Nujaba leader: only ‘force and weapons’ work with Israel’s backers

BAGHDAD — Akram al-Kaabi, secretary-general of Harakat al-Nujaba, warned Iraqi political actors Tuesday against seeking “understandings” with international powers that support Israel, saying his movement would continue to rely on “the logic of force and weapons” in dealing with them.

In a statement following recent Israel-Iran attacks, Kaabi praised Iran’s missile strike against Israel as a response to what he called the actions of the “criminal Zionist entity,” and commended what he described as a “rapid response” by Yemen’s Houthis, saying their actions dealt Israel a “surprise blow.”

“We warn everyone who imagines that in the Iraq of holy sites it is possible to reach an understanding with the graduates of Epstein Island, filled with injustice and corruption, whose way is treachery, betrayal, lies and deception,” Kaabi said. “Nothing works with them except the logic of force and weapons, and this is our choice with them, and we will never deviate from it.”

The remarks come as Iraq formally began integrating Saraya al-Salam into the state security structure at a ceremony in Samarra last Thursday, following Muqtada al-Sadr’s May 27 announcement that the group would come under state authority. The precise command structure for compliant factions has not been publicly detailed, with official statements using broad terms such as “integration” and “restructuring” without specifying whether fighters will be absorbed individually into army units or remain as intact formations.

Harakat al-Nujaba, Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada have rejected disarmament, describing their weapons as “a trust and a duty.”

The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program has offered up to $10 million each for information on Kaabi, Kataib Hezbollah leader Ahmad al-Hamidawi and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada secretary-general Abu Ala al-Walaei.

Since the regional war began in late February, Iran-aligned factions under the Islamic Resistance in Iraq umbrella have carried out repeated drone, rocket and missile attacks on US military and diplomatic targets in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region, while the United States has struck positions linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces across multiple governorates, killing dozens of fighters.