On the other hand, armed factions in the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) took a tougher stance. A senior leader of the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades lamented the strong-arm policies adopted by Trump in dealing with certain Muslim-majority countries. The faction's leader even threatened to use force and start engaging in armed action against US troops in Iraq.
“We are observing and waiting for a unified political stance from the parliament and the Iraqi government toward Trump’s exclusionary policies. Then we will have an earth-shaking response in that regard,” the leader, who calls himself Abu Talib al-Saeedi, told Al-Monitor in a phone conversation.
He added, “We don’t consider all American citizens the same, as our dispute is restricted to the US invasion and those who carry weapons around the country. Therefore, members of the Hezbollah Brigades observe and follow the movements of these troops on a large scale. This is why we have a presence near their military facilities. When something happens, we will resort to the weapons we used against them before.”
Saeedi said the brigades are “on alert” and said, “If American nationals remain here in the same quantities, we will have to resort to armed action once again to remove the troops as we did before in 2011.”
Such statements are similar to what Aws al-Khafaji, the head of the Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, affiliated with the PMU, told Al-Monitor. “Resistance factions were — and are today — observing the presence of all foreign forces on Iraqi soil,” he said.
He continued, “Factions of the resistance have always reassured their stance that aims at targeting American military personnel who came to Iraq as occupiers. However, at the same time, we insist that civilians, regardless of being American, are not the target of the Islamist resistance in Iraq.”
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