Touch the sky

Observers of Iraq have often heard the term “resistance factions" or “Islamic resistance of Iraq.” Such names are applied to the union of various factions with Islamic ideology, which first declared themselves during the American occupation. The main organizations hiding under the brand “Islamic Resistance” are Kataeb Hezbollah, Asaib al-Haq, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba and the Brigade of the Lord of Martyrs. Each of these groups has its own proxies and branches. Despite the glorious history of jihad, today the factions of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have come to a real impasse in their development.

The Resistance factions, despite the common system of views, cannot unite into one religious and political force, nor are they able to put forward an ideology for the revolutionary transformation of Iraq. The situation shows that there is little pro-Iranian orientation, because besides them, there are quite well-known political, religious leaders and organizations in Iraq, whose reference point is the Islamic Republic of Iran, and who are really moving towards fundamental changes, which cannot be said about factions like Kataeb Hezbollah and Sheikh Khazali, who have been supporting for quite a long time the “quota system" mode. The support of the dictatorship of the oil cartel in Iraq demonstrates the strongest contradiction in the policy of the Islamic Resistance factions, with the exception of Harakat al-Nujaba, who so far only verbally oppose the quota system. The contradiction lies in the anti-imperialist nature of the factions, but this does not prevent them from supporting the system of government imposed by the Americans in their country.

Another point is Sistani, it is known that Marja is the main opponent of Iran in the Shiite environment of Iraq. The resistance factions ignore the dictatorship of Najaf, which sooner or later will turn into a big problem, since the aging Sistani has a son with an open anti-Iranian agenda, who is much more radical than his father in relation to Tehran. But the Islamic Resistance cannot even choose a local religious authority as opposed to Marja in order to somehow initiate changes in society.

The main complaint against the Islamic Resistance of Iraq is passivity in terms of revenge against the Americans and Zionists for the murder of Suleimani and Muhandis. Here you can object, they say the Iranians decided to plan a broader response to the Yankees than just bombing the Pentagon bases in the region, yes it is, but this does not mean that the Iraqis are relieved of responsibility. The US bases are still functioning on the territory of Iraq and the destruction of the occupiers would still not affect the nuclear deal between Iran and the West or the regional situation. On the other hand, resistance groups consistently carry out light attacks against the occupiers several times a month so far without lethal consequences for Washington, this indicates a high level of combat training of the factions, they can get any Yankees anywhere in Iraq. But, what's next? Here we come back to the question of ideology. It is not enough just to throw Americans out of their country, it is not enough to declare themselves loudly, it is much more important to change the notorious quota system, but the Islamic Resistance of Iraq does not dare to take such a step, because they do not have any revolutionary idea for the local society.

Today, some of the faction leaders manage to justify their inaction against the occupiers with controversial statements, so Sheikh Khazali stated that “the resistance was ready to attack the Americans, but we were waiting for a signal from the Iranians, they hesitated, and then it was too late.” The sheikh should understand that the response of the Iranians is one thing, but the Iraqis are another. The answers of the Iranians and Iraqis to the Americans do not necessarily have to overlap, Asaib al-Haq must either take responsibility or join other political forces with a certain plan of action. Further, the sheikh pointed out that the alleged “Turkish intervention is more dangerous than the remnants of Americans in the country.” The Turks are just the guides of the Americans in the region, and they are in every way afraid of going into direct confrontation with pro-Iranian factions in Iraq, while the Pentagon has officially been declared terrorists on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The difference between Turks and Americans is huge.

They say that there is some kind of truce between the resistance factions and the Yankees, in any case, it has clearly dragged on and is working into the hands of Washington. In any case, the tactics of conformity of the Iraqi resistance forces affected their relationship with the IRGC.

The situation with the Zionists also raises questions. While the resistance groups position themselves as the “main anti-Zionist force”, they have limited themselves to partial participation in the Battle of the Sword of Al-Quds. Although no one prevents groups from attacking Zionist positions in self-proclaimed Kurdistan, Anbar or Baghdad*1. The resistance factions were not even able to impose a struggle on the Zionists in the political arena, in connection with which Muqtada Sadr himself took the initiative into his own hands and introduced a law to parliament on “banning all types of relations with Zionists.”

In conclusion, I will turn to the chronology of the formation of the Islamic Resistance, as an operational room of groups in the post-occupation period, when the Americans occupied the whole of Iraq. In 2018, Sheikh Nasiri, then associated with Harakat al-Nujaba, said in an interview with al-Mayadeen channel that “a huge army will soon be created to liberate al-Quds, the backbone of which will be the Iraqi resistance factions.” Four years have passed, there has been no official announcement of the “al-Quds army”, moreover, there is still a split within the faction in Iraq and disagreements with other leading political forces of the country. It is not necessary to give up on the project, but there are many problems in becoming at the moment. And by the way, neither Sheikh Khazali nor Kataeb Hezbollah said anything like that about the "liberation Army of Palestine", the question arises, what are their plans for the occupied al-Quds?

At the end of May 2019, a video appears claiming the creation of the so-called “Free Revolutionaries Front”, which depicted several people against the background of the flags of Hashad al-Shaabi and several PMU groups: in particular, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Saraya Ashura, Saraya Al-Khorasani, Kataib Sayyid al- Shuhada, Liwa al-Tafuf, Kataib Jund al-Imam, Badr, Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib al-Imam Ali and Saraya al-Salam. In the video, the speaker declared the unity of the factions in opposing the US presence and called on the Iraqis to join the front. Time has passed, the Revolutionary Front has not declared itself in terms of attacks against the Pentagon terrorists.

The factions of the Islamic Resistance existed for many years in a shadow regime, then integrated into Hashad al-Shaabi, but with the condition of maintaining autonomy. However, the advantages of “personal freedom” did not allow them to get away from factionalism and create a monolithic structure based on a one resistance faction*2. Therefore, we should not be surprised if tomorrow we hear about the dissolution of a number of well-known organizations, in this situation they should only blame themselves. One thing is clear, the Ummah needs a new Islamic republic with the ideology of the liberation revolution from Tagut, and not scattered groups of guerrillas who endlessly pull the blanket over themselves.

* - Kataeb Hezbollah showed a photo of several fighters in the tunnels of Gaza at the height of the battle and the participation of the Iraqis was over. Harakat al-Nujaba expressed readiness to join, but for various reasons their offer was ignored.
*1 – Sheikh Khazali said that Mossad is present in Anbar, Sheikh Kaabi explained that Zionists are riding around Baghdad under the guise of NATO.
*2 – There was an attempt to create an analogue of the Iranian Basij in Iraq based on Saraya Al-Khorasani, but the idea was never implemented, including due to the broad opposition of other factions.