BAGHDAD/ Aswat al-Iraq: Kurdish leader said today that there are "Shiite preparations, particularly Asa'ib al-Haq militias, ready to counter the dangers of the demonstrations taking place in west northern parts of Iraq and the attempts to topple Premier Nouri al-Maliki".

The Kurdish leader, refrained to identify himself, expected to Saudi al-Sharq al-Awsat daily, "dramatic developments within the coming weeks' in regard the demonstrations' crisis".

He expected that the demonstrations will move to Baghdad to press for "toppling Maliki".

On the Iranian role, the source added that "Iran is trying to counter the regional planning to topple Maliki, so it asked the Shiite leaderships to unite at this stage to counter these dangers".