Faction–state rift deepens amid PMF row and UK envoy spat
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Kataib Hezbollah accused domestic parties on Sunday of advancing “the enemies’ agenda” and reaffirmed its demand for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq.
Kataib Hezbollah is an Iraqi Shiite armed faction that is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) — an umbrella organization of Shiite groups formed in 2014 to fight ISIS.
In a statement, the Iran-aligned faction said it had “stood as a bulwark in defense of Iraq’s sovereignty” since the US invasion and through the fight against ISIS, claiming more than 4,000 killed and wounded. It accused the United States and its allies of seeking to tarnish its record.
The group linked its remarks to recent calls by British Ambassador Irfan Siddiq to dissolve the PMF, and to alleged pressure on the committee investigating the Agriculture Directorate incident in Baghdad. It said it had agreed with leaders of the Coordination Framework — the ruling Shiite political alliance — to form an impartial investigation panel under their supervision, arguing that “the opponent cannot be the judge.”
The Agriculture Directorate clashes involved armed confrontations between PMF fighters and federal security forces, leaving at least three dead — a PMF member, a civilian, and a federal police officer — and prompting Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to acknowledge “flaws” within the PMF’s command structure. He dismissed the commanders of two Kataib Hezbollah brigades and referred them to the judiciary.
The row with the British envoy follows a televised interview in which Siddiq questioned the PMF’s role in post-ISIS Iraq, remarks that Shiite factions have condemned as interference in Iraqi sovereignty.
The controversy has sharpened political debate over amendments to the PMF Authority Law, with allied factions such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq urging parliament to fast-track a stronger legal framework defining the force’s structure and powers within Iraq’s security apparatus.
