Iraqs top Shiite authority voiced on Friday support for popular protests that have been raging in the southern Basra region for a week. Representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai said: "It is not fair and it is never acceptable that this generous province is one of the most miserable areas in Iraq.” He urged the "federal and local government to deal seriously with the demands of citizens", while also calling on demonstrators to refrain from violence. “Had officials properly invested finances and expertise away from petty calculations and stood against corruption, we would not be witnessing such tragic circumstances today,” he added. Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s office, meanwhile, said that he had held a series of meetings with the local government in Basra and with security leaderships there as soon as he returned to the country. He flew straight into the southern city from Brussels where he attended a NATO summit to discuss the ISIS terrorist group, and immediately held talks with officials. Hundreds of people holding Iraqi flags gathered outside the regional headquarters in Basra city center Friday, with security forces including riot police deployed heavily. The demonstrators have been protesting over unemployment, rising living costs and a lack of basic services in the city. Abadi in Basra ordered local officials to sort out "the legal status" of security guards employed by the interior ministry at oil facilities, his office said. These guards receive no benefits and work without contracts unlike their peers at the interior ministry. At a later meeting with local tribal leaders Abadi pledged to "spend the necessary funds for Basra, including on services and reconstruction", a source close to the prime minister told AFP. "People are hungry, there is no water, no electricity," protester Abdullah Khaled, 29, told AFP. Protests spread northwards as well to other regions Friday as demonstrators took to the streets in the Dhi Qar, Maysan and Najaf provinces. An AFP journalist reported several protesters were injured as dozens forced their way into the waiting room at the airport serving the holy city of Najaf despite a heavy police presence. Several civilians and policemen were also injured in clashes around the governors home in the city of Nasiriyah, a medical source said. Media aide at the oil ministry Assem Jihad, meanwhile, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Oil exports from the south have not been affected by the protests.” He revealed that a crisis cell of concerned ministers and officials, headed by Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi has agreed on a series of procedures in order to find a solution the situation. An informed source later told Asharq Al-Awsat that Iraq has been affected by the US sanctions imposed against Iran. He explained that the sanctions have prevented the country from paying back debts piled up from energy loans and worth some $100 million. In addition, he warned that operation in the gas pipeline from Iran to Iraq may come to a halt soon if Baghdad does not pay its dues to Tehran.