“The American administration or the congress classifying the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq means nothing to us,” Ahmed Ali Hussein told Rudaw. “I take pride today, because today the American government lists me on the terror list.”
Hussein, a leadership member of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq running on the Sadiqun list, won one of the Shiite list’s 15 seats.
Sadiqun is a part of the Fatih coalition that won 47 seats, the second highest number of seats in the election.
After the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal on May 8, Washington reimposed pre-JCPOA sanctions while also targeting “Iranian malign activity” and “destabilizing activities.”
Hussein pointed out that his group was the first to fight against ISIS and accused the United States of double standards.
“We believe Daesh (ISIS) is the product of American policies. This project was aimed to assail Iraq’s unity,” said Hussein.
Qais al-Khazali established Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq during the Iraqi insurgency in 2006, which was part of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army in 2004. Also called the Khazili Network, they split from Sadr in 2008.
Members of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq have most recently participated in the ISIS and Syrian conflicts.
The Khazili Network has been close to Kata’ib Hezbollah, which the United States designated as a terrorist organization in 2009 for having “committed, directed, supported, or posed a significant risk of commit acts of violence against Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces.”
Hussein said they were honored to have fought the “occupation” and to have routed the Americans.
As the ISIS conflict wound down in October 2017, Khazili called on the United States “without any delay to leave our homeland,” following comments by the US Secretary of State for “Iranian militia” in Iraq to go home.
“Iran not only exports terrorism and instability across the world, it routinely violates the rights of its own people,” said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday after announcing more sanctions against Hezbollah in Iran.
In December 2016, the Iraqi parliament passed a law to formally bring the Hashd al-Shaabi militias under the command of the prime minister. The Hashd were formed after a fatwa by the highest Shiite cleric in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, following the ISIS blitzkrieg of 2014.
The Iraqi constitution prohibits the formation of armed groups outside the framework of the official army.
“They shall be subject to the control of the civilian authority, shall defend Iraq, shall not be used as an instrument to oppress the Iraqi people, shall not interfere in the political affairs, and shall have no role in the transfer of authority,” reads the Iraqi constitution.
Abadi’s direct command of the paramilitaries has been questioned, and his Nasr (Victory) alliance finished third in the elections – behind Sadr’s Sayirun list and Hadi al-Amiri’s Fatih list. Amiri is head of the Iran-backed Badr Corps.
“For Iranian intervention, if there is any, the Iraqi government has to reject all intervention,” said Hussein. “We reject any intervention in Iraq affairs, whoever it might be, and under whatever names it might be.”
Both Sadr and Amiri’s groups fought ISIS and have parlayed their successes into electoral gains.
Iraq is currently working to form a new coalition government. The US invested heavily in the “new Iraq,” but at the same time is trying to balance regional influence between Shiite Iran and mostly Sunni Persian Gulf states.
“We will work with whoever the Iraqi Government and the people of Iraq decide to elect into its government. We’ve had a long, good – longstanding, good relationship with the Government of Iraq and we will continue to have a good relationship with them,” said US Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert on Wednesday.
