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Iraq Monitorعين على العراقPrimary-source intelligence · updated 15:43 Baghdad
Intra-militia conflictDivergence29 Jul, 19:12 BAGHDAD

AAH and KH outlets blame "Saudi-American" strikes; joint text blames Washington alone

Asaib Ahl al-Haq's Al-Ahad TV and Kata'ib Hezbollah's Unit 10,000 both name Saudi Arabia as co-perpetrator of the strikes, while the joint statement they carry blames Washington alone and denies any Saudi strike

WHAT HAPPENED

At 15:50 on 29 July, Al-Ahad TV (Asaib Ahl al-Haq — official) published a correspondents' network round-up reporting "no human losses following the brutal Saudi-American aggression on the city of Amirli", "10 martyrs and 7 wounded as a result of the Saudi-American aggression on the Popular Mobilization headquarters in the city of Bartella in the Nineveh Plain", that the headquarters was struck "while its members were resting", and that Arbaeen pilgrims in Karbala "demand the government respond appropriately to the Saudi-American aggression". Two minutes later, Unit 10,000 (Kata'ib Hezbollah — affiliated) posted a video captioned with the words of the commander of a brigade "that was bombed today in Diyala province by the Saudi-American aggression", quoting him "this path we chose and we must continue on it". The statement issued in the name of Islamic Resistance in Iraq, carried by both factions' channels in the same hours, instead attributes the killings to "the American enemy" and opens with "categorical denial of any targeting of the Saudi entity and its installations". Asaib Ahl al-Haq's own channel carried both framings within roughly twenty minutes. Exact-text republication was also observed on Jehad Brothers Team (affiliated/aligned media), Shabab al-Islam (owned/non-official media), KAF Center (official social media channel), Al-Nujaba TV (official owned media), Sabereen News (affiliated/aligned media), Ilam al-Muqawama (affiliated/aligned media), and Al-Ilam al-Harbi (affiliated/aligned media).

WHY IT MATTERS

A network that denies striking Saudi Arabia while its two largest broadcasters call the incoming strikes Saudi-American is running incompatible accounts of who the adversary is, which is the seam any Iraqi government or Saudi response will read first.

EVIDENCE · INTERCEPTED CHANNEL MESSAGE
View the original message (Arabic)شبكة مراسلي "العهد": - لم تكن هناك خسائر بشرية إثر العدوان السعودي الأميركي الغاشم على مدينة آمرلي - ارتقاء 10 شهداء وإصابة 7 آخرين نتيجة العدوان السعودي الأميركي على مقر الحشد في مدينة برطلة بسهل نينوى - العدوان السعودي الأميركي استهدف مقر الحشد الشعبي في سهل نينوى عند استراحة منتسبيه - ازدياد…
Published as evidence, not endorsement