Leader of Iraq’s Liwaa Ansar al-Marjaia Slams ‘Iran’s Agents’

Liwaa Ansar al-Marjaia leader, Hameed al-Yasiri.
Liwaa Ansar al-Marjaia leader, Hameed al-Yasiri.
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Leader of Iraq’s Liwaa Ansar al-Marjaia Slams ‘Iran’s Agents’

Liwaa Ansar al-Marjaia leader, Hameed al-Yasiri.
Liwaa Ansar al-Marjaia leader, Hameed al-Yasiri.

Leader of Liwaa Ansar al-Marjaia faction, Hameed al-Yasiri accused on Sunday Iraq’s Iran loyalists of committing “grand treason.”

Speaking at an Ashura commemoration in the southern city of al-Ramtha, he declared: “Those who are loyal to sides other than the nation are committing grand treason”

“This is great deception. This is what Imam al-Hussein taught us,” he added.

He did not specifically name any side, but was widely understood to be referring to pro-Iran factions.

“Those who take orders from beyond the borders… this is not the doctrine of Imam al-Hussein,” he continued.

Yasiri said he was aware of the danger he would face after making his divisive statements.

“I am aware that some sides are recording these words and sending them to their masters, who will in turn send them to their masters beyond the borders. Someone from the outside will decree my killing or yours on charges of doubting loyalties,” he remarked.

Yasiri’s remarks are unprecedented even though tensions between the various Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq are common. The factions are divided between those loyal to the religious authority based in Najaf city and others loyal to Iran. Yasiri’s faction belongs to the former camp.

Qais Khazali, head of the pro-Iran Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, dismissed Yasiri’s remarks as “trivial”

“It is shocking that such trivialities could be uttered by a cleric from an Imam al-Hussein platform in a city such as al-Ramtha, whose people are diligent and cultured,” he added.



UN Says 875 Palestinians Have Been Killed Near Gaza Aid Sites

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Says 875 Palestinians Have Been Killed Near Gaza Aid Sites

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are pictured at sunset from a position across the border in southern Israel on July 15, 2025. (AFP)

The UN rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led fighters loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.

The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation, which it denies.

The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest UN figures.

"The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organizations," Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.

The United Nations has called the GHF aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

The GHF said on Tuesday it had delivered more than 75 million meals to Gaza Palestinians since the end of May, and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs.

The Israeli army previously told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimize friction between Palestinians and the Israeli army by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Program said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities".