The Iran-backed militias in Iraq all rhetorically supported Hamas' attack on Israel, but with interesting differences between them: Badr threatened Americans, while Nujaba and KSS seemed to downplay the chance of active involvement.

Unsurprisingly, the Iran-backed terrorist and militia groups in Iraq (the self-styled muqawama) were quick to provide rhetorical approval for Hamas' murder of hundreds of Israelis, as well as U.S., and other civillians in the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel.

Badr threatens to attack U.S. targets

The highlight of the muqawama statements was the head Badr Organization and the Coordination Framework Hadi Al-Ameri’s statement. During a political rally for the muqawama Nabni coalition in the upcoming provincial election on October 10, 2023, Ameri said "our stand is clear. If the Americans intervene in the battle with Hamas, we (muqawama) will attack all U.S. targets. Therefore, they need to stop the support for this Zionist entity." (Figure 1) Speaking with anger, Hadi al-Ameri appears to have broken a long-standing habit of not explicitly calling for the killing of Americans.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq "heartened" by Hamas killings

Qais Al-Khazali, head of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq (AAH) and the co-founder of the Coordination Framework, also put out a statement on October 7, 2023, hailing Hamas for their successful operation. Khazali said, ‘’We and all Muslims and the free resistors were heartened by the result of operation tawafan al-Aqsa (Jerusalem Flood).’’ Khazali continued by saying that "we are watching the events and are ready. (Figure 2) The understated comments may underline Khazali's efforts to appear less extreme than other muqawama politicians, tied to a longstanding but improbable effort to be de-listed as a terrorist or at least openly embraced by major Western embassies.

Kataib Hezbollah's MPs stay quiet

Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq (KH) did not put out a statement through their spokesperson Abu Ali al-Askari (Hossein Moanes), either using his kunya or in his own name (as a Hoquq MP). Instead, comment came from their (apparently restored) Secretary General, Ahmad Mohsen Faraj al-Hamidawi (aka Abu Hussein), who noted on October 10, 2023, that: ‘’We congratulate the Palestinians, our Islamic world, and the Mujahedeen of the Islamic Resistance in Palestine for their great victories for the consecutive fourth day…’’  Hamidawi said that "their muqawama religious duty obligates them to be on the battlefield".  He added that KH rockets, drones, and special forces were alerted to target Americans. Hamidawi also said KH missiles could hit Israel and its supporters if required. He also asked muqawama supporters to attend the protest on Friday (October 13, 2023).  

Nujaba and KSS somewhat muted

Akram Kaabi, head of Harakat Hezbollah Al-Nujaba (HaN), put out a bland statement on October 9, 2023, asking for the muqawama supporters to participate in the protest called by Sadr to support Palestine and to condemn Israel. He seemed to condition the Iraqi group's participation in the war only if Israel expanded the geographic scope of their battle. Also, Kaabi said that if the US or any other state intervenes against the Palestinians, it will be faced with a military response.  (Figure 3)

The commander of Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), Abu Alaa al-Walai, also conditioned his militia’s involvement in the fight, but in his case only if the US intervened directly. Both Kaabi and Walai were reported by muqawama social media platforms that they moved south of Lebanon for meetings in the operations room.

Other Iraqi militias

Shibl al-Zaidi, head of Kataib al-Imam Ali (KAIA,) put out several statements to support the Palestinians and hailed Sadr for calling for protests in Baghdad. He urged the Iraqis to collect donations to support Palestinians and asked the Iraqi government to work on delivering those donations as soon as possible. Zaidi is very active on X (Twitter), largely to stay relevant, and he has close business ties to Lebanese Hezbollah.

What they mean

Iranian-backed militias seem to have coordinated their statements to downplay the likelihood of them becoming directly involved. There is an element of theater: they are conditioning their kinetic involvement in events that are less likely to happen, such as Israeli or U.S. broadening of the war, thus allowing them to sound tough with empty threats. Hadi al-Ameri's threat to harm Americans is a notable loss of message discipline, in contrast to KH's and AAH's quite cautious approaches. Those Iran-backed groups with the most direct ties to Hezbollah and the Syrian theater - Nujaba and KSS - were strongly supportive of the Axis of Resistance but were also disciplined and stayed on-message about not broadening the war. This shows Iraqi muqawama players slotting into the extended deterrence system of Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah.