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Iraqi Govt Turns to Survey to Ask Citizens about Continuing Mission of Int’l Coalition

An Iraqi soldier salutes from a military vehicle as they take part in a parade marking the Iraqi Army's 103 anniversary in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Iraq, 06 January 2024. (EPA)
An Iraqi soldier salutes from a military vehicle as they take part in a parade marking the Iraqi Army's 103 anniversary in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Iraq, 06 January 2024. (EPA)
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Iraqi Govt Turns to Survey to Ask Citizens about Continuing Mission of Int’l Coalition

An Iraqi soldier salutes from a military vehicle as they take part in a parade marking the Iraqi Army's 103 anniversary in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Iraq, 06 January 2024. (EPA)
An Iraqi soldier salutes from a military vehicle as they take part in a parade marking the Iraqi Army's 103 anniversary in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Iraq, 06 January 2024. (EPA)

In an unusual step, the Iraqi government asked its citizens for their views about the continued deployment of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition in the country.

It sent people text messages on their mobile phones so they can reply as to whether they support or oppose the continued deployment.

The move took place days after a prominent militia leader was killed by a US strike.

The strike in Baghdad targeted Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, who was a leader of Harakat al-Nujaba who was involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel in Iraq and Syria, said the Pentagon last week.

The Popular Mobilization Force, or PMF, a coalition of militias that is nominally under the control of the Iraqi military, said its deputy head of operations in Baghdad, identified as Abu Taqwa, had been killed "as a result of brutal American aggression."

Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October the US military has come under attack at least 100 times in Iraq and Syria, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones.

The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria focused on preventing a resurgence of ISIS militants.

Abu Taqwa’s killing sparked outrage among Iran-aligned Shiite parties and armed factions that have demanded the pullout of American forces from Iraq.

Asharq Al-Awsat contacted Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's aides for further details about the new survey and what the government aims to achieve out of it but received no reply.

Soon after Abu Taqwa’s killing, the government announced that it was forming a committee to prepare the closing down of the international coalition's mission in the country.

"Government is setting the date for the start of the bilateral committee to put arrangements to end the presence of the international coalition forces in Iraq permanently," a statement from the prime minister's office said.

The committee would include representatives of the military coalition, a government official said.

Opinions have varied in Iraq about the text message survey. Some believe it aims to appease the pro-Iran factions, while others viewed it as pointless and won’t lead to any changes on the ground.

Others believe it is aimed at boosting the government by showing that it cares about what the people think and that it was not taking "fateful decisions unilaterally."

Former diplomat and ambassador Dr. Ghazi Faisal said it seems that the government was avoiding turning to parliament to discuss the withdrawal of the international forces in line with the strategic partnership and cooperation agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said the agreement clearly states that an amendment to the deployment of forces must take place through negotiations.

The government ultimately wants to avoid heading to parliament to tackle this issue because it will "definitely" oppose ending the mission of the international coalition, he went on to say.

He explained that Kurdish, Sunni and some Shiite parties are opposed to the withdrawal and the way "Iran is trying to alter American-Iraqi relations through violence or through its proxies in Iraq."

The text messages are a means to pressure Washington, but they don’t reflect the government’s constitutional and legal responsibilities and its responsibilities in international and regional relations, said Faisal.

The parliament had in 2020 approved a decision that would bind the government to ending the mission of international forces. The decision was taken soon after the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and PMF deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a US strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.

Professor at the University of Baghdad Ihssan Shmary questioned the purpose of the survey, saying it was "very strange".

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the survey holds no legal or constitutional basis. Moreover, the results could be falsified if a lot of money is poured into swaying the voters.

The results of national elections are cast in doubt "so how can we trust the results of an electronic survey?" he wondered.

The results will ultimately be used to create a political pressure card for or against the continued deployment of the forces, Shmary said.

The survey will have no impact on policy, especially since it is tackling an issue of higher national interests. So, the survey is nothing more than government propaganda aimed at sending messages to the armed factions, he remarked.

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Arab World

New Hamas Security Measures amid Fears of Overseas Assassinations

The building damaged in the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha last September (Reuters)
The building damaged in the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha last September (Reuters)
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New Hamas Security Measures amid Fears of Overseas Assassinations

The building damaged in the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha last September (Reuters)
The building damaged in the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha last September (Reuters)

Hamas is increasingly bracing for what it sees as a looming Israeli assassination attempt against senior figures operating outside Palestinian territory.

Senior officials in the movement told Asharq Al-Awsat that concern has been mounting over a potential strike targeting Hamas’s top echelon, particularly after the killing of senior Lebanese Hezbollah official Haitham Tabtabai.

The sources said that despite “reassurance messages” conveyed by the United States to several parties, including mediators in Türkiye, Qatar and Egypt, that last September’s Doha operation will not be repeated, the movement’s leadership “does not trust Israel”.

One source linked “expectations of a new assassination attempt with the Israeli government’s efforts to obstruct the second phase of the ceasefire agreement and its claim that the movement has no intention of advancing toward a deal”.

According to the sources, Hamas’s leadership has tightened security measures since the attempted assassination in Doha, convinced that “Israel will continue tracking the leadership and locating them through different methods, foremost of which are advanced technologies”.

A “non-Arab state”

A Hamas source said “there are assessments that the movement’s leaders may be targeted in a non-Arab state”, declining to identify it.

Since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, Israel has threatened and carried out overseas assassinations against Hamas leaders. It first killed Saleh al-Arouri, the movement’s deputy leader, in Beirut in January 2024, then killed the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran in July 2024.

Israel then attempted to eliminate the movement’s leadership council in the Doha operation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later apologized to Qatar after pressure from US President Donald Trump.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner subsequently met Khalil al-Hayya, head of the Hamas delegation for ceasefire talks, who had been a primary target in the Doha operation.

“New security instructions”

Asharq Al-Awsat reviewed an internal directive distributed to Hamas leaders abroad regarding personal security and precautionary measures to prevent possible assassinations or at least reduce their impact.

The new instructions, which appear to have been drafted by security experts, say all fixed meetings in a single location must be canceled, and that leaders should resort to irregular meetings in rotating locations.

The instructions also require leaders to “keep mobile phones completely away from meeting sites by no less than 70 meters, and to ban the entry of any medical or electronic devices including watches into meeting venues. There must be no air conditioners, internet routers, television screens or even home intercom systems.”

The guidelines stress the need to “constantly inspect meeting venues in case miniature cameras have been planted anywhere through human agents, particularly since Israeli security services resort to installing cameras and spying devices during maintenance work inside buildings that they identify as future targets”.

The document warns leaders that “Israel relies on a chain of elements to monitor and track its targets, including human factors such as cleaning staff or others, or even individuals in the first circle around the wanted person, as well as mobile phones and other tools that can be used for surveillance such as screens, air conditioners and more”.

It adds that “switching off phones alone does not prevent tracking, especially since there is the ability to hack any device operating through Wi-Fi. Smart watches and similar devices can be used to determine the number of people in any room. Several types of missiles can also penetrate any wall or building and reach their target in a very short period”.

Gaza commander survives

Meanwhile, Israel on Wednesday attempted to assassinate a commander in the Rafah Brigade of the Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing, after bombing a tent sheltering his family in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The strike came hours after four Israeli soldiers were wounded in a firefight with Qassam gunmen in Rafah as the troops emerged from tunnels.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the targeted figure survived. He is the intelligence chief of the Rafah Brigade.

Israel had previously said it succeeded in dismantling the Rafah Brigade completely and eliminating it, but successive operations carried out by armed cells from the brigade inside the city, which is under Israeli control, have fueled significant doubt about Israel’s narrative.

Arab World

Sources to Asharq Al-Awsat: Tribal Clashes Behind Killing of Yasser Abu Shabab

Yasser Abu Shabab (Social Media)
Yasser Abu Shabab (Social Media)
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Sources to Asharq Al-Awsat: Tribal Clashes Behind Killing of Yasser Abu Shabab

Yasser Abu Shabab (Social Media)
Yasser Abu Shabab (Social Media)

Sources in Gaza said the killing of Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of an armed militia opposed to Hamas, unfolded against the backdrop of a tribal confrontation, with two members of his own Tarabin clan implicated in the attack.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the two assailants, from the Debari and Abu Suneima families, both part of the wider Bedouin Tarabin tribe, had taken part in the shooting that left Abu Shabab fatally wounded.

According to the sources, the incident occurred on Thursday and ended swiftly when Abu Shabab’s escorts shot dead the men who had targeted him.

Abu Shabab, a controversial figure who emerged during Israel’s war on Gaza and became prominent during efforts to deliver aid to the blockaded enclave, was killed after months in the public eye.

Israel’s Army Radio said on Thursday, citing security officials, that Abu Shabab, one of the most prominent tribal leaders opposed to Hamas in Gaza, died of his wounds at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba in southern Israel, where he had been transferred after being injured earlier.

Abu Shabab’s armed group is based in Rafah in southern Gaza. In previous remarks he insisted that his group’s only link was with the Palestinian Authority, rejecting accusations that he collaborated with Israel.

He had called for renaming his militia, known as the Popular Forces in Gaza, as a counterterrorism group.

Army Radio said Abu Shabab had declared his cooperation with Israel and formed the first armed group to confront Hamas in southern Gaza. It added that he had been targeted by gunmen who opened fire on him.

A few months earlier, with the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, Abu Shabab resurfaced after nearly three months of absence from the field and from his Facebook page.

Abu Shabab has frequently stirred controversy. Some Gaza residents linked his name to the theft of humanitarian aid in past periods, while others defended him and praised what they considered efforts to secure and protect aid shipments.

In May last year, he reactivated his Facebook page and announced he had resumed securing the delivery of aid to residential areas, raising questions about his sudden reappearance and the purpose behind the announcement, especially given his past association among many with aid theft.

Several sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abu Shabab and the armed group that appeared with him in photos on his page were primarily present in areas between eastern Rafah and southeastern Khan Younis.

These areas fall under Israeli control and are inhabited only by a few dozen members of the Tarabin tribe, to which Abu Shabab and his associates belong.

Humanitarian aid began to enter Gaza last week after Israel yielded to international pressure and lifted the blockade it had imposed on aid entry on March 2 last year. A global hunger monitoring body said the blockade had pushed half a million people in the enclave to the brink of famine.

No one knows the exact size of the armed force he formed. Estimates range from dozens to a few hundred, based on images and short videos on TikTok and other social media platforms that show the group with weapons and four-wheel drive vehicles.

Asharq Al-Awsat was unable to reach Abu Shabab directly to clarify his role in the handling of aid, as all his phone numbers were switched off.

Some sources familiar with him said he was a simple young man who had been detained by Hamas police on charges of drug possession and trafficking, but escaped with other inmates after the war broke out and the bombardment intensified. The sources said he had never been affiliated with any Palestinian faction and that there was no known record of him spying for Israel. They added that carrying weapons was common among most members of the Tarabin tribe.

After some residents accused him of stealing aid, Hamas security forces raided sites he visited with his armed men in November 2024, killing at least twenty people and wounding dozens.

After reports claimed he had been killed when an anti-armor projectile struck the vehicle he used to flee, it later emerged that his brother had been inside and was the one killed.

According to some sources, Abu Shabab fled to areas very close to Israeli military positions east of Rafah.

After a period of absence, Abu Shabab reappeared in recent days as aid deliveries resumed. Videos circulated showing men said to be from his group securing aid convoys, escorting foreign delegations and accompanying Red Cross workers. The footage shows people from the Tarabin tribe speaking with visiting delegations.

Each time aid entered the enclave, Abu Shabab posted messages on his Facebook page about protecting it and transporting it to the edges of areas outside his control, which he referred to as “the other side”, meaning the de facto Hamas government.

In one recent post he wrote, “When we distributed aid with dignity they defamed us, when we stood to protect it they accused us, and here we are today appearing before the people, we the sons of this nation.”

The message was signed “Yasser Abu Shabab, Popular Forces”.

Field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the stolen aid had not gone to Hamas. The sources said the shipments entered residential areas without protection, which contributed to theft.

When a group from the Hamas Home Front security force went to secure the aid in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, an Israeli strike killed six of its members, allowing an armed gang to seize the supplies.

Hours later, Hamas fighters fired a projectile at the armed men responsible for the theft, killing six of them, the field sources said.

Some sources said Abu Shabab could barely write and was unlikely to be managing his Facebook page himself. This raised questions about who might be backing him, especially since he operated in areas considered extremely dangerous for Gaza residents due to the presence of Israeli forces.

In several posts, Abu Shabab referred to a media team that managed his page and handled his work professionally. In one post he not only highlighted aid protection but also called for unity and urged people to reject Hamas, which he accused of distorting the image of popular figures.

In some of his posts he referred to his group as the Popular Action Forces. On some TikTok videos, labels such as Counterterrorism Forces appeared.

Some Gaza residents, even jokingly, began calling him “Mr. President”, while others referred to him as “the state”, especially after his armed men were seen wearing military fatigues with Palestinian flags and saluting every convoy carrying visiting delegations.

Local sources said he recently helped evacuate families trapped by Israeli forces in the Amour area southeast of Khan Younis, enabling them to reach areas west of the city.

Hamas repeatedly accuses Israel of fostering lawlessness in Gaza and enabling aid theft by armed gangs.

Israeli officials have openly encouraged Gaza residents to break away from Hamas and rise up against it, which has already occurred in some areas.

Arab World

Israel Strikes South Lebanon Towns

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of al-Mjadel on December 4, 2025. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU / AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of al-Mjadel on December 4, 2025. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU / AFP)
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Israel Strikes South Lebanon Towns

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of al-Mjadel on December 4, 2025. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU / AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of al-Mjadel on December 4, 2025. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU / AFP)

Israel's military said it struck targets in two southern Lebanese towns on Thursday after ordering the evacuation of two buildings it alleged were being used by Hezbollah.

About an hour after the initial warning, the army's Arabic spokesperson issued another notice instructing residents of buildings in two other towns to leave.

The strikes came a day after Israel and Lebanon sent civilian envoys to a committee overseeing a fragile ceasefire agreed a year ago that both sides have accused the other of breaking.

The envoys would broaden the scope of talks between the long-time adversaries, both sides said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Wednesday Lebanon was open to the committee taking on a direct verification role to check Israeli claims that Hezbollah is re-arming, and verify the work of the Lebanese army in dismantling the group's infrastructure.