FILES: Supporters of Kataib Hezbollah carry flags and march during a funeral procession in Baghdad for two fighters killed in airstrikes on Jurf al-Sakher, Feb. 28, 2026.
Factions call off attack on Saudi Arabia and US bases
BAGHDAD — Iran-aligned factions said they had postponed an attack on Saudi Arabia and U.S. military bases that was set for Friday, standing down at the request of Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said the decision followed Amiri’s appeal and the positions of several political leaders, while insisting it had not abandoned what it called the rights of those killed and wounded in last month’s U.S.-Saudi strikes. “The blood of the martyrs” would not become “a commodity in the marketplace of political bargains,” it said, calling on political figures it accused of failing to protect Iraq’s sovereignty to reconsider their positions.
Amiri released a video earlier Friday urging the factions to hold off in Iraq’s higher national interest. “We promise all the fighters that we will pursue the rights of the martyrs and the wounded through diplomatic means, and we will achieve all of that,” he said. He leads one of the largest factions inside the Popular Mobilization Forces and demanded a review of all Iraq’s agreements with the United States after the strikes.
The appeal followed a night in which Iraqi security forces were placed on high alert and military reinforcements deployed across Baghdad and several other governorates, after Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered forces to raise combat readiness. Iraq’s national security council had said after the strikes that responding was “the exclusive responsibility of the Iraqi government.”
U.S. and Saudi aircraft struck Popular Mobilization Forces sites in Baghdad, Wasit, Nineveh, Basra, Kirkuk, Karbala and Diyala in late July, killing at least 20 members and wounding 32, according to the force. U.S. Central Command said the strikes hit weapons-storage and logistics sites linked to Iran-backed groups after more than 30 drone attacks it attributed to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
The factions had said their response would come once Arbaeen ended. The pilgrimage fell on Tuesday. Kataib Hezbollah said Monday it would keep and expand its weapons rather than hand them over, and with Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada has refused to join the disarmament plan. Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Saraya al-Salam and the Imam Ali Battalions have moved to comply.