Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah rejects disarmament: Weapons for Imam Mahdi
Shafaq News – Baghdad
The Iraqi Resistance will never surrender their weapons except before Imam Mahdi — a revered figure in Shiite Islam believed to be the awaited redeemer who will one day establish global justice — a senior commander from the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah declared on Saturday.
In a statement, Abu Ali Al-Askari, the group’s security official, condemned what he described as “cowards echoing Zionist-American demands” to dismantle resistance arsenals across the region, arguing these weapons had defended Iraq and its holy sites against extremist forces, which he blamed on “American-backed Saudi Wahhabi takfiri gangs.”
“These weapons are a sacred trust for Imam Mahdi, safeguarded by the mujahideen defending Iraq’s sanctities,” Al-Askari emphasized, insisting that only the Imam could authorize their surrender.
He also dismissed calls to disarm as “the lowest insult,” urging followers to focus instead on confronting American and Turkish forces in Iraq. Al-Askari also reminded supporters of the massacres committed by ISIS in 2014, crediting resistance fighters for stopping its advance and pledging they would continue to protect the country.
About the Iraqi Resistance
A term typically refers to an umbrella of Iran-aligned armed factions that emerged following the US invasion in 2003 and gained further prominence during the war against ISIS. These include groups such as Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, many of which are formally integrated into the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) while maintaining separate chains of command and ideological alignment with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Often identifying themselves as muqawama (resistance), these factions frame their mission as resisting foreign occupation and defending Iraq’s sovereignty and religious sanctities.
