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Nine resistance groups recently met in an undisclosed Arab capital, and agreed to establish a “coordination office for the Iraqi Islamic and national resistance,” al-Hayat reports in Arabic.
The coordinator of the meeting also renewed the groups’ opposition to the US occupation and to the current government of Iraq.
Citing “reliable sources from a number of factions of the Iraqi national resistance,” al-Hayat reports that the new coordinating office is aimed at isolating the Islamic State of Iraq and “all hard-line factions that trade in the blood of Muslims.”
The nine factions announced that they disclaim the idea that there should be a connection between the domestic and foreign political projects, the paper reports, a clear reference to the regional ambitions of the al-Qa'ida-linked Islamic State of Iraq.
The office intends to unify the ranks of the Iraqi national resistance in the view of the absence of coordination between the different factions, according to the al-Hayat.
A participant in the meeting of the nine factions said that the groups do not have foreign links, a likely reference to the Islamic State of Iraq's relationship with al-Qa'ida. The unnamed participant said that the goal of the groups is resistance to the occupation, pointing to the representation of a range of Iraqis including Sunnis, Shi'a, and Kurds.
Clearly, however, the major weight behind the new efforts outlined in al-Hayat's report comes from groups based in the Sunni Arab community.
According to the coordinator of the meeting, four other militant factions agreed to join the new coordination office, but conditions in Iraq were such that they have not had access to the representatives of the four groups to obtain their signatures.
It was agreed that the leaders of these factions would join formally at later date, al-Hayat reports.
The nine groups oppose the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, announced by the man known as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who has arrogated to himself the title “commander of the faithful.”
The coordinator of the meeting said that the nine agree that the method and style of the Islamic State of Iraq is in error, and that the Islamic State of Iraq has been one of the reasons for “the tearing apart of Iraq, and for the fragmentation of the efforts of national resistance.”
The Islamic State of Iraq has been linked to al-Qa'ida. It regularly claims responsibility for attacks in large parts of Iraq, most recently for the attack on the Iraqi Parliament building which killed at least one MP.
The meeting’s coordinator added, “We categorically reject the style and method of the Islamic State of Iraq, which is marked by extremism, just as we do not recognize the current Iraqi government, because it is a product of the occupation.”
The coordinator, whose name was not revealed, also emphasized that there was no possibility of building bridges with the current government, al-Hayat reports, and said that any dialogue with the occupier must be preceded by the recognition of the legitimacy of the Iraqi resistance, as well as the full unconditional withdrawal and an apology to the Iraqi people for the catastrophes and misfortunes that have befallen it, al-Hayat reports.
In spite of the statement, it is known that a number of militant Iraqi groups are involved in talks with members of the Iraqi government. Iraqi Vice President Tariq Al-Hasimi was in Amman last week conducting secret talks with leaders of militant which have been encouraged to sever ties with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and join the political process. Some of the groups named in reports of these meetings signed the statement mentioned above.
For example, a new militant group apparently splintered off from the 1920 Brigades over the issue of negotiations with the government, calling itself “Hamas of Iraq.” The 1920 Brigades signed the recent statement.
On Wednesday Iraqi President Jalal Talabani announced that he met with representatives of armed groups calling themselves the “national resistance,” Aswat al-Iraq reported earlier. The government is in the final stages of the negotiations, Talabani claimed.
The nine factions that signed that statement agreeing to coordinate their efforts against the Islamic State of Iraq via the new office are as follows:
Jaysh Ansar al-Sunna (Army of the Protectors of the Sunna)Jaysh Ansar al-Muslimeen (Army of the Protectors of Muslims),
Jaysh al-Muslimeen (The Army of Muslims)
The 1920 Revolution Brigades
The Army of the Men of Tariqa Naqshabandiyya,
Islamic Front for the Iraqi Resistance
Al-Farouq Brigades
The Mustafa Brigades
The Ansar Allah Brigades
The announcement of the establishment of the new office of coordination occurs in the context of ongoing reorganization and conflict among the armed groups in Iraq’s Sunni community. It comes shortly after a major Iraqi insurgent group, the Islamic Army released a statement criticizing al-Qa'ida in Iraq and asking Osama Bin Laden to personally intervene.
The Islamic Army is not listed as one of the original nine groups announcing their coordination against the Islamic State of Iraq in the latest al-Hayat report.
The Islamic Army’s statement said that al-Qa'ida had been targeting civilians and members of other Sunni armed groups. The statement mentions the killing last month of Dhaher al-Dhari, a military leader of the 1920 Revolution Brigades and relative of Harith al-Dhari, the leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars.
The 1920 Revolution Brigades blames al-Qaeda for al-Dhari’s death, which occurred when gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades on his car in west Baghdad.
The Islamic Army’s statement was followed by an interview broadcast April 10 on al-Jazeera, during which a spokesperson for the group stated that the Islamic Army had absolutely no contact with the Islamic State of Iraq.
