Who speaks 1st on behalf of the PMF/Iraqi resistance casualties after US airstrike(s)?
The Iraqi Resistance Coordination Commission was probably the 1st to condemn US airstrikes, promising revenge (5:19 AM Baghdad). Aim: reflect an early semblance of Iraqi paramilitary unity.
The IRCC recently established a Telegram channel (Sabereen News shared it) and created a logo: a 16 vector-Islamic design may have been chosen to signal the multiplicity of actors involved. The channel and logo come many months after the IRCC 1st appeared in Oct. 2020.
The PMF 14th Brigade Commander's comments on the event were circulated around half an hour after that of the IRCC (5:51 AM - Fariq al-Wilaya). Ahmed al-Magsosi expressed readiness to respond and take revenge, waiting for the orders of the "general command."
The PMF's Jazeera Operations Command statement was circulated after, commenting on the event (~12:02 PM Baghdad - Tura News). What is particularly significant is how the four PMF fighters (14th Bridge) were described as affiliated w/ Haidaryon forces.
The PMF's Media Directorate's lengthy statement on the event was circulated on Telegram after the PMF Jazeera Cmd. (12:52 PM - PMF Media Directorate on Telegram). The PMF says it has the legal right to respond to the aggressions and punish the culprits on Iraqi territory.
The Secretary-General of Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, which the 14th Brigade is linked with, made a long statement (2:05 PM circulated by Sabereen News). Among many other points, and promising revenge, Abu Ala endorses the IRCC as the vanguard bearing Soleimani's heritage.
The main takeaways here:
• The IRCC, representing core resistance forces, is still emerging as a power center that speaks for itself and the PMF.
• Although the Joe Biden admin. represents less of a threat to paramilitary groups compared to Trump, the IRCC's utility as a protective and homogenizing blanket has not declined.
• Why does the IRCC speak before the PMF when the latter is the most concerned institutionally? There two probabilities but maybe more: 1) there is an internal rivalry, 2) the PMF and who drives it prefers to outsource to the less constrained IRCC the making of swift threats.
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