The leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, declared his opposition to turning his country into a foreign colony, and said in a tweet on Twitter, "We will not allow Iraq to be a foreign colony, neither East nor West, as a strong and sovereign Iraqi state."
For its part, Iraqi armed factions continued to absolve them of attacks on foreign interests and forces in the country.
Statements were issued by several different Iraqi parties.
Most notably, the Popular Mobilization Authority, the Al-Fatah Parliamentary Alliance, and the Nujaba Movement disavow the attacks on foreign interests and forces in the country.
Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazimi, while chairing a meeting of the National Security Council, called for the importance of coordination between the security forces, to ensure the protection of diplomatic missions and peaceful demonstrations.
A statement by Al-Kazemi's office indicated that the meeting discussed exerting utmost efforts to protect embassies and diplomatic missions, to preserve Iraq's international reputation.
For its part, the Iraqi Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee called on the government to take a firm stance towards the security breaches that diplomatic missions and official headquarters are exposed to in the country.
We will not allow Iraq to be a foreign colony. # No_Eastern_Not_Western,
a strong and sovereign Iraqi state
- Muqtada al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Sadr (@Mu_AlSadr) September 26, 2020
The head of the committee, Muhammad Ridha Al Haidar, said in a press conference yesterday that the repeated security breaches would jeopardize Iraq's reputation and reduce its position in international forums.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi and Parliament Muhammad Al-Halbousi declared their support for a proposal made by Al-Sadr to investigate the repeated attacks targeting embassies and foreign diplomatic missions, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
We support the proposals made by His Eminence Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr to form a security, military and parliamentary committee to investigate violations that target Iraq's security, prestige, reputation and international obligations, and we affirm that the hand of law is above the hand of those who violate it, regardless of what some think otherwise, and that the coalition of corruption and the outlawed weapon has no place in Iraq.
- Mustafa Al-Kadhimi (@MAKadhimi) September 25, 2020
Al-Sadr is considered one of the strongest opponents of the US military presence in Iraq, but he refuses to resort to violence to expel these forces from the country.
For months, the Green Zone - which includes the US embassy in Baghdad, as well as the military bases that host the coalition forces and convoys that transport logistical equipment of the international coalition - have been subjected to missile strikes and IED attacks by unknown parties.
Washington accuses armed Iraqi factions linked to Iran, including Kataib Hezbollah, of being behind the attacks.