Pro-Iran militias mock drone attack on Iraqi PM’s residence

Layal Shakir
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Pro-Iranian Iraqi militia groups have denied involvement in Sunday’s assassination attempt on Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and are mocking reports of the attack and the premier’s calls for restraint and calm.
 
There are “less expensive and more secure” ways to carry out such an attack than using explosive-laden drones, read a statement from senior Kataib Hezbollah commander Abu Ali al-Askari, published on his Telegram channel.
 
“According to our confirmed information, no one in Iraq has even the desire to lose a drone over the house of a former prime minister,” he added.
 
Kadhimi’s residence in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone was attacked with an explosive-laden drone in a “failed assassination attempt,” the Iraqi military’s Security Media Cell said earlier. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
 
Minutes afterwards, Kadhimi tweeted he was well and called for “calm and restraint from everyone, for the sake of Iraq.”
 

 
Askari described Kadhimi’s calls for calm as “ironic,” asking, “Who should be worried? Who has lost control of himself?”
 
Iraq’s interior ministry said three explosive-laden drones were used in the attack, state media reported. Two of the drones were shot down by security forces. In a video message shared with the public, the premier described drones and rockets as “cowardly” and not contributing to building a state or a future.
 
The drone attack came during unrest following last month’s parliamentary election. On Friday, 125 people were injured and an unconfirmed number were killed when supporters of political parties affiliated with pro-Iran militia groups of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) stormed the Green Zone and clashed with security forces. They had been staging a sit-in in central Baghdad for days contesting the election results. Hashd-affiliated parties like the Fatih Alliance lost seats in the vote.
 
The militias are widely blamed for similar drone and rocket attacks on United States interests in Iraq.

The PMF has not released any official statement on the attack, but militia-linked Sabreen News on Telegram has been publishing mocking photos and comments directed at Kadhimi, calling him a “living martyr.” The channel also posted a photo of a flying elephant captioned: “Photos of the drone shortly before it fell.”
 
On Friday, Sabreen shared a photo of Kadhimi dressed in an orange jumpsuit, chained, and locked behind bars with the caption “Wanted for the Iraqi people.”
 
The political wing of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, the Sadiqoon bloc, described the attack as a “made-up explosion” that aimed to cover up the murder of protesters in Friday’s demonstrations, its spokesperson Mahmoud al-Rubayi said.
 
Several officials and political figures have condemned the attack, some calling it “terrorism.”
 
Targeting the prime minister’s house “exacerbates situations, endangers the prestige of the state and storms Iraq’s reputation in front of international public opinion,” Shiite cleric Ammar al-Hakim said in a tweet.
 
Former prime minister Haider al-Abadi tweeted, “we are not a battlefield.”
 
“The stage is critical. Vigilance and restraint are a necessity, and dialogue, understanding, and solidarity have become an existing issue for the state,” he added.
 
Nouri al-Maliki, another former prime minister, said the attack is “unacceptable.” 
 
“We call for dealing with matters wisely and deliberately, away from violence and we call for a sense of responsibility and calmness and to give reasonable politicians the opportunity to deal with matters away from convulsive reactions,” he tweeted, also urging an investigation into the election protest violence.

Shiite politician and militia leader Hadi al-Amiri condemned the attack and called on authorities to investigate the incident and hold perpetrators accountable. He also warned of a third party that could be behind the attack, theorizing they want to cause confusion “and create sedition.”

Sunni political leader Mohammed al-Halbousi tweeted, "Targeting the prime minister's home poses a real threat to the security and stability of the country. It is a condemned, irresponsible act that seeks chaos."

Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Qubad Talabani condemned the attack and called on parties to unite and give priority to the interest of Iraq and its people in order to “establish security and stability throughout the country.”
 
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr described the attack as targeting Iraq, its people, security, and stability. It “returns it [Iraq] to a state of chaos that allows the non-state forces to control it so that Iraq will live under the penalty of riots, violence, and terrorism,” he said.
 
Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, laid blame for the attack on “foreign think tanks” that he said “have brought nothing but insecurity, discord & instability to oppressed Iraqi people through creation & support of terrorist groups & occupation of this country for years.”

On Sunday morning, Kadhimi chaired a meeting of the National Security Council, which blamed the assassination attempt on “criminal armed groups that read the restraint and the high professionalism of the security and military forces as weakness.” The council vowed to identify and prosecute the perpetrators.

 

Updated at 2:29 pm