiting for a golden opportunity to prevent Shias from rising to power in Iraq.
The followers of these cults seem to have played into the hands of extremist groups which aim to tarnish the image of the Shia faith and to provoke a sectarian war.
With the mushrooming of such cults, certain paranoid politicians who maintain 'the Shia Crescent' illusion can rest assured that Iraqi Shias will be too engaged in fratricide to find the time to confront the occupiers.