If the more moderate Al-Sistani is calling for armed conflict, you can only imagine what the followers of radical Shia clerics like Muqtada al-Sadr are planning to do.

(Reuters) – Iraq’s most senior Shi’ite cleric urged his followers to take up arms to defend themselves against a relentless advance by Sunni militants, in a sharp escalation of a conflict which is threatening civil war and the potential break-up of the country.

In a rare intervention at Friday prayers in the holy city of Kerbala, a message from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is the highest religious authority for the Shi’ites in Iraq, said people should unite to fight back against advancing militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Fighters under the black flag of ISIL captured two more Iraqi towns overnight in a lightning sweep south towards the capital Baghdad in a campaign to recreate a mediaeval caliphate carved out of fragmenting Iraq and Syria.

“People who are capable of carrying arms and fighting the terrorists in defense of their country … should volunteer to join the security forces to achieve this sacred goal,” said Sheikh Abdulmehdi al-Karbalai, delivering Sistani’s message to the faithful.

Those killed fighting ISIL militants would be martyrs, he said as worshippers chanted in acknowledgement.