Iran enlists help from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization militia in Ahvaz

Mohamed Shaath

The arrival of troops from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces to the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz is causing worries to local residents, amid expectations that Iran will use the forces in suppressing public anger at the failure of Iranian authorities to manage the consequences of the flash floods that hit the city among many others in Iran.

The entry of the troops came only days after a tour in Ahvaz by the commander of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani. The Iranian government said, meanwhile, nothing about the presence of these troops in the city, even as the same issue has been at the center of criticism by many Iranians.

The Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh countered this criticism by saying that the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces had arrived in Ahvaz according to Iranian laws.

A forces official, namely Abu Mahdi al-Mohandess, said the troops were deployed in Ahvaz at a time its residents complain against the poor management of dams in the western Iranian cities.

The residents also held Iranian authorities responsible for the floods which have so far caused the displacement of around 500,000 people.

Ahvaz activists launched several social media campaigns in which they tried to belie official claims that the Popular Mobilization Forces are in Ahvaz to help local residents cope up with the devastation caused by the floods.

Iranian cities are at the same time debating the involvement of their country in wars outside national borders and the losses this involvement is bringing the national Iranian economy.

Iranian controversy

Iranian affairs specialist Osama al-Hatimi saw controversy in the arrival of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Ahvaz.

“This is particularly true because Iran used to boast of the strength and number of its security forces,” al-Hatimi told The Reference.

He said Iranian security forces are finally enlisting support from the Iraqi militia and other militias from Afghanistan and Pakistan to solve an internal problem.

He noted that testimonies by the residents of Ahvaz and also an assessment of the actions of the Popular Mobilization Forces shows that these forces are not in the Iranian city for a humanitarian mission, like Iranian authorities claim, but for a security mission.

Using the crisis

Al-Hatimi said the forces are in Ahvaz to suppress public anger at the mismanagement of the floods.

Iranian authorities, he added, were neglected the consequences of the floods in Ahvaz on purpose with the aim of implementing its plan of effecting demographic change in the city.

“We cannot overlook the fact that the Iranian regime has tried to use the floods crisis in a political manger,” al-Hatimi said.

He added that the Popular Mobilization Forces also arrived in Iran soon after the US administration labeled the Iranian Republican Guard Corpse as a “terrorist” entity. Al-Hatimi described this as a “challenge” to the US decision.

He said the move aims to show that regional militias allied to the Republican Guard Corpse would always be ready to support it, despite the American decision.