Kataib Hezbollah Leader Meets With Coordination Framework, Refuses Government Authority to Censure

In a rare event, Ahmad Mohsen Faraj al-Hamidawi (aka Abu Hussein), the leader of Kataib Hezbollah (KH), attended a meeting of the Shia Coordination Framework (CF). The exact date of the meeting is unconfirmed, but KH’s TV channel, al-Etejah TV, broadcast the news on August 6. Al-Etejah TV’s Telegram channel posted bullet points from a statement issued by KH’s media office:

• The Secretary-General of Kataib Hezbollah, Haj Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, during his attendance at an emergency meeting of the Coordination Framework leaders, called for restricting Prime Minister al-Sudani’s decision-making.

• Haj al-Hamidawi urged the Coordination Framework leaders to take decisions that would safeguard Iraq and its sanctities until al-Sudani’s term ends on 11 November.

• Haj al-Hamidawi recommended forming a committee from the Coordination Framework to investigate the incidents at the Agriculture Directorate… (Figure 1).

This incident in question were the July 27 clashes between KH fighters and Iraqi security forces in the southwestern Baghdad neighborhood of al-Saydiya, which left several security personnel injured and resulted in the deaths of one police officer and one civilian.

Following this meeting, on August 9, the committee in charge of investigating the incident announced its findings and measures. It concluded: “The armed elements who committed this violation belong to the Kataib Hezbollah formation and are affiliated with the 45th and 46th Brigades of the Popular Mobilization Forces.” The committee announced its recommendations, “which were approved” by Prime Minister al-Sudani:

• The commanders of the 45th and 46th Brigades of the Popular Mobilization Forces were relieved of their duties.
• A full investigation board was formed into the commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces’ Jazeera Operations Command, due to his negligence in all leadership duties.

(As the postscript below notes, these actions did not, in fact, take place.)

KH reaction

KH reacted to this announcement in statement which reads “Kataib Hezbollah… agreed with the leaders of the Coordination Framework to form a neutral committee to decide on the matter… However, what was announced by the spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces regarding the results of the government investigation was not free of distortion and exaggeration in the use of authority. Additional points were inserted that were not included in the recommendations of the committee assigned to investigate—among them, opening an investigation into the Commander of the Jazeera Operations, relieving the commanders of the 45th and 46th Brigades of their positions, and noting deficiencies in the leadership and control structure of the Popular Mobilization Forces—aimed at targeting Kataib Hezbollah and the leaders of the PMF…While we call on the judiciary to intervene and reveal the true content of the official investigation report before it was tampered with, we hope it will be compared to what was recently announced by the spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief” (Figure 2). 

Kataib Hezbollah seems to be getting its way. As of August 17, 2025, the commanders of the the 45th and 46th Brigades of the PMF have not been removed from their roles. It also appears that there is no investigation committee in existence to handle the case of the commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces’ Jazeera Operations Command. Nor has there been any investigation into August 5 drone attack on the 44^th Brigade of the PMF near Taji, in the northern Baghdad outskirts. The drone (a large fixed-wing drone of the kind used by KH) struck the Ansar al-Marjaiyah, an “Atabat”, or “shrine” PMF unit affiliated with Grand Ayatollah Sistani, as tensions surged between Sistani followers and Iran-backed militias following the July 27 killing. The 44th Brigade is commanded by Hamidi al-Yasiri, an outspoken critic of the Iran-backed militia factions.