Last Saturday, Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi, the secretary-general of the Iraqi al-Nujaba militia group, said they would seek revenge for President Trump’s assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the nine others killed in the drone attack, including the deputy chairman of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces.
“Our response to the U.S. will not be only a missile attack… we will draw closer to them, and surprise them.”
Referencing Soleimani’s murder as a historic turning point, the Sheikh said, “Following this date [3 January, when the U.S. drone attack in Baghdad killed Soleimani], the Resistance has changed its position from defensive to offensive.”
The militia leader went on to describe the U.S. and coalition allies as “colonizers” and “occupiers.” Referencing a conversation he had with General Soleimani about American hypocrisy, the Sheikh noted, “In one of our meetings, Haj Qassem told me, “How shameless Americans are! Through an Iraqi, they sent me a message saying that if you agree to divide spoils of war with us, and provided that we both don’t act against each other, we have no objections to your presence in Iraq.”
According to the Sheikh, General Soleimani’s response to the American offer to divide the spoils was:
“I didn’t like to answer their message, but this time, I felt that their bullying should be answered. Therefore, I sent them a message saying that in our holy issues, beliefs and values, we have nothing to share with you.
We are performing our religious task of defending this nation against your evil, as we want a strong and independent Iraq, yet, you want it a dependent one to plunder its resources.
We defend the holy sites and Iraqi people with whom we share a single history, religion and belief, and you kill these people, occupy their land and target their culture with your media.
Shame on you, you should leave the resources of Iraq to Iraqis. Iraq is so strong and great that it doesn’t allow countries like you to divide its resources and you are too weak to set conditions for us.”
The Sheikh firmly rejected the U.S. claim that he was seeking Iranian control of his country. Referring to the U.S. presence in Iraq, he stated, “The enemy seeks to shut mouths and provoke public thought against the Resistance using such deceptive claims; however, we in the Resistance Axis have a firm belief, and we aren’t afraid of threats, we have made a firm decision on the fulfillment of the ‘Horror Equation’ and we will definitely expel them from our own land.”
TRENDPOST: The stated purpose of the Congregation of the Resistance and Security Martyrs, which Sheikh attended, is to fully expel foreign countries that have invaded and occupied nations such as Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Mali, Afghanistan, etc. In his address, the Sheikh made clear his ambition to drive America out of Iraq and noted ongoing street protests throughout the country with demonstrators chanting, “Never Never the U.S.”
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Again, while leaders and citizens of Iraq and Iran have made it 100 percent clear that the United States and its allied forces are foreign invaders who have killed millions and are illegally occupying nations and pillaging their natural resources, both Washington and the mainstream media paint the resistance forces as “terrorists” and “militants”… rather than as brave patriots defending their homeland.
TREND FORECAST: The resistance forces in Iraq will continue to battle occupying forces. We forecast that rather than escalate its conflict with Iraq, the Trump administration will ratchet down conflict prior to the 2020 U.S. elections.
