While Iraq’s National Security Council has condemned Wednesday’s Saudi-US strikes against the Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which killed at least 20 members of the Iraqi paramilitary group, an influential Iraqi Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, has blamed the “reckless actions” of Iraqi armed groups and the failure of the state to bring weapons under its control for the deaths of fighters from the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) and Iraqi security personnel following joint US-Saudi air strikes.
Al-Sadr, who commands a mass following among Iraq’s Shia Muslims, has accused militia leaders of pursuing their own interests while their fighters were killed.
According to media reports, he has also called for an end to what he has described as “individualistic and irrational” actions.
The foregoing clearly indicates the growing complexity of the situation following the US-Iran war. For example, while Iraq’s national security council meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, has called the attacks on PMF bases in seven Iraqi provinces “a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and the sanctity of its lands”, Saudi Arabia and US Central Command (CENTCOM) have claimed that their strikes have targeted Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq “responsible for attacks on American troops and Saudi energy infrastructure”.
The Iraqi cleric, al-Sadr, therefore, appears to be quite realistic insofar as his approach to the situation is concerned. In my view, the Iraqi government must take every possible step aimed at reining in its armed militias with a view to fully insulating and protecting its economic and security interests in the ongoing Middle East conflict which has expanded into a wider regional war. Needless to say, Iraq has already suffered too much and for too long for a variety of reasons.
In my view, prime minister Zaidi has to ensure that these militant groups no longer act as the proxies of Western or regional powers in the greater interest of his own country, Iraq, which sits inside the historic region of Mesopotamia (the land of two rivers).
Fahd Tirmizi, Damascus
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
Comments