Iraqi Political Activist Arrested Linked to Armed Militias for "Inciting Post" Threatening National Security

The Iraqi Military Intelligence Directorate executed an arrest warrant against the politician Abbas Al-Ardawi, associated with "armed militias", due to a post he made on the "X" platform regarding targeting Iraqi military radars with drones.

A statement from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense stated that Al-Ardawi published "an inciting post considered to be provocative, threatening national security and social peace", indicating that he "deliberately made serious accusations against the state and defamed its legal institutions without evidence or documents".

The ministry warned of the "danger of incitement or stirring up sedition and false allegations, especially in the sensitive circumstances the region is going through", affirming that "all state institutions operate with complete neutrality and in accordance with the constitution, placing the nation's interest above any considerations or narrow interests". It called on journalists and social media activists to "act responsibly in a way that serves the country's security and stability".

Al-Ardawi commented hours after the targeting of Iraqi military sites, claiming that "the targeted Iraqi radars are French scrap that did not respond to the Israeli aggression", referring to recent Israeli attacks on Iran whose drones passed through Iraqi airspace.

It is worth mentioning that Al-Ardawi was previously a candidate for the "Hezbollah Party" in parliamentary elections, but he did not win.

Al-Ardawi's statement sparked widespread controversy, as some activists saw it as "doubting the capabilities of the Iraqi air defense and implicitly justifying the attacks on sensitive facilities", while others considered it his attempt "to deflect accusations from the armed militias that were implicated in the incident".

On the other hand, the spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Major General Sabah Al-Numan, confirmed that Iraq was subjected to an attack early Tuesday by "small suicide drones", targeting radar systems at a camp north of Baghdad and Imam Ali Base in Dhi Qar, noting that "no human losses were recorded".

Al-Numan added that the Iraqi forces "managed to intercept four other drones targeting military sites and shoot them down before reaching their targets".

These developments coincided with the announcement of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel after 12 days of clashes, leading observers to link the attacks on Iraqi radars to an attempt by Iran-affiliated militias to "settle scores" with air defense systems that were allegedly not activated during Israeli strikes against Iran.