Kadhimi slams Rab'Allah’s Baghdad military parade
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi slammed a recent military parade through Baghdad by Iran-backed militia Rab'Allah as "a miserable attempt to disrupt the situation in Iraq'' in an interview aired on Saturday night.
"Since my inauguration, we have taken a decision that there is no place for anyone to carry and use weapons illegally," Kadhimi said in the interview aired on TV channel MBC Egypt.
"The security institutions are in a phase of construction, and there is a struggle for power more than a struggle to build the state; there are those looking for a non-state in Iraq," he said.
Rab'Allah paraded through Baghdad on Thursday in a show of force and issued a warning to political parties intentionally delaying approval of Iraq’s federal budget. “We will not remain silent for long," the militia said in a statement.
Videos shared on their Telegram channels showed the masked militiamen driving through the streets of Baghdad on the back of dozens of pickup trucks, carrying RPGs and AK-47s. Some held up images of Kadhimi with a shoe print on his forehead, captioned "It's time to cut off your ears." Kadhimi described Rab’Allah in the interview as a group of young people who are victims of war that have a vendetta against him and no one else.
This is not the first time Iran-backed militias have threatened to cut off the prime minister's ears. Abu Ali al-Askari, a security official for Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah, made the same threat to Kadhimi in December, telling him not to "test the patience" of the group following the arrest of one of their members in connection with a rocket attack on Baghdad's Green Zone.
Rab'Allah is often linked with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi), and their statement was carried on PMF propaganda channels on Telegram. However, the PMF used its official Telegram channel to distance itself from Rab'Allah’s actions.
"Since my inauguration, we have taken a decision that there is no place for anyone to carry and use weapons illegally," Kadhimi said in the interview aired on TV channel MBC Egypt.
"The security institutions are in a phase of construction, and there is a struggle for power more than a struggle to build the state; there are those looking for a non-state in Iraq," he said.
Rab'Allah paraded through Baghdad on Thursday in a show of force and issued a warning to political parties intentionally delaying approval of Iraq’s federal budget. “We will not remain silent for long," the militia said in a statement.
Videos shared on their Telegram channels showed the masked militiamen driving through the streets of Baghdad on the back of dozens of pickup trucks, carrying RPGs and AK-47s. Some held up images of Kadhimi with a shoe print on his forehead, captioned "It's time to cut off your ears." Kadhimi described Rab’Allah in the interview as a group of young people who are victims of war that have a vendetta against him and no one else.
This is not the first time Iran-backed militias have threatened to cut off the prime minister's ears. Abu Ali al-Askari, a security official for Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah, made the same threat to Kadhimi in December, telling him not to "test the patience" of the group following the arrest of one of their members in connection with a rocket attack on Baghdad's Green Zone.
Rab'Allah is often linked with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi), and their statement was carried on PMF propaganda channels on Telegram. However, the PMF used its official Telegram channel to distance itself from Rab'Allah’s actions.