US asks Iran-backed militias to leave Iraq

riyadh — US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday it was time for Iranian-backed militias and their Iranian advisers who helped Iraq defeat Daesh to “go home”.

The US is concerned that Iran will take advantage of gains against Daesh there and in Syria to expand the influence it gained after the US invasion in 2003, something Arab states like Saudi Arabia also oppose.

“Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fight against Daesh is coming to a close, those militias need to go home. The foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control,” Tillerson said at a news conference following a meeting with Iraq and Saudi Arabian leaders.

A senior US official said Tillerson had been referring to the PMF and the Quds Force, the foreign paramilitary and espionage arm of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iraq’s military, armed by the US but supported by the PMF, ejected the ultra-hardline militant group from Mosul and other cities in northern Iraq this year. —

beirut — US-allied forces said on Sunday they have captured Syria’s largest oil field from Daesh group.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who are in a race with Russian-backed Syrian troops to seize parts of the oil-rich Deir ElZour province, said they are in full control of the Al Omar field.

The SDF has already driven Daesh from Deir Al Zour’s main natural gas field and smaller oil fields. It says government forces are three kilometers away from the fields. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says pro-government forces retreated from the area around Al Omar field after coming under heavy fire from Daesh militants. Earlier this month, pro-government forces seized the town of Mayadeen, just across the Euphrates River.

The Daesh captured Al Omar in 2014, when the group swept across large areas in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. The field was estimated to produce around 9,000 barrels a day, making it a key source of revenue for the extremists. Its current potential is unknown, following a series of strikes on Daesh-held oil facilities by the US-led coalition.

Al Manar TV, operated by Hezbollah, said the fight for Al Omar was still underway and denied the SDF’s claim to have captured it. The Lebanese militant group is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

The Daesh has suffered a series of major setbacks in recent months, including the loss of the Syrian city of Raqqa, once the extremists’ self-styled capital, and the Iraqi city of Mosul. —