Iraq PM sacks nine officials over oil smuggling in Kataib Hezbollah stronghold
Ali al-Zaidi orders suspects referred to court after an investigation found illegal refineries and tapped pipelines in Jurf al-Nasr, escalating a standoff with Iran-backed militias.
Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has dismissed nine senior security and administrative officials and ordered that all suspects in a major oil-smuggling case be referred to the judiciary, in the most significant escalation yet in his confrontation with Iran-backed militias.
The order followed an emergency security meeting late on Saturday to review the findings of a committee investigating smuggling in Jurf al-Nasr, also known as Jurf al-Sakhar, in Babil province, military spokesperson Sabah al-Numan told the Iraqi News Agency.
"In light of the investigation's findings, [the prime minister] ordered that all individuals accused of involvement in oil smuggling operations be referred to the judiciary," al-Numan said, according to Al Jazeera.
Who was dismissed
The officials removed include security and intelligence officers in Babil province, an Interior Ministry commander, the director of the state-run Oil Pipelines Company at the Ministry of Oil, and the province's police chief. The investigating committee said it "confirmed the accuracy" of an intelligence report into the smuggling, and the inquiry uncovered illegal oil refineries, al-Numan said.
A $30m-a-month operation
Al Jazeera's Peter Smith, reporting from Baghdad, said two strategic oil pipelines running south of Baghdad "had effectively been tapped into."
"Oil was being siphoned off, stolen, and then sold on the black market in an operation worth tens of millions of dollars every month," Smith said, citing a leaked intelligence report. He described the area as having been "run as a state within a state until now."
The National reported that the committee confirmed a Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency report documenting illegal extraction near pipelines, based on satellite imagery from 2021 to 2026. It identified four sites where large tankers, each with a capacity of 36,000 litres, repeatedly appeared.
Strategic flashpoint
Jurf al-Nasr lies about 60km south-west of Baghdad. It was retaken from ISIS in 2014 and has since remained largely closed to its displaced Sunni residents. It is controlled by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned faction with brigades in the Popular Mobilisation Forces and designated a terrorist organisation by the United States.
Kataib Hezbollah has recently issued sharp statements against the prime minister, threatening his government and accusing him of corruption. Senior Iraqi politicians have previously told AFP that al-Zaidi had repeatedly said he was ready to confront groups refusing to disarm.