BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – The secretary general of the Badr Organization has dismissed attempts to dissolve Iraqi anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units, better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi.
“There are plots seeking either the merger or dissolution of Hashd al-Sha’abi. We will not allow these schemes to be carried out. The Popular Mobilization Units will stay on, and their main mission will be preserving Iraq’s sovereignty, and supporting the country’s security forces,” Hadi al-Amiri, who is also the leader of the Fatah Alliance (Conquest Alliance) political coalition, said on Friday.
He also called for the modernization of Iraqi armed forces with various types of sophisticated munitions.
Amiri said the Fatah Alliance has always stressed the need for powerful security and military institutions in addition to a mighty army in Iraq, adding security organs must assume their own responsibilities for such a highly important matter to realize.
Hashd al-Sh’abai (PMU) fighters have played a major role in the liberation of Daesh-held areas to the south, northeast and north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, ever since the terrorists launched an offensive in the country in June 2014.
Back in November 2016, the Iraqi parliament approved a law giving full legal status to the PMU fighters. It recognized the PMU as part of the national armed forces, placed the forces under the command of the prime minister, and granted them the right to receive salaries and pensions like the regular army and police forces.
A day earlier, Iraq’s Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq resistance movement said the United States and the Zionist regime have been behind a recent attack on positions held by the anti-terror Hashd al-Sha’abi.
Asa’ib Secretary General Qais Khazali criticized the Iraqi government for its silence on the September 14 raid on the border between the town of al-Qa’im and the Syrian city of al-Bukamal.
“The denial on the part of the Americans does not absolve them of their responsibility in this regard, because in practice, the responsibility for Iraqi airspace lies with them. If they were not involved in this attack, it is the work of the Zionist enemy,” he said.
“Israeli planes cannot target positions held by Iraqi military forces without American consent,” he added.
Khazali also denounced as “unjustifiable” the Iraqi government’s inaction to purchase air defense systems in a bid to deter repeated acts of aggression against the country.
Media sources said that the attack involved U.S. F-15 fighter jets and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) firing four missiles at Hashd al-Sha’abi positions.
The town of al-Qa’im came under an attack by U.S. warplanes on June 27 at the order of U.S. President Joe Biden.
The U.S. strike killed four Iraqi fighters who were performing their duties of preventing the infiltration of Daesh terrorists from Syria.