Premier taking risk on militias aided by Tehran
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government’s move this week to place Iranianbacked militias under the command of the armed forces is a political gamble by a prime minister increasingly caught in the middle of a dangerous rivalry between Iran and the U.S, the two main power brokers in Iraq.
Facing pressure from the U.S. to curb the militias, the move allows Prime Minister Adel AbdulMahdi to demonstrate a tough stance ahead of a planned visit to Washington, expected to take place in the coming weeks. It is unlikely, though, that he would be able to rein in the powerful Iransupported militias, and he risks coming off as a weak and ineffective leader if he doesn’t.
Besides having built credibility as an effective force against the Islamic State, the mainly Shiite militias, known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces, are a significant political force, with government ministers and 48 seats in the 329member parliament.
The PMF “is among the parties that achieved victory for Iraq against (the Islamic State), liberating Mosul and restoring security to the country. The time has come to organize their status in a legal way… meaning no weapons outside the framework of the state,” AbdulMahdi said.
That’s a tough sell in a country awash with arms and militias, many of which operate outside the state’s control.
The leaders of some of the larger militias, like Asaib Ahl alHaq, Badr and the Peace Brigades, welcomed the decision, calling it a step in the right direction. But one militia leader said his group has secret offices that they will not close, calling AbdulMahdi’s decision a “U.S. directive.” Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the prime minister and the Americans “are dreaming” if they think they can implement the decision.
The Hezbollah Brigades, one of the largest militias with close ties to Iran, indirectly criticized the order in a statement Thursday. It said the government’s foremost responsibility is to remove what it described as U.S. occupation forces and their business affiliates from Iraq, saying they constitute “a major threat” to security. The U.S. maintains military bases and more than 5,000 troops in Iraq.
The PMF emerged following a call in the summer of 2014 by Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali alSistani, for volunteers after Islamic State militants overran nearly a third of Iraq, including the northern city of Mosul, Iraq’s secondlargest. Iraq’s military and security forces collapsed in the face of the onslaught.