An Iraqi Shia militia group on Monday said they would overthrow any government in Baghdad that opposes Iran “in some few weeks.”
The statement came from Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba’s Nasr al-Shammari during a meeting with former secretary of the Iranian National Security Council Saeed Jalili, according to the Iranian ABNA agency. Shammari is in Iran on a visit.
“[The] Americans know that if any Iraqi government takes a step against Iran, it will be toppled in some few weeks,” the official said, emphasizing, according to the Iranian outlet, the close relations between Iran and Iraq.
Akram al-Kaabi first formed Nujaba in 2013 with active support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Kaabi sought to support the Bashar al-Assad-led Syrian regime in the country’s civil war. He was also the co-founder of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, another Iraqi Shia militia organization.
Both became part of Iraq’s security apparatus under the Hashd al-Shaabi conglomerate when the so-called Islamic State overran the country in 2014. In May, Nujaba fighters were also reportedly in the Iranian Kurdish city of Oshinaveh (Shno), killing two unarmed Kurds by firing at a moving vehicle.
Also in May, the United States sanctioned Nujaba – which reportedly has about 10,000 fighters – and its leader as terrorist entities. Washington also considers Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which is still a close ally of Nujaba and is backed by Iran, a terrorist organization.
The Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), “is now the enemy of the US,” Shammari said. He described the US Embassy in Iraq as a “Den of Espionage,” claiming it recruits media activists to fight Shia Islamic values.
“In response,” he stated, “Nujaba has also trained a group of media activists to foil the soft warfare and negative propaganda of the enemy.”
Source » kurdistan24