SCOOP: Iraqi deal pauses armed factions retaliation against Saudi Arabia
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization —an Iran-aligned political party and armed movement that ranks among the most powerful factions in Iraq— reached an understanding at a dawn meeting in Baghdad on Friday to de-escalate a standoff between the government and armed factions, multiple political and government sources told Shafaq News.
Under the agreement, the government would postpone planned operations against the factions in exchange for a halt to any military action against Saudi Arabia and space to resolve the crisis through diplomacy, the sources said.
The meeting took place at the peak of a security alert across Baghdad and several other provinces, according to the sources. It weighed threats by armed factions to retaliate against Saudi Arabia against measures the government was preparing against groups accused of carrying out cross-border attacks.
Security agencies had drawn up plans for "special operations" targeting armed groups and individuals suspected of involvement in attacks on Saudi Arabia, alongside a broad deployment and a raised state of military readiness, the sources said. The understanding reached in the early hours suspended those measures and eased the heightened deployment.
Read more: Iraq under regional pressure as neighbors threaten to strike Iran-aligned factions
A Night Of High Alert
Orders had gone out Thursday to raise readiness across all security and military forces and to cancel the leave of commanders and unit chiefs, several security sources told Shafaq News, coinciding with the expiry of a deadline the factions had set for the government over its position on Saudi Arabia and with preparations for possible armed friction.
The Security Media Cell, the Iraqi body that issues official military statements, announced separately that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces —the prime minister in his military capacity— had ordered forces to raise their combat readiness, including troop movements and field exercises.
Al-Amiri's Appeal
Al-Amiri appeared in a video after the dawn meeting urging factions of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella of Iran-aligned armed groups, to postpone any military response to Saudi Arabia and to place "Iraq's supreme interest" first, saying the rights of those 20 killed and 32 wounded would be pursued through diplomatic channels.
The appearance followed a decision by the factions, disclosed hours earlier by an informed source to Shafaq News, to freeze their response temporarily and to set out demands that included a formal Saudi apology, compensation for victims and damage, and a de-escalation of Saudi media rhetoric toward the factions. Shafaq News sources said al-Amiri's video came after the understanding with al-Zaidi.
Reuters quoted a senior Saudi official, indicating that Yemen's Houthis and Iran-aligned Iraqi factions could soon launch coordinated attacks on Saudi civilian and economic sites under the direction of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Pressure On Unofficial Arms
The developments follow a Wednesday meeting of the State Administration Coalition, the cross-party alliance underpinning the government, which took a firmer position on weapons held outside state institutions. The coalition described entities that threaten national security outside the official framework as outlaws that must be confronted and that any armed activity outside state authority after September 30, 2026, would be treated under Iraq's counterterrorism law.
Read more: Iraq's September deadline undercuts armed factions' case for weapons
