Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Iraq

Iraqi lawmaker rebuts allegations by Shiite militiaman on ISIS ties

2023-05-14

[Shafaq News] Sajjad Salem, a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Wasit governorate, on Saturday vehemently refuted allegations of his affiliation with the Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS), following incendiary comments made by a commander of a Shiite paramilitary faction.

Those remarks were made by Abu Turab al-Tamimi, a commander in a state-sanctioned umbrella of mainly Shiite paramilitary groups, who claimed that Salem was an ISIS sympathizer.

In a statement he released earlier today, Salem denounced al-Tamimi's remarks and called for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces to hold the militia leader accountable.

"We demand that the General Commander of the Armed Forces address the so-called 'Abu Turab al-Tamimi,' who purports to belong to an Iraqi security apparatus while egregiously overstepping his 'duties' by threatening an elected Iraqi politician, who represents the will of the people," he said.

Salem said that the accusations were a response to his vocal criticisms of sectarian policies, the militarization of society, and corruption in the handling of public funds, stressing that addressing these pressing issues falls under the constitutionally protected rights and responsibilities of MPs.

Abu Turab al-Tamimi, a high-ranking member of the Badr Organization affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), had provocatively claimed that, without the PMF, Salem would have been an ISIS governor in Wasit.

"MP Sajjad Salem, show respect [to the PMF], and you will be respected," al-Tamimi tweeted, "you regard the PMF as outside the state's framework and depict it as a politically sectarian entity. With your narrow mindset and limited understanding, you are incapable of grasping the true nature of the PMF and its crucial role in fortifying Iraq's protection and security."

Al-Tamimi accused Salem and his ilk of being susceptible to foreign agendas and fostering societal disintegration during the administration of Iraq's former Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

He praised the PMF's leadership for restoring Iraq's dignity and achieving victory against ISIS, asserting that the PMF serves as the bulwark of the Iraqi system and cannot be exploited to safeguard corrupt politicians or factions.

Link

Iraq

Al-Khazali: some parties are trying to spread chaos in Iraq

2022-06-14

[SHAFAQ] The leader in the Coordination Framework, the villainous-looking Qais al-Khazali

......sinister-looking Iranian stooge, Secretary General of Persian proxy militia Asaib Ahl al-Haq, wannabe Nasrallah......
, revealed that parties working "from behind the keyboard" are trying to spread chaos in Iraq.

Al-Khazali said in a televised interview that some parties were behind hindering the implementation of China's projects in the country, noting that some others worked, during the protests, to hinder the work of the German company Siemens to develop the electricity sector.

"We support the citizens' demands of basic services and right to protest, but solving the country's problems cannot be done through blocking the streets", he noted, "Now that the representatives of the Sadrist bloc have resigned, we entered a new phase."

"We look forward to forming a new government a choosing a Prime Minister who is capable of solving the country's economic problems, as well as other crises like drought", he added.

The leader of al-Fatah coalition, Hadi al-Ameri, called on the supreme religious authority in Najaf to intervene and solve the political crisis in Iraq.

Al-Ameri said in a statement, "The blessed Supreme Marja'iyah, always shows up at the right time to save the day and bring life back to normal."

The President of the Kurdistan region, Nechirvan Barzani, warned of "chaos" in the aftermath of the mass resignation of the Sadrist politicians from the Iraqi parliament, urging the Kurdish parties to join hands.

Barzani tweeted on Monday, "we are watching with concern the latest political updates in Iraq. We hope chaos does not prevail and the parliament represents all the Iraqis."

"I urge all the Kurdish parties to unite," he added.

Link

Iraq

Al-Ameri on the Green Zone and al-Takaddom headquarters attacks: Unjustifiable

2022-01-15

[SHAFAQ] The leader of al-Fatah (Conquest) alliance, Hadi al-Ameri, on Friday denounced the attacks on the parties' headquarters and the Green Zone as "unjustifiable".

Al-Ameri said in a statement earlier today, "we resolutely condemn the recent attacks on the Green Zone and political parties headquarters in general."

"These deeds are unjustifiable. Security forces shall carry out their duties in maintaining security, protecting the citizens and their properties."

Link

Africa North

Four soldiers killed in Mali attack

2021-12-31

[AlAhram] Four Malian soldiers were killed and around a dozen others were maimed when they were attacked in the west of the county, the army said Thursday.

Mali's Armed Forces said the attack occurred late Tuesday in a region of the country where jihadists have attacked soldiers in the past.

An army "unit in the Nara region was the target of a sophisticated attack combining IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) and heavy weapons," the army said in a statement.

It said the army suffered at least "four dead and a dozen seriously maimed," but did not say who carried out the attack.

On Wednesday evening, a brigade in Niena in the far south of the country was attacked, but without any casualties, the army said.

In the centre of the country, a mortar attack targeted the Hombori camp also on Wednesday evening, but there was no material damage.

Mali is the epicentre of a jihadist insurgency that began in the north of the country in 2012 and spread three years later to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
,Thousands of people across the region have died and around two million have been displaced by the conflict.

Despite the presence of French and UN troops, the conflict spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

La Belle France intervened in 2013 and now has roughly 5,000 troops in the region, but plans to lower that number to 2,500-3,000 by 2023.

The spiral of violence has continued despite the coup that brought the military to power in Bamako in 2020.

Link

Iraq

Al-Ameri will be in charge of the talks with the Sadrist movement, source says

2021-12-26

[SHAFAQ] A source in al-Fatah alliance revealed that Hadi al-Ameri, the head of the alliance and the Secretary-General of Badr Organization, will handle the part related to forming the government in the negotiations with the Sadrist bloc according to the division of labor between the Coordination Framework forces.

The source told Shafaq News Agency that the leaders of the Shiite Consortium divided the talks with the other blocs into three axes.

"The first axis will be handled by the head of the State of Law Coalition, Nouri al-Maliki, who will hold the talks with the Kurdish forces to reach a consensual formula that satisfies all the parties and the higher interest of the country."

"In the second axis, former Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi will handle the talks with all the Sunni forces to ensure their endorsement of the Framework's standpoint."

"The two leaders have made a headway in the negotiation rounds held over the past few days," he said.

"Al-Ameri will handle the talks with the leader of the Sadrist movement, Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
Moqtada <q>Tater</q> al-Sadr

...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He had his hereditary rival, al-Khoei, assassinated only a few hours after the holy rival's appearance out of exile in 2003. Formerly an Iranian catspaw, lately he's gagged over some of their more outlandish antics, then went back to catspawry...
, and the leading figures in the movement. A meeting will be held soon between both parties."

"The location of the meeting is yet to be decided, but it is more likely to take place in al-Hanana, the headquarters of al-Sadr in Najaf. The meeting will be dedicated to reaching an agreement over the details related to forming the government if the latter decided to rejoin the Shiite house and form a majority that forms the upcoming national and consensual government."

"The Coordination Framework is sparing no effort to bring the Sadrist movement into the Framework to form a unified Shiite Coalition that agrees upon a comprehensive national agenda."

Link

Iraq

Resistance Factions: Sunday's attack is a strike to the majority's most important achievement

2021-11-08

[SHAFAQ] The consortium of the Iraqi Shiite "Resistance®" factions deplored the liquidation attempt against the Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, earlier on Sunday, calling for a transparent investigation into the circumstances of this transgression.A blurb released on Sunday deemed the attack a strike to "the Iraqi state that we built with our blood, because this position exclusively is one of the most crucial institutions of the state. It is the most important achievement of the majority in the post-dictatorship era."

"This deed is not concordant with our allegiance to building the Iraqi state since the fall of the dictatorship in 2003," the statement continued, "whoever perpetrated this deed is attempting to shuffle the cards; particularly as we demand a fair investigation that reveals the killers of our deaders who demonstrated peacefully on Friday."

"The making of such an incident will not prevent us from our insistence upon punishing the culprits and the big parties involved in the Iraqi bloodshed."

The statement called for "forming a committee with the participation of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF) to investigate this incident and announce the results."

The Resistance® Factions warned of "a series that encompasses more of these acts that aim to confuse the Iraqi street and pass the results of the rigged elections to push Iraq into dangerous stages of its political, economic, and security future."

In a blurb issued earlier today, Sunday, the head of al-Fatah alliance, Hadi al-Ameri, called on the security forces to investigate the circumstances of the attack and reveal the perpetrators as soon as possible.

Al-Ameri warned that a "third party" has executed the drone attack on the Prime Minister's office.

A drone laden with explosives targeted al-Kadhimi's residence inside the Green Zone, downtown the Iraqi capital Baghdad, early on Sunday in what the Iraqi military deemed an attempted liquidation, but said al-Kadhimi escaped unhurt.

A source told Shafaq News Agency earlier that the residence of the Iraqi Premier was targeted by a rocket.

The attack, which security sources said injured several members of al-Kadhimi’s personal protection team, came after protests in the Iraqi capital over the result of a general election last month turned ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful.

No group immediately grabbed credit for the attack on al-Kadhimi’s residence in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies.

Supporters of Iran-aligned gangs which have grown their power in parliament and government in recent years have protested the results of the October election.

Demonstrations by their supporters turned ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful on Friday when protestors pelted police with stones near the Green Zone, injuring several officers.

The police responded with tear gas and live gunfire, killing at least one demonstrator and wounding hundreds, according to security and hospital sources in Baghdad.

Al-Khazali casts doubts on Al-Kadhimi's assassination; al-Maliki calls for avoiding strained reactionshttps://t.co/JF5FDGxK9p
— SHAFAQ News (@Shafaqnews) November 7, 2021

Link

Iraq

Drone spotted over Baghdad conducting surveillance on the homes of Hadi Al-Ameri, Shaykh Jalal Al-Din Al-Saghir, and Ammar Al-Hakim.

2021-03-10

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Iraqi Shiite insurgent source "Sabereen News" is claiming that "an unidentified drone [was] spotted flying at low altitude in the Al-Jadriya area" of Baghdad, allegedly conducting surveillance on the homes of Hadi Al-Ameri, Shaykh Jalal Al-Din Al-Saghir, and Ammar Al-Hakim.
— Evan Kohlmann (@IntelTweet) March 9, 2021

Link

Iraq

Iraq militia boss: US not serious about fighting Daesh

2015-10-06

A top leader of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation paramilitary organisation said on Monday that Baghdad had turned to Russia because the US-led coalition was not serious about fighting the Daesh group.

"To this day, we have not seen a really serious effort to fight Daesh," Hadi Al Ameri said in the holy city of Najaf.

"There are some who try to contain Daesh but not really eliminate them and prevent those fighters from returning to Europe, which is where they came from," he said.

Can't argue with the man: when you're right, you're right...

Ameri is a key MP of the Badr movement, a Tehran-backed Shia party which also has a powerful military wing. He was speaking at a conference organised by Badr's TV channel Al Ghadeer.

So he has an ulterior motive. So does everyone else in Iraq...

"This lack of seriousness of the international coalition made us change tack. Russia is moving in a very serious way against Daesh," he said.

Russia's airforce began air strikes in Syria last week. Moscow says it has been targeting Daesh but Washington and its allies say Russia does not distinguish between Daesh and other groups and ~~correctly~~ accuses the Kremlin of being focused on protecting Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and his regime.

You have to have fallen off the turnip truck late last night to miss what Russia is doing in Syria...

Iraq announced last week it had agreed to set up a cell in Baghdad aimed at increasing intelligence cooperation with Russia, Syria and Iran in the fight against Daesh. The government in Baghdad has since said it might consider allowing Russia to bomb Daesh targets in Iraq as well.

It's the 'strong horse' argument again...

Ameri said Daesh's ability to recruit internationally was unprecedented in the history of terrorism.

"They are currently recruiting fighters from 108 countries in the world and all of them are going through Turkey, with the coalition's knowledge," he said.

"We told America" 'if you are serious about fighting Daesh, you have to stop those arrivals, which are wreaking carnage and destruction on Syria and Iraq'," he said.

The US-led coalition - which also includes France and Britain - has carried out more than 7,000 strikes on Iraq and Syria since August 2014.

That's fewer than 20 a day...

Those have helped Iraqi forces roll back some of the territorial gains Daesh made last year but the militant group has proved resilient and the security forces slow to reform.

They're slow to return because–among other reasons–they have no expectation of support, and virtually no air cover.

Ameri and other Iraqi politicians have criticised the West's commitment as conditional and arms deliveries as too slow.

Link

Iraq

Tribal Leaders Refuse US Help to Iraqi Forces in Fight against ISIL

2015-07-25

[ALMANAR.LB] An Iraqi tribal leader announced that in the ongoing fight against the so-called 'Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
group, the volunteer forces do not accept assistance from the US.

"The US only speaks and it has not helped Al-Anbar tribes (in their fight against the ISIL)," Sheikh Naeem al-Kaod, leader of Iraq's Bu Nimr tribe, told Al-Alam News Network on Friday.

He pointed to the US officials' remarks on arming al-Anbar province's tribes, and said, "It is for two years now that we hear such news, but no action has been taken in this regard thus far."

Sheikh al-Kaod reiterated that if al-Anbar's tribes had been armed they could have resisted the ISIL's attacks, but unfortunately they have not been helped so far.

The US and western media have repeatedly stated that it has cooperation with Iraqi volunteer forces, a claim that has been strongly rejected by the popular troops.

In late June, a Bloomberg View column, citing two unidentified American administration officials, claimed that Popular Mobilization forces are sharing use of a military base with US troops.

In response, the Iraqi volunteer forces (dubbed in Arabic 'Hashd al-Shaabi') categorically rejected the Bloomberg report.

"There is no cooperation and coordination with the Americans to win back the regions controlled by the ISIL," Spokesman of Iraqi Volunteer Forces Karim al-Nouri said in reaction to news reports on Hashd al-Shaabi's cooperation with US forces.

Also in June, Secretary-General of the powerful Badr Organization Hadi al-Ameri underlined that the Iraqi forces have no need to the US assistance in their fight against the ISIL terrorist group.

Al-Ameri said that sending more American troops will damage the plan to free Iraqi cities and towns from ISIL control.

Link

Iraq

6th IAD Continues to Listen to USSOF Advice: Captures AQI Leader

2007-11-07

Iraqi Security Forces and U.S. Special Forces capture seven extremists in Baghdad raid

BAGHDAD 6th Iraqi Army Division Soldiers, advised by U.S. Special Forces, captured seven al-Qaeda in Iraq extremists during operations in Mansour Nov. 4.

Captured was the primary target for the operation, a suspected AQI leader who reportedly organizes and personally conducts kidnappings, murders, car-bombings, and improvised explosive devices attacks. He reportedly runs a criminal network thought to be behind terrorist attacks carried out in the Ahdimiyah, Al Kahdra, Al Ameriyah, Yarmouk, and Mansour districts of Baghdad.
The line between Al Qaeda and ordinary criminal is rather blurry.
According to intelligence reports, the suspect is believed to have ordered the murder of a family of three and the killing of eight construction workers. He is also thought to be behind the attempted murder of a Mansour City Council Chairman and an IED attack that killed three Iraqi checkpoint guards.

During the operation, Iraqi and U.S. Forces detained eight additional suspects for questioning.
Who gets to do the questioning? Being it was an Iraqi op with just our 'advice' one would suppose the questioning of prisoners would be handled similarly - too bad for the ones being questioned.
No Iraqi or U.S. Special Forces were injured during this operation.
Whether any detainees turn out to have been injured may depend on how they respond to questioning.

Link

Iraq

Sunni mosques attacked after Shia shrine bombing

2007-06-15

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three Sunni mosques were bombed in Iraq on Thursday in apparent reprisals for an attack on a revered Shia shrine, sparking fears of fresh sectarian bloodletting. Curfews were swiftly imposed in Baghdad and in Samarra, where suspected Al Qaeda militants on Wednesday bombed the Al Askari mosque, but at least six Sunni mosques have been attacked, including one in the capital.

The destruction of Samarras two gold-covered minarets came after an initial attack on the shrine in 2006, also blamed on Al Qaeda, sparked Sunni-Shia reprisals that have claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Early Thursday, two Sunni mosques in Iskandiriyah and one in Mahawil, both south of Baghdad, were bombed, Lieutenant Kamal Al Ameri of Hilla police told AFP. One of the Iskandiriyah mosques had already been attacked on Wednesday, along with two others in the town and one in Baghdad -- the latter despite a curfew in the capital that was due to be lifted on Saturday.

Insurgents bombed the mosque again today at around 4:00 am (midnight GMT) and shrapnel from the bomb wounded a woman and girl in a nearby apartment, Ameri said of Iskandiriyahs twice-bombed Al Hatteen mosque. He said that on Wednesday unknown men had launched a coordinated attack on the towns Grand Mosque, first with bombs and then with rocket-propelled grenades.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Dissident: Iran Is Training Iraqis

2007-03-21

Iraqi insurgents, guerrilla fighters and death squads are being trained in secret camps in Iran with the blessing of top Tehran leaders and at least three senior Iraqi political figures, an Iranian opposition figure said Tuesday. Would-be Iraqi fighters are smuggled into Iran, schooled in everything from sniper techniques to explosive devices and sent back to Iraq to wage war on U.S.-led coalition forces, Alireza Jafarzadeh said at a news conference.

"The Iranian regime is secretly engaged in the organization and training of large Iraqi terrorist networks in Iran to heighten insecurity and instability and force the coalition forces to leave Iraq, which would in turn pave the way for establishment of an Islamic republic in Iraq," Jafarzadeh said. He has worked for the political wing of the Mujahedin Khalq, an Iranian opposition group that Washington and the European Union list as a terrorist organization.

Jafarzadeh, who heads the Washington-based Strategic Policy Consulting think tank, is credited with having aired Iranian military secrets in the past. The group claims to obtain its information from a network of resistance informants inside the country. But U.S. officials considered some of Jafarzadeh's past assertions inaccurate.

There was no independent confirmation of the latest information. The U.S. Mission to the United Nations had no immediate comment. "His statement today is a public announcement that this group has been the source of allegations which U.S. officials are making about Iranian intervention in Iraq," said Mohammad Mir Ali Mohammadi, a spokesman for Iran's U.N. Mission.

Jafarzadeh said Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are closely connected to the training. He said Abu Ahmad Al-Ramisi, governor of southern Iraq's Al-Muthanna province, and two members of Iraq's National Assembly are also involved. He identified one as Hadi Al-Ameri, who he said is chairman of the legislature's security committee and head of the Badr Corps, the Iran-based military wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The other is an assembly member known in Iraq as Abu Mehdi Mohandas, he said.

Jafarzadeh displayed maps and satellite photos showing some of the purported camps' locations, including two near the former shah's palace in Tehran, one south of that city in Jalil Abad and another at the Bahonar base in Karaj. Other camps, he said, are in Qom, in Isfahan and in Iraq-Iran border areas near Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Ilam and Khuzestan. The camps are run by several top commanders of the Qods Force, the most highly trained branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, with some Hezbollah members from Lebanon also taking part, he said.

Link

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