Brigades loyal to Najaf cleric split
from Popular Mobilisation Forces
after efforts to wrest control
from Iran-backed commanders fail
Source : Sudad Al Salhy, Baghdad
Originally published by Middle East Eye
within the ranks of Iraq’s paramilitia groups
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
Baghdad
Published date: 1 May 2020 1
By Robert Edwards-and Lawk Ghafuri
Hashd al-Shaabi: A house divided
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known in Arabic as
Hashd al-Shaabi,
was created in 2014 when Sistani issued
a fatwa (a religious call to action)
urging young Iraqis
to take up arms against
the Islamic State group
(ISIS).
ince the territorial defeat of ISIS
in Iraq in late 2017
, the role of the Hashd
has increasingly
been called into question
, with demands to withdraw
units garrisoned
in northern areas
and to fully integrate them into
the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).
Others have fought to maintain
the Hashd’s autonomy
from the ISF
and its commander-in-chief,
the Iraqi prime minister,
allowing it to continue carrying out
Iranian military objectives
inside Iraq.
Hashd units close to Iran are widely
accused of abducting and
killing protesters during
Iraq’s recent wave
of anti-government unrest.
They are also believed responsible
for a spate of deadly rocket attacks
targeting US
and coalition personnel stationed
at bases across Iraq.
Sistani-affiliated units,
meanwhile,
are not known
to have fired on protesters
, have a generally better
human rights record
in areas they occupy
, and are not implicated
in the targeting of foreign troops
and infrastructure.
The wound opened
between those wishing
to integrate Iraq’s
many armed factions
into
a single unified military
apparatus
and those
who envisage
an Iraqi variant
of Iran’s powerful
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp
(IRGC) is quickly turning septic.
The catalyst for
this deepening animosity
was the US assassination of
Hashd commander
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,
alongside IRGC general
Qasem Soleimani
in a drone strike
near Baghdad airpor
t in January
. The deaths sparked
bitter disagreements
over the
leadership succession
and the organization’s goals.
The divergence was further
exposed
by the recent decision
of four Hashd units
in Iraq’s holy shrine
city of
Najaf
to move under
the direct command
of the chief of armed forces
– the Iraqi prime minister.
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