BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, says it thwarted an attempted attack by Daesh terrorists in the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad, the Iraq News Agency (INA) has reported.
“A force from the 12th Brigade of the Popular Mobilization repelled an attack by [Daesh] that targeted the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad, and the force was able to thwart a [Daesh] attempt to infiltrate the district and carry out terrorist operations,” the PMU said in a statement carried by INA.
The popular forces launched a counterattack in the district to secure the area and conducted security sweeps in search of fleeing Daesh terrorists, the statement added.
On June 15, 2014, Iraq’s prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa that called on all Iraqi people to join forces with the army to confront Daesh terrorist group.
The historic fatwa led to a mass mobilization of popular volunteer forces under the banner of Hashd al-Sha’abi. The force then rushed to the aid of the army and took the lead in many of the successful anti-terror operations, which ultimately led to the collapse of Daesh’s territorial rule and liberation of the entire Iraqi land in December 2017.
Last Saturday, Hashd al-Sha’abi unveiled several new indigenously-developed achievements during a military parade in the eastern Diyala province to mark the eighth anniversary of its formation.
The military achievements, dubbed Rased (Monitor) and Haseeb (Auditor), are reportedly unmanned aerial vehicles to be controlled remotely either directly by a pilot or autonomously by an onboard computer.
Additionally, a slew of optimally overhauled Russian battle tanks were also put on display.
The ceremony in the town of al-Khalis, located roughly 15 kilometers (9 miles) northwest of the provincial capital city of Baqubah, was attended by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Chairman of the Popular Mobilization Forces Falih al-Fayyadh, head and Secretary General of the Badr Organization Hadi al-Amiri and a number of other high-ranking military officials.