Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that there is no place among Iraqis "for those who carry weapons outside the state" and "for those who serve an aspiring foreigner," in remarkable statements, days after the arrest of members of the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades for preparing to launch a missile attack on American targets in Iraq.
"Our brave sons in the counter-terrorism apparatus, the popular crowd and all kinds of people, whoever you fought under the banner of Iraq and won, I invite you to join forces to protect Iraq and the citizens," Abadi wrote on his Twitter account.
He stressed that "there is no place among the Iraqis for those who tamper with security, nor for those who carry weapons outside the state for the intimidating and blackmailing of the safe, nor for those who serve a covetous or cunning stalking foreigner offend our heroes."
And the Iraqi army's anti-terrorist forces arrested at dawn last Friday a number of members of the "Hezbollah" brigades during a raid in its headquarters west of Baghdad, and the Katyusha missile platform, which the authorities said was used to bomb a US base near the Baghdad International Airport, buildings and government sites, was confiscated.
After hours of arrest, members of the "Hezbollah" brigades stormed the headquarters of the anti-terrorist agency in the Green Zone in the center of the capital, Baghdad, where the government headquarters and a number of foreign embassies are located, including the American one.
The Hezbollah battalions face charges from Washington of being behind the missile attacks that have been targeting the American embassy in Baghdad for months, and Iraqi military bases hosting American soldiers throughout the country.
The frequency of these attacks has increased since the assassination of the Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Authority, in a US air raid near Baghdad airport on January 3.