Qs for thought: why did the PMF's re-hiring of 30k fighter did not translate into keeping the Fatah alliance's 2018 parliamentary gains, at least?
Those 30k with their families did not offset the decline of votes going to Fatah. Is that because the 30k were already part of the Fatah vote in 2018 and thus they themselves were the ones that contributed to the growth of the State of Law in 2021? That is possible.
One brief takeaway from this is that there is no mechanic relationship between a party/armed group's promise of provision of financial benefits on one hand and receiving political support in return on the other hand.
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A few hours prior to the Iraqi resistance axis' backlash against elections' results (e.g. see KH Askari's escalatory statement), Iraq-focused former Iranian diplomat Amir Mousawi congratulated cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on the gains he realized in elections.
Mousawi "hopes" that Sadr allies with the SoL/Fatah (whom he refers to as "the believing powers") to create the biggest bloc. Can Mousawi's conciliatory tone vs resistance brinkmanship indicate some sort of disconnection btw. Iranian policymakers and the resistance at this stage?
Already, friction was apparent between KH-AAH and Hezbollah's Iraq envoy a few days before elections as media figures linked to those two groups were criticizing Kawtharani for his potential support for PM Kadhimi.
Spot on. The Iraqi Resistance Coordination Commission's wording in its latest statement issued today on US "combat troops" withdrawal was carefully ambiguously worded to provide the groups the leeway to (de-) escalate vs. US without rhetorical commitment to either tactic.
The IRCC commits to "readiness" to escalate against the US and this is different from commiting to "escalation" as an ultimate strategy and end to itself.
But a group like KSS, a key member of the IRCC, make it clear that their decision is "escalation" rather than mere "readiness". Its commander Abu Ala says: "The resistance's operations continue till the occupier is forced to withdraw in a servile way".
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."