Iran-backed Iraqi group denies agreeing to hand over weapons
Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, an Iran-backed Iraqi armed group, has denied claims by Iraqi lawmaker Ali Inhair al-Sarai that it has agreed to hand over its weapons to the government.
In a statement, the group’s Jihad Council said that the claims were “completely untrue”, adding that al-Sarai does not represent the group and has no authority to issue statements or positions on its behalf.
The group has previously set 10 conditions for what it called “regulating weapons”, including the full withdrawal of US and Turkish forces from Iraq, stronger air defences, federal control of borders and airspace, and an end to what it described as US political and economic interference.
The US designated Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” in September 2025. The group is also listed by the US Treasury as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity”.
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Attack on East-West pipeline exposes Iraq PM’s struggle to control armed factions
As black smoke billowed over Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, the repercussions of the drone attack were already reaching across the border into Iraq.
The strikes, launched from Iraqi territory, threatened about 4 percent of global oil supplies and helped push Brent crude above $108 a barrel. But they also presented Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi with perhaps the clearest test yet of his pledge to bring armed groups under state control as the US-led coalition is due to make its final withdrawal by September 30.
Who was behind the strikes?
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks launched last Thursday. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella of pro-Iranian factions including Kataib Hezbollah, has denied involvement, calling the strike “an honour that we do not claim”.
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Kurdish opposition says Iran struck its bases in Iraq for third day
The Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) says it intercepted a drone launched by “the Iranian regime” as it attempted to strike its Chamshar base along the Erbil-Duhok road, near the Darashakran subdistrict north of Erbil.
PAK leadership member Rebaz Sharifi told Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw that no casualties resulted from the attack, which they said targeted bases belonging to the group’s armed wing, the Kurdistan National Army.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), the largest Iranian Kurdish dissident group, said one of its bases in the Balisan region, northeast of Erbil, had also been hit by a one-way attack drone earlier on Wednesday.
The latest strikes followed a missile attack on Monday that hit a camp housing families of the Iranian Kurdish group Komala in Zirgwez, a town in southern Sulaimani province that hosts several Iranian Kurdish opposition camps. Three missiles struck the site, causing material damage but no casualties, an official from the group said.
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