Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada demands "full sovereignty" from new Iraqi government
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) called on Thursday for Iraq's incoming government to enshrine full national sovereignty as a core objective.
"The prime ministership in Iraq is a constitutional entitlement representing the Shia component," spokesman Kazem Habib al-Fartusi told Shafaq News, adding that the Coordination Framework (CF) —as representative of the Shia electorate— had exercised that choice in line with the political imperatives of the current phase.
Al-Fartusi said that resistance factions expect the new government's program to reflect genuine investment in the political process.
Last week, the US State Department offered up to $10 million for information on the group's leader, Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji, also known as Abu Alaa al-Walai. Washington designated al-Saraji and KSS as Specially Designated Global Terrorists in November 2023, and further classified the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in September 2025.
According to information obtained by Shafaq News, the United States also conveyed objections through back-channel communications over al-Saraji's participation in the Framework meetings convened to select the prime minister-designate.
The Framework, which holds 162 seats in parliament, functions simultaneously as the dominant Shia political bloc and an umbrella for factions with armed wings. At least 55 of its MPs are affiliated with the political branches of groups designated by Washington as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Read more: The Coordination Framework: Can govern Iraq, but cannot agree on a prime minister
