Hashd supporters hold pro-Gaza protest in Baghdad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Supporters of the pro-Iran militias held a large demonstration in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Friday in support of Gaza, with some saying they are ready to go and fight.

The protest was held near the United States embassy and security forces took measures to prevent the protesters from attacking the compound. Many Iraqis are angry about US support for Israel in its brutal response to a surprise attack by the military wing of the Hamas Movement which has killed at least 1,400 Israelis. 

The demonstrators, supporters of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), called on Arab states to join forces against Israel. 

“From this place, near the US embassy, we say that we reject interference in the cause of Palestine until justice is served and the cause is treated in the right way. Today the United States of America is strongly supporting the invading Zionist entity. They are complicit in this war,” Kazim Fartusi, spokesperson for one the Hashd-linked militia groups, told Rudaw’s Halkawt Aziz during the demonstration. 

American forces based in Erbil and Iraq’s Anbar province have been the target of rocket and drone attacks after militia groups warned that US troops in the country would be “legitimate targets” if Washington directly intervenes in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

More than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7.

Iraq’s influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday called on Muslims, Arabs, and “all peace lovers” around the world to gather for “peaceful” protests on the borders with Israel and stay there until the siege on Gaza is lifted. 

Friday’s protesters said they were waiting for a religious order, a fatwa, from Iraq’s highest Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to go to Gaza. 

“We are waiting for an order from the marja [Sistani]. Then, we will immediately head to Palestine. We are at their service and we are ready to sacrifice ourselves for them,” Hassan Ali, a protester, told Rudaw. 

Tens of thousands of Sadr supporters gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square for “million-man” protests last week, in a mass display of solidarity with the Palestinian people.