Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba rejects calls to disarm

Iraqi resistance groups continue to oppose US-backed efforts aimed at their disarmament.

In this context, Majid al-Kaabi, one of the leaders of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, told Al-Akhbar that “the escalation in the region and Israeli threats, which also do not exclude Iraq, make it necessary to preserve the strength and weapons of the resistance as a means of protection and deterrence against any potential aggression.”

He stressed that the group’s weapons “are not directed against the Iraqi state, but serve as a factor supporting it,” adding that they also represent an important leverage point for the government in negotiations aimed at securing the peaceful withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

Al-Kaabi further stated: “The position of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, represented by its Secretary-General Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi, is clear and unequivocal: the weapons will not be handed over to any party until Iraq is completely free of the American presence.”

Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba is an Iraqi Shia paramilitary group established in 2013 by Akram al-Kaabi. The organisation has been particularly active in Iraq and Syria and was originally formed to support the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian conflict. The group is directed by the Quds Force, a special operations unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

By Jeyhun Aghazada