Thread by @HamdiAMalik

1. Kataib Hezbollah’s senior leader, Hossein Mowanes has established his own party (Harakat Hoquq-the rights movement) and intends to run for elections. This is big news, as it’s the first time a KH leader runs for elections. This could potentially disperse votes of the muqawama.

2. The muqawama vote could be divided among Fath (Badr, AAH, Jund al-Imam, etc.), Maliki’s state of law and Mowanese’s the Rights Movement. Mowanes gave his first long TV interview a few days ago in which he made some interesting points.

3. He says: “there is a big political vacuum and disappointment towards our people… I… established this movement to address part of this frustration…”. Here Mowanes is questioning Fath’s performance and offering himself as an alternative.

4. The main question is whether Mowanes has received the green light from KH to participate in the political process or has he broken from the KH’s tradition of not forming political parties, despite the militia group?

5. The anchor asks him if he’s now independent of KH or is he a political wing for KH. Mowanese’s answer is interesting: “both are correct!...The Hoquq movement is an independent one… far from the KH’s atmosphere, but… it is [also] a political front for KH, AAH, HN..."

6. The anchor says but groups such as AAH have their own political movements. Mowanese replies: “[I’m talking about] AAH’s supporters, Badr’s supporters… not the formations… [I mean] the supporters because there is an overlap in the [political] mood [among these supporters]”.

7. He is clearly saying that his party targets supporters of fellow muqawama militias. One way to try and find an answer for whether this is a KH project or not is to know Mowanese and his relation with the militia.

8. We already knew that Mowanes is a senior KH leader, but he reveals something interesting in this interview. He claims to be one of the founders of the militia group. “I was in KH, I was one of the founders of KH, I witnessed every steps of building KH".

9. Mowanese was arrested in 2008 by the U.S. forces for his kinetic activities at the time. He was released in April 2012. KH celebrated his release in a statement, describing him “the big brother”, an indication of his seniority in the militia group.

10. KH’s al-Etejah TV produced a package and interviewed him, his mother and his wife. The package’s subtitle reads: “the release of a group of KH detainees, including the leading figure Hossein Mowanes”.

11. Another KH article in 2016 described him as the head of public relations in KH. His senior position makes it harder to believe that he established his political party, despite KH. In the past we had leaders such as KSS’s Abu Alaa al-Walai leave KH, but not on good terms.

12. Hossein Mowanes however praises KH and says “Abu Ali al-Askari [the head of security in KH], is an honor I don’t claim”. Throughout his interview Mowanes talks about the ‘great achievements of KH’. This could be an indication of continuing membership in the militia group.

13. Another way to try to ascertain whether Hoquq movement is a political representative of KH or not is to look at its other candidates and their link to KH. Abbas al-Ardawi, one of the man muqawama TV commentators is one of these candidates.

14. He was hosted on KH’s al-Etejah TV on July 24 and was introduced as a member of al-Hadaf center for strategic studies. Until a few years ago, Hadaf center was an openly KH center as it’s clear from this logo published in 2015.

15. Ardawi is also a member of al-Hadaf network for media and political analysis. He is still very much involved with these two related organizations. In a video posted by Hadaf network on July 14, Ardawi is introduced as a member.

16. In March 2021 al-JanubiaTV, the media wing for Hassan al-Sari’s Jihad wa al-Bina movement was honored by al-Hadaf. The certificate of appreciation was handed over to the representative of the TV by no one other than KH’s spokesperson, Mohammad Mohi!

17. It seems that Ardawi is very much involved with KH organizations weeks after his name was registered as a candidate for Mowanes’s Hoquq movement. A clear indication that Hoquq is a political wing for KH.

18. As I said in the first part of this thread, this is an indication of a widening rift among Iraqi muqawama, something the Iranians and the Lebanese Hezbollah are worried about. In my next @WashInstitute Militia Spotlight piece I'll show how LH is trying to bring them together.