Iraqi resistance vows to keep arms, says US forces withdraw after 'painful blows'

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq says the United States was forced to withdraw its troops from the country after suffering “painful blows” at the hands of resistance fighters, vowing to retain its weapons to confront any American or Israeli threat or violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Islamic Resistance said it remains open to dialogue on the future of its weapons, but only on terms that guarantee Iraq’s “sovereignty, dignity, and liberation from the hegemony of America.”

“For more than forty days, the Islamic Resistance, through the four-member committee formed by the Coordination Framework, has been engaged in negotiations in agreement with the Iraqi government to discuss the process of regulating the Resistance’s weapons in exchange for achieving Iraq’s full and comprehensive sovereignty,” the statement said.

It said the proposed arrangement would entail the withdrawal of American and NATO forces and all forms of foreign military presence from Iraq by land, air and sea, while the Islamic Resistance would retain “its right to respond directly to any American or Zionist violation or breach of Iraq’s sovereignty.”

However, the statement said the Baghdad government had yet to respond, “despite the official signing of the agreement document by the four-member committee appointed by the Coordination Framework, as well as by the Resistance parties represented by the four factions.”

“Accordingly, the Islamic Resistance announces that it is not bound by any timeline or agreement that any government or political party has discussed or may discuss. The Resistance’s weapons will remain a trust in the hands of our fighters,” the group stressed, adding that the arms “will remain directed against any enemy targeting Iraq and its people.”

The statement then recounted the resistance’s confrontation with the US occupation, beginning with the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

It said resistance fighters’ improvised explosive devices “tore apart the occupiers’ vehicles,” while their rockets “rained down on the US bases” across the country.

“Their defeated army had no choice but to suffer defeat in 2011, under the pretext of the security agreement with the Iraqi government at the time,” the statement said, referring to the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq that year.

“Thus, the Iraqis recorded their first victory over one of the world’s most powerful armies: the United States’ army, which is backed by nearly thirty armies belonging to its allies,” it added.

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Referring to the return of US forces to Iraq under the pretext of fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorists, the group described the move as “the second phase of the American occupation.”

It said US forces returned as resistance fighters, at the request of the Baghdad government, were successfully thwarting the advance of the terrorists, who had seized large swathes of the country in 2014.

“Amid the battles against the Takfiris, when their defeat had begun to loom on the horizon, the American enemy once again intervened in the Iraqi scene under the pretext of providing air support against Takfiri gangs that America originally backed,” the resistance group said.

“The Resistance was prepared for them and managed to develop its rockets and drones to threaten the presence of their forces and pound their bases. Thus began the rounds of confrontation in accordance with the new rules of engagement during the second phase of the American occupation.”

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Following the defeat of Daesh in late 2017, the statement pointed out that the US targeted the resistance fighters’ positions and assassinated many senior commanders.

“The Islamic Resistance, through its four factions, had no choice but to resist the occupation using all available types of weapons throughout these nine years,” the statement read, adding that it dealt “painful blows” to the occupation.

“The occupation was ultimately compelled to submit to the will of the resistance fighters and leave the land of the holy sites humiliated and defeated, despite its attempts to conceal its defeat by framing it through agreements and other falsehoods,” the statement added.

The US military completed its withdrawal from Iraq on September 30, with the last troops leaving a base in Erbil under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington to end the US-led military occupation.

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