Fighters from Nujaba pose in military uniforms, raising their weapons and a yellow flag bearing the group’s emblem.
Nujaba says it raised arrests of members with Coordination Framework leaders
BAGHDAD — Harakat al-Nujaba told Shia political leaders that arrests of faction members and security moves against Popular Mobilization Forces sites were unacceptable, member Mahdi al-Kaabi said, after a delegation met several of them last month.
The delegation saw former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali and Hikma Movement leader Ammar al-Hakim on Aug. 24. “There is no problem between us, but the issue of escalation in the media and the arrest of some resistance members, whether in the PMF or the resistance, is rejected, and this is targeting us — if not today, then tomorrow,” Kaabi said in a televised interview. He said the Counter-Terrorism Service had “moved against some sites belonging to the PMF or Al-Nujaba during that period,” without giving details.
The judiciary cleared Abbas al-Yaqoubi, a Nujaba-linked PMF intelligence director, of all accusations on Aug. 19, about 48 hours after Counter-Terrorism Service forces detained him at his home in Dhi Qar.
Kaabi criticised what he called the mouthpieces of the government, along with the government spokesperson and the spokesperson for the commander-in-chief, over what he described as media escalation and accusations that members were acting outside the law. “The dialogue must be Iraqi-Iraqi. We want the American to leave because the American is the one working on this division,” he said. “Pressure on the government to restrict or disarm weapons is an American project.”
He restated the group’s alignment with Tehran: “Our position is firm in supporting the Islamic Republic.” Asked whether Nujaba would take part if the war widened, he said Iran “will not ask others to participate,” but that there is coordination and leadership assessing Iraq’s interests, and that the movement “stands with all countries of the axis, particularly the Islamic Republic, and we do not wait for a request from anyone.”
Nujaba is one of three factions refusing to join the plan to bring weapons under state control by Sept. 30, with Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada. Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Saraya al-Salam and the Imam Ali Battalions have moved to comply.