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Asaib Ahl al-Haq cannot seem to decide whether it has detached from anti-U.S. militancy or not, causing other militias to tie themselves in rhetorical knots over the group's public credentials.
Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HaN) and Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) have been once again involved in a public argument over their roles in the so-called axis of resistance. The row was sparked by remarks made by Hussein al-Mousawi, HaN’s spokesperson on al-Rabia TV, when he said that AAH does not launch attacks against coalition forces and Israeli targets. He stated that the “field” (kinetic attacks) is exclusive to HaN, Kataib Hezbollah (KH) and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS). Mousawi added “other brothers” participate in the field too. When the anchor specifically asked whether AAH has a role in the field, Mousawi replied “No” (Figure 1).
Only one day before these remarks, Qais al-Khazali, the leader of AAH threatened to launch attacks against U.S. interests in Iraq and beyond, if Israel launched a full-scale war against Hezbollah. He said in a televised speech “If the United States of America continues to support this usurping entity (Israel), in the event it expands its operations and attacks beloved Lebanon and attacks the victorious Hezbollah… it will have made all its interests in the region and especially in Iraq targets...” (Figure 2).
This seemed to be an attempt by Qais al-Khazali to boost AAH’s ‘muqawama credentials’ as his group is increasingly earning a reputation for being in the ‘muqawama’ only for money and power, and not a proper ‘muqawama’ group, willing to fight the enemy.
Mousawi’s remarks made Khazali’s threats look absurd. This caused outrage among the AAH ranks, to the point that Mousawi put out a statement retracting his comments. He said, “After our interview yesterday on al-Rabia TV, there was talk of reproach from some dear brothers in the muqawama factions and their dear followers for not mentioning the names of these factions correctly…”. He added “my failure to mention the brothers in Asaib [Ahl al-Haq] clearly was because these brothers in the past were working in the field but did not want [this information] to be revealed, but now that they have attended the muqawama coordination meetings, the obstacle to not mentioning their names has been removed” (Figure 3). Mousawi seems to be talking about a recent meeting of the Iraqi Resistance Coordination Committee (al-Haya al-Tansiqiya lil-Muqawama al-Iraqiya, or Tansiqiya for short) which took place on June 19.
Mousawi;s statement didn’t seem to calm AAH down. Sanad al-Hamdani, a high-ranking AAH member and the the Genera Manager of AAH's al-Ahd TV posted Mousawi’s statement on his X account and said “an excuse worse than the act itself. We do not care about what you say or write” (Figure 4). This reaction was seemingly because the damage has been already done. Additionally, Mousawi’s clarification portrays AAH as being shy about their kinetic operations, while groups such as HaN boasting about them.
This is not the first time AAH has been implicitly scolded by a major Iraqi muqawama militia for not talking part in kinetic attacks. In November 2023, KH’s leader Ahmad Mohsen Faraj al-Hamidawi (aka Abu Hussein), issued a statement naming Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, HaN, KSS and KH, as the groups carried out attacks under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI). The fact that AAH was publicly left out of the groups involved in the attacks prompted AAH to respond via its security chief Jawad al-Talibawi criticizing Abu Hussein’s statement and saying, “we hope that such statements from our brothers in jihad will not be repeated". The threat clearly failed to deter HaN from leaving out AAH.
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