In a tweet late on Wednesday, Sadr called on the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, also known as Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) to prevent some of its armed groups from conducting rocket attacks and assassinations in Iraq, saying the country will otherwise shift into the unknown.
“What some armed groups affiliated with the Hashd al-Shaabi are doing is weakening Iraq, its people and country, and weakening these three aspects means strengthening the external forces, on top of the list is the great evil America,” Sadr tweeted. "What happens in terms of rocket attacks and assassinations by some of the armed groups affiliated with the Hashd al-Shaabi, even if you are not satisfied with it now, it is not enough."
“It is necessary to seek wisely and deliberately to end making Iraq an arena for the struggle of others and to strive together for the independence, sovereignty, peace, security of Iraq, or Iraq will be shifted away from our hands,” Sadr tweeted.
Sadr’s tweet came minutes after Iranian-backed Asahab al-Kahaf armed group claimed responsibility for a twin improvised explosive device (IED) attack on a convoy of Iraqi contractor company transporting equipment for the British troops, which are part of the US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) troops in Salahaddin province.
Following months of heightened tensions between the US and Iran, rocket attacks on US infrastructure and personnel in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and elsewhere in Iraq have become increasingly frequent.
Also targeting convoys belonging to Iraqi companies transporting for the US-led coalition inside Iraq has become an almost daily occurrence in central Iraq.
An IED also struck a British diplomatic mission convoy in Baghdad last week. While another struck an English-language institute in Najaf’s city centre in the early hours of Friday.
The attack on the British diplomatic mission convoy was condemned by Sadr, as well as the commander of Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah Abu Ali al-Askari last week.
Recent attacks on US and Western targets in Iraq are believed to have been conducted by the Iran-backed Islamic Front for Resistance inside Iraq (al-Muqawama), a group whose aim is to force US troops to withdraw from the country. Units of the group have claimed responsibility for similar previous attacks.
In a statement released last month, the group decried Kadhimi’s recent visit to Washington, and the security consensus between the two countries.
“The visit of prime minister [to Washington] did not include the expulsion of the American invader troops from Iraq completely…so we as resistance forces will no longer wait for the strategic dialogue, but instead we will start to target all American interests in Iraq, and create an earthquake under their troops in Iraq, even if they move far away from our cities,” the statement reads.
Iraqi President Barham Salih, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, and Speaker of the Iraqi parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi met late on Monday and also condemned the recent wave of attacks on convoys belonging to the US-led coalition and diplomatic missions.
“All the attendees of the meeting condemned the attacks on Iraqi and foreign facilities that the country recently witnessed,” reads a statement published by the Iraqi Prime Minister’s media office late on Monday. This includes “the launching of rockets that targeted official diplomatic facilities and the homes of innocent citizens.”
