State of Law official says Framework disputes are past ‘bone-breaking’ stage

BAGHDAD — Disputes inside the Coordination Framework have reached a “skull-breaking” stage with no intention of resolving them, a State of Law member said, naming his own coalition’s fight with Asaib Ahl al-Haq as one over positions and personal interests.

“The dispute between the Framework leaders did not stop at bone-breaking, but has reached skull-breaking, and there is no intention to resolve the crisis,” Zuhair al-Jalabi told I News TV. “The conflict between State of Law and Asaib Ahl al-Haq serves no national interest. Rather, it is a conflict over positions and personal interests.” The groups should be working together to support the government ahead of Sept. 30, he said.

He blamed Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi for tying the coalition withdrawal to the weapons policy. “The Americans did not link the withdrawal with restricting weapons,” he said. “But the prime minister created a crisis for himself. The withdrawal issue was agreed upon during Sudani’s time and is being implemented automatically without these preparations and tensions. So why are you tense, prime minister?” Sept. 30 would be an ordinary day, he said, comparing it with the American departure at the end of 2011, and predicted a return: “They will leave through the door only to return through the window, as happened in 2014.”

Jalabi also said the resignation of 73 Sadrist lawmakers in 2022 had been ordered from outside the movement. “The withdrawal of 73 Sadrist Movement MPs was not arbitrary. Rather, it came by order of the religious authorities in Iraq and Iran after they entered the Green Zone and tried to eliminate each other,” he said, adding that any Sadrist return to politics would need fresh approval. He gave no evidence, and Muqtada al-Sadr presented the resignations at the time as his own decision.

The Coordination Framework is the coalition of Shia parties that forms Iraq’s main governing bloc. It took power after the Sadrist resignations, backed Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s government from October 2022, and now backs Zaidi, who replaced Sudani in May. Nouri al-Maliki said in early July that the Framework remains a successful national project with no reason to break it up.

It is the second attack on the alliance from within State of Law in two days. Former MP Izzat al-Shabandar said on Wednesday that the Framework was formed as a reaction rather than a project, had no binding voting mechanism and no agenda beyond sharing power, and that Zaidi had more opponents than allies inside it.

Zaidi said in Washington in July that there would be no justification for armed factions after Sept. 30. His security adviser Qasim al-Araji has since said the date marks the start of talks rather than a deadline, Maliki said this month that disarmament was no longer the term being used, and Harakat al-Nujaba said the Framework had dropped the call to restrict weapons to the state in favour of regulating them.