ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s National Security Service (INSS) said Sunday it foiled plans by members of the outlawed Baath Party to carry out sabotage operations in three provinces and arrested 40 suspects linked to the efforts.
In a statement seen by The New Region, the INSS said the plot was discovered through ongoing intelligence efforts aimed at protecting national security and public stability.
“These fragile groups, connected to the remnants of the former regime, tried to stir public opinion and threaten the country’s stability,” the agency said. “They used false messages to promote the banned Baath Party and spread their dead dreams, while encouraging opposition to the state.”
The agency also said it tracked online activity related to a group called Brigade 66, allegedly managed from abroad, which was trying to spread Baathist ideas through the internet.
Security teams carried out special operations that led to the arrest of 40 people accused of running and funding sectarian content and preparing sabotage acts. Some of the suspects admitted to receiving support and directions from individuals outside the country, according to the statement.
“These groups will not succeed in shaking the country’s stability or bringing back dictatorial ideas,” the agency said, adding that legal steps were taken against those arrested and that operations are ongoing to find others who threaten Iraq’s security.
The Baath Party ruled Iraq from 1968 until 2003, when the party’s leader, Saddam Hussein, was toppled and the regime collapsed in a US-led operation.
The Baath Party is banned under Article 7 of the constitution, which prohibits glorifying or promoting symbols of the regime.
Over recent months, security forces, including the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), have periodically reported arrests of Baath promoters.
Iraq’s Islamic Dawa Party, led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, warned earlier this year that there have been efforts to get the Baath Party back into the political scene and to include their representatives in the November elections.
The Karkh Criminal Court in Baghdad sentenced 13 individuals to one year in prison on the grounds of promoting the banned Baath party in late January. The sentenced were members of a branch of the Baath Party called the National Assembly for Liberation and Change.
The PMF in November 2024 announced that 29 people were arrested under suspicion of promoting or being members of the Baath Party. Days later, a man was arrested for “glorifying” the Baath Party on TikTok, “defying the laws that prohibit the promotion of the dissolved party,” according to the Iraqi National Security Service.
Observers argue that election-time focus on the Baath Party remains as much about Iraq’s current political divides as it is about any real threat from the former regime.
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