BAGHDAD (Dispatches) -- A top Iraqi lawmaker has hailed Iran’s support for the Arab country during its fight against foreign-backed terrorism, saying the scourge would not be routed without Tehran’s helping hand, among other factors.
“Thanks to the role played by the resistance and the sacrifices of fighters, Iraq’s sovereignty and unity has been preserved,” Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Fatah (Conquest) Alliance in Iraq’s parliament, said.
“If it were not for the fatwa (decree) of the religious authority, the role of the resistance and the support of the Islamic Republic, terrorism would not be destroyed,” added Amiri, who is also secretary general of the Badr Organization, a political party close to anti-terror Hashd al-Sha’abi,
Led by Iranian anti-terror icon General Qassem Soleimani, Iranian military advisers rushed to the aid of the Iraqi armed forces when Daesh unleashed its campaign of terror in the Arab country in 2014. They helped Iraqi forces reverse Daesh’s gains and ultimately liberate the entire Arab country from the U.S.-sponsored terror outfit some three years later.
Angered by the major gains in the counter-terrorism battle, the U.S. assassinated General Soleimani outside Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020. Two days later, Iraqi lawmakers unanimously approved a bill, calling for the expulsion of all foreign military forces led by Washington.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Amiri appreciated the endeavors of the Iraqi resistance in maintaining the country’s sovereignty.
“The resistance as well as the blood of martyrs saved Iraq from the grip of Daesh and the U.S.,” he said. “If there was no resistance, Iraq would not exist and the dictatorial regime would remain until today.”
In 2014, Iraq’s prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a decree that called on all Iraqi people to join forces with the army in the face of the Daesh threat. The historic decree led to a mass mobilization of popular volunteer forces under the banner of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), commonly known as Hashd al-Sha’abi.
In November 2016, the Iraqi parliament recognized Hashd al-Sha’abi as an official force with similar rights as those of the regular army, therefore legally establishing it as part of the National Armed Forces.
The U.S., however, has long been seeking to dissolve Hashd and constrain its role. It has also targeted resistance fighters in a bid to resuscitate Daesh.