Is 94-year-old Ali al-Sistani on Israel's target list?

Published October 10th, 2024 - 07:24 GMT
Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
A handout picture provided by the Vatican media office shows top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani during a meeting with Pope Francis (unseen) in the Iraqi shrine city of Najaf, on March 6, 2021. (Photo by VATICAN MEDIA / AFP)

ALBAWABA - The name of Iraqi scholar Ali al-Sistani, 94, has been trending on social media following reports that he is on Israel's target plan along with other Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian commanders. 

Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani's photo being placed near other figures by Israeli media has caused chaos among Iranians and Iraqis considering his age and the fact that he is one of Iraq's highest religious authorities.

Israeli Channel 14 recently projected "Israel's target list" of prominent regional leaders that included Ali al-Sistani along with others including Houthi's Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's deputy secretary-general, as well as Yahya Sinwar, Hamas chief. 

In addition to the photos of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who Israel claimed to have targeted in Lebanon in the same strike that killed Hashem Safieddine in southern Lebanon.

According to the Al Mayadeen channel, al-Sistani was marked as a "legitimate target". 

Social media users decried placing the Iraqi scholar on the target list adding that it could lead to the spark of more tension in the Middle East.