Hamas of Iraq

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Hamas Iraq
حماس والعراق‎
 
Hamas Iraq Logo
 
Leader Unknown
 
Founded 2007
Headquarters Unknown
 
Ideology Sunni Iraqi Nationalists
International affiliation None Known

Hamas Iraq (Arabic حماس والعراق) is a Sunni militia group based in Iraq, which broke off from the 1920 Revolution Brigade on March 18, 2007. The group has claimed to have released videos of its attack on US troops. [1] The 1920 Revolution Brigade insists that Hamas Iraq was involved in assisting US troops in their recent Diyala operations against Al-Qaeda in Iraq.[2][3] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has feared the US-armed 'concerned local citizens' are an armed Sunni opposition in the making, and has argued that such groups should be under the command of the Iraqi Army or police.[4] On October 11, 2007 the militia group joined a political council that embraced armed resistance against American occupation.[5]

Contents

[edit] Political program

Hamas Iraq broke off from the 1920 Revolution Brigade on March 18, 2007.[6]

Hamas Iraq released a political program in April 2007 with some of the following provisions[7]:

  • "The movement believes in armed jihad as a means for expelling the occupier, and calls on public opinion and agencies and international institutions to respect this right... of all peoples to resist occupation, and to distinguish between that and armed crimes which target innocent civilians."
  • "We believe in a necessary link between military efforts and political action as two mutually supportive instruments for achieving the goals of resistance for liberation and salvation and preventing the fundamentalist movements from harvesting the fruits of the resistance."
  • "We confirm the necessity of continuing the killing until the exit of the last soldier from the occupying armies, and to not negotiate with the enemy except with an agreement of the factions of the jihad and the Iraqi resistance; and under the appropriate circumstances and conditions."

In July 2007, The Guardian reported that the group participated with other insurgent groups in an alliance called the Political Council for the Iraqi Resistance, which includes a range of Islamist and nationalist-leaning groups which was formed to negotiate with the Americans in anticipation of an early US withdrawal. Main planks of the joint political program included a commitment to free Iraq from foreign troops, rejection of cooperation with parties involved in political institutions set up under the occupation and a declaration that decisions and agreements made by the US occupation and Iraqi government are null and void."[8]

[edit] Operations in Diyala in August of 2007

The 1920 Revolution Brigades insists that Hamas Iraq was involved in assisting US troops in their recent Diyala operations against al-Qaeda in Iraq in August of 2007.[2][3]

The insistences comes after The Washington Post reported that, per telephone interview with Lt. Col. Joseph Davidson, executive officer of the 2nd Infantry Division, U.S. forces were now "partnering with Sunni insurgents from the 1920 Revolution Brigades, which includes former members of ousted president Saddam Hussein's disbanded army."[9] The 1920 Revolution Brigades replied that: “We say to … the occupation and to your followers and agents that you made a very big lie” in linking us with the Diyala anti-al Qaida campaign.[10] The group maintains that the organization to which the US military spokesman referred should have been the "Iraqi Hamas" organization, which consisted of members who left the Brigades before the Diyala operations.[2][3]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ SITE Publications: Rival groups claim success in shooting down US helicopter
  2. ^ a b c Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Sunday, 26 August 2007
  3. ^ a b c 1920 Revolution Brigade memo denying involvement in Diyala Operations
  4. ^ US buys 'concerned citizens' in Iraq, but at what price?
  5. ^ Iraq insurgent groups form one council
  6. ^ Iraqi Jihad Group Establishes New Political Framework called ‘Hamas-Iraq’
  7. ^ Abu Aardvark: Iraq insurgency developments
  8. ^ Insurgents form political front to plan for US pullout
  9. ^ “U.S. rebrands Iraq ex-insurgents”, Washington Post, 2007-08-25, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/25/AR2007082500638.html> 
  10. ^ Offensives elsewhere, but Baghdad remains deadliest for U.S. troops

[edit] External links

[edit] Organization links

[edit] Purported attacks

[edit] Denial of working with coalition forces

[edit] Other links