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Iran Says Iraq Will Expel Exiled Kurdish Opposition Members

Officials are seen at a meeting between Iraq and Iran to review the security framework agreement between their countries in Baghdad on October 19. (Government media)
Officials are seen at a meeting between Iraq and Iran to review the security framework agreement between their countries in Baghdad on October 19. (Government media)
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Iran Says Iraq Will Expel Exiled Kurdish Opposition Members

Officials are seen at a meeting between Iraq and Iran to review the security framework agreement between their countries in Baghdad on October 19. (Government media)
Officials are seen at a meeting between Iraq and Iran to review the security framework agreement between their countries in Baghdad on October 19. (Government media)

Iran's ambassador to Iraq said on Tuesday that Baghdad had agreed to "expel" or hand over members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups who have taken refuge on the Iraqi side of the border.

The announcement came after senior Iraqi security officials repeatedly told AFP that Baghdad was refusing to do so, fearing for the lives of the Kurdish exiles.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, an oil-rich area in the north of the country, has long hosted camps and bases for Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, which Tehran labels terrorists who serve US or Israeli interests.

"During a meeting of the joint security commission -- attended by the Iranian delegation and the Iraqi National Security Adviser -- the two parties agreed to expel the members of the Iranian separatist terrorist groups from the Iraqi Kurdistan region or hand them over to Iran," ambassador Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh wrote on X.

On Monday, Iraq's National Security Council hosted a meeting of the two delegations in Baghdad. A governmental delegation from the Kurdistan region also took part, according to a statement from the media office of Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassim Al-Abboudi.

The statement said the talks focused on "ways to address current challenges and to harmonize the visions of the parties concerned".

In 2023, Baghdad and Tehran signed an agreement aimed at strengthening security along their shared border -- particularly in the Kurdistan region -- and "neutralizing the Kurdish opposition".

The deal put an end to recurring Iranian bombardments targeting the groups and helped ease tensions between the two countries.

But since the outbreak of war in the Middle East in late February, triggered by US-Israeli strikes, Iran has resumed deadly attacks on the Kurdish groups.

Under the 2023 agreement, Iraqi authorities disarmed the Iranian Kurdish groups, moving them away from the border and transferring them to camps.

On February 22 this year, a few days before the outbreak of the war, five of the groups announced the formation of a political alliance aimed at overthrowing the Iranian government and guaranteeing the right to self-determination for the Kurds.

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Arab World

Iraq Threatens Crackdown on Opponents of Disarmament Plan

Iraqi armed factions set conditions for bringing weapons under state control (X)
Iraqi armed factions set conditions for bringing weapons under state control (X)
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Iraq Threatens Crackdown on Opponents of Disarmament Plan

Iraqi armed factions set conditions for bringing weapons under state control (X)
Iraqi armed factions set conditions for bringing weapons under state control (X)

Iraq's government and parliament have threatened legal action against opponents of a plan to bring all weapons under state control, even as Türkiye ruled out withdrawing its troops from Iraq until regional and border security conditions are met.

Baghdad says the disarmament plan will take effect after the withdrawal of international coalition forces.

The ruling Coordination Framework alliance reaffirmed its commitment to resolving the issue of weapons outside state control by June 30, 2027, authorizing the government to "take steps to ensure compliance," according to a statement issued Monday evening.

The renewed push comes just days after a new cabinet was formed, with several political groups that maintain armed factions securing ministerial posts.

Among them is Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which landed the deputy prime minister's post, potentially reinforcing reports that Washington had given such groups a "green light" to join the government in exchange for laying down their arms.

Sources close to the armed factions said most now acknowledge the need for disarmament after securing influential positions in government and parliament. Kataib Hezbollah, however, remains opposed.

Criminal charges threatened

The government has ordered state institutions to enforce the law and pursue criminal complaints against anyone who incites opposition through the media or seeks to obstruct decisions to place weapons exclusively under state control.

In a statement, the prime minister's media office said freedom of expression and media activity, while guaranteed by the constitution and law, must operate within legal boundaries and respect public order and citizens' rights.

Such freedoms, it warned, cannot be used to incite violence or internal conflict, support weapons outside state control or back outlawed groups.

The warning appeared directed at armed faction spokespeople and supporters who have repeatedly mocked or rejected government disarmament announcements on television, in public statements and through online posts.

Activists close to Kataib Hezbollah have openly opposed disarmament, as has Kazem al-Fartousi, spokesman for Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada. Their objections have frequently been accompanied by sharp criticism of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.

The government said it had instructed all institutions to pursue criminal complaints against anyone involved in media incitement or efforts to derail state decisions on weapons control.

It cited Iraq's constitution and Articles 2 and 4 of Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005 as the legal basis for the measures.

The statement also pointed to a Supreme Judicial Council position that using, supporting or threatening to use weapons outside state authority falls under the anti-terrorism law.

Parliament backs crackdown

Parliament Speaker Haibat al-Halbousi threw his support behind the government's legal measures, saying they were necessary to preserve civil peace, enforce the law and bring all weapons under state control.

Halbousi stressed that constitutionally protected freedoms of expression and media activity must be balanced against legal and professional obligations.

Those freedoms, he said, must not become a cover for inciting violence, fueling internal conflict or supporting weapons beyond state authority.

He backed holding accountable anyone proven to have incited violence or threatened public security and national stability, while emphasizing that enforcement must respect constitutional rights, legal safeguards and the principle of equal treatment under the law.

Security agencies step up scrutiny

Iraq's security agencies have identified cases of incitement and calls to obstruct disarmament decisions, according to Saad Maan, head of the country's Security Media Cell.

Speaking to the official Iraqi News Agency, Maan said specialized units within the office of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, the National Security Service and the Interior Ministry were monitoring and analyzing such activity.

He stressed that no action would be taken without judicial authorization.

Maan said directives from the commander-in-chief called for pursuing those who incite violence or support weapons outside state control, describing the measures as essential to maintaining long-term security amid regional and global turmoil.

Freedom of expression and media activity remain constitutionally protected, he said, but those protections do not extend to stirring chaos, tensions or unrest.

Asked where authorities draw the line between free expression and punishable media incitement, Maan said criminal liability depends on the applicable law and whether the elements of an offense are established.

Any prosecution, he added, must remain under judicial authority.

Türkiye stands firm on troop presence

Meanwhile, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said Ankara would keep its forces in Iraq and Syria until it was satisfied that security along its borders with both countries was fully guaranteed.

Türkiye "maintains its military presence in Iraq and Syria," Agence France-Presse quoted Guler as saying.

"Once we are certain that the necessary conditions regarding regional and border security have been met, the status of our deployments and presence in the region will be reviewed," he added.

The statement highlights a key obstacle to Iraq's disarmament plan: Iraqi armed factions had made the withdrawal of Turkish troops one of their conditions for agreeing to the initiative during negotiations with the Coordination Framework.

On October 14, Sabah al-Numan, spokesman for the commander-in-chief of Iraq's armed forces, suggested the issue of Turkish troops in northern Iraq could be resolved within three months.

Turkish forces are stationed at the Zilkan base in the mountainous Bashiqa district, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) northeast of Mosul, and at numerous other positions near the shared border.

Local reports put the number of Turkish checkpoints inside Iraqi territory and along the border at around 130.

In September, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The talks produced an agreement for a "gradual evacuation" of Turkish forces from the Zilkan base, scheduled to begin officially on October 1, with control to pass to Baghdad under an agreed timetable and mechanism.

But Ankara has long tied any withdrawal to Baghdad's progress in securing Sinjar district in northern Nineveh province.

Türkiye demands that Iraqi authorities establish control over the district and expel armed groups, particularly wings of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that have not complied with the decision to dissolve the party and surrender weapons, announced by its leader Abdullah Ocalan in late February 2025.

Arab World

15 Years After Gaddafi's Death, Supporters Struggle to Find Political ‘Heir’

Late Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters)
Late Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters)
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15 Years After Gaddafi's Death, Supporters Struggle to Find Political ‘Heir’

Late Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters)
Late Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters)

Fifteen years after the killing of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, his supporters are still searching for a political heir, with the assassination of his son Saif al-Islam last February extinguishing hopes of a comeback that had grown since his ill-fated presidential bid in 2021.

Gaddafi was captured by opposition fighters in the city of Misrata on Oct. 20, 2011, before being killed as his rule of more than four decades came to an end. His downfall left a political vacuum among loyalists who later rallied around Saif al-Islam as the most prominent face of the former regime.

Hopes of a political revival gained momentum when Saif al-Islam announced his presidential candidacy in November 2021. But the elections never took place, and his assassination in Zintan in February reopened the question of succession, leaving the movement without a figure capable of uniting its supporters.

Political analyst Hossam Fenaish told Asharq Al-Awsat that Gaddafi loyalists were searching for a successor, with attention turning to his surviving children Aisha, Al-Saadi and Mohammed. Hannibal, he said, appeared to have the weakest prospects. Two other sons, Khamis and Saif al-Arab, were killed during the 2011 uprising.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in November 2011. (Reuters)

The most notable shift came in September, when supporters of the former regime began promoting Aisha Gaddafi on social media as a possible contender.

Their campaign drew on an open online poll that reportedly put her more than 30,000 votes ahead of her nearest rival. But there was no verified information on the number of participants or whether the results reflected wider public opinion.

Aqila Dalhoum, head of the media and human rights team at the National Truth Committee investigating Saif al-Islam's killing, backed the idea. He said the poll reflected both the Gaddafi family's enduring symbolic appeal among some Libyans and frustration over the country's political, economic and living crises.

Aisha, however, has largely stayed out of public politics. She lives in Oman with her brother Mohammed and has turned to visual art, exhibiting works depicting her father and brother Mutassim at Moscow's State Museum of Oriental Art in 2024, followed by an exhibition in Muscat this year.

Yet enthusiasm for her possible candidacy is far from unanimous.

Two prominent former regime figures declined to comment on calls for her to run. One questioned whether such discussions were premature.

"Where are the presidential elections at this point, given the stalled political process in Libya?" he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

A former Libyan army spokesman also played down the campaign, saying it reflected individual initiatives rather than a collective decision by Gaddafi loyalists.

No candidate had secured a consensus, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

"Aisha is a Libyan citizen who has the right to run for office like anyone else," he said. "Choosing a representative of the former regime's supporters begins with a family decision, followed by consultations within the movement. The final say then rests with voters."

Hannibal Gaddafi. (Reuters file)

Aisha is not the only Gaddafi family member whose name has surfaced.

Supporters have also floated Al-Saadi Gaddafi, who lives in Türkiye, as a possible contender. But he publicly ruled out a political role in June, saying in a post on X that he had no intention of entering politics, contesting elections or backing any faction.

Instead, he said he wanted to live an ordinary life devoted to learning and wished success to whoever Libyans chose to lead the country.

Al-Saadi was freed from a Tripoli prison in 2021 after spending years in detention following his extradition from Niger in March 2014 over allegations linked to the crackdown on the 2011 uprising.

Attention has also turned to Mohammed Gaddafi, the former leader's eldest son from his first wife, Fathia Nuri Khalid.

Mohammed resurfaced on social media after Saif al-Islam's assassination, pressing for the findings of the murder investigation to be made public.

Last month, he raised questions about a suspected sabotage cell apprehended in Tripoli and its possible links to the assassination, urging relevant international organizations to investigate and uncover the circumstances of the killing.

Pages aligned with the former regime have since touted Mohammed as another potential successor.

One page, "Gaddafi Speaks," portrayed him as a man suited to a time when Libyans are seeking a strong, independent state. Blogger Ahmed Faraj also voiced support for him as a future candidate.

But activist Rania Gaddafi dismissed suggestions that Mohammed was preparing to enter politics as rumors.

Al-Saadi Gaddafi. (Al-Saadi Gaddafi on Facebook)

She said he had no interest in running for election or holding office, and was concerned only with seeing Libya regain security, stability and national unity.

Born in 1970, Mohammed previously headed the Libyan Olympic Committee and chaired the board of the General Posts and Telecommunications Company.

Hannibal Gaddafi, meanwhile, remains entangled in one of the family's most complicated chapters, far from Libya's political stage.

He spent about a decade in detention in Lebanon in connection with the 1978 disappearance of Lebanese cleric and politician Musa al-Sadr and his two companions before his release.

Feneish said Hannibal appeared to be out f the running for now.

But beyond the competing names, some Gaddafi loyalists reject the idea that his political legacy belongs to any single family member. They argue that the former leader left behind not a conventional political inheritance but a set of national and pan-Arab values and principles.

Libyan writer and researcher Mustafa al-Fetouri, a supporter of the former regime, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the question of succession went beyond the Gaddafi family.

"Anyone who believes in those principles can be his heir, beyond his family and children," he said.

Arab World

Iran Says Iraq Will Expel Exiled Kurdish Opposition Members

Officials are seen at a meeting between Iraq and Iran to review the security framework agreement between their countries in Baghdad on October 19. (Government media)
Officials are seen at a meeting between Iraq and Iran to review the security framework agreement between their countries in Baghdad on October 19. (Government media)
TT
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Iran Says Iraq Will Expel Exiled Kurdish Opposition Members

Officials are seen at a meeting between Iraq and Iran to review the security framework agreement between their countries in Baghdad on October 19. (Government media)
Officials are seen at a meeting between Iraq and Iran to review the security framework agreement between their countries in Baghdad on October 19. (Government media)

Iran's ambassador to Iraq said on Tuesday that Baghdad had agreed to "expel" or hand over members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups who have taken refuge on the Iraqi side of the border.

The announcement came after senior Iraqi security officials repeatedly told AFP that Baghdad was refusing to do so, fearing for the lives of the Kurdish exiles.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, an oil-rich area in the north of the country, has long hosted camps and bases for Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, which Tehran labels terrorists who serve US or Israeli interests.

"During a meeting of the joint security commission -- attended by the Iranian delegation and the Iraqi National Security Adviser -- the two parties agreed to expel the members of the Iranian separatist terrorist groups from the Iraqi Kurdistan region or hand them over to Iran," ambassador Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh wrote on X.

On Monday, Iraq's National Security Council hosted a meeting of the two delegations in Baghdad. A governmental delegation from the Kurdistan region also took part, according to a statement from the media office of Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassim Al-Abboudi.

The statement said the talks focused on "ways to address current challenges and to harmonize the visions of the parties concerned".

In 2023, Baghdad and Tehran signed an agreement aimed at strengthening security along their shared border -- particularly in the Kurdistan region -- and "neutralizing the Kurdish opposition".

The deal put an end to recurring Iranian bombardments targeting the groups and helped ease tensions between the two countries.

But since the outbreak of war in the Middle East in late February, triggered by US-Israeli strikes, Iran has resumed deadly attacks on the Kurdish groups.

Under the 2023 agreement, Iraqi authorities disarmed the Iranian Kurdish groups, moving them away from the border and transferring them to camps.

On February 22 this year, a few days before the outbreak of the war, five of the groups announced the formation of a political alliance aimed at overthrowing the Iranian government and guaranteeing the right to self-determination for the Kurds.