Iraq give in to Iranian plans in Nineveh

THE REFERENCE

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi ordered the closure of the offices of the Popular Mobilization Forces, state-sponsored militias, early in July, considering the militias to be working outside the framework of the law.

Most of the members of the militias in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh are Shiite. Battalion no. 30 of the Popular Mobilization Forces is commanded by Waad al-Qadw who was included in a list of sanctions by the US Department of the Treasury last week for involvement in human rights violations.

The new development comes as Iran tries to keep the Popular Mobilization Forces, which are affiliated to the Revolutionary Guard Corpse, in control of most areas on the border between Iraq and Syria with the aim of securing a land corridor between Tehran and Damascus.

Iranian affairs specialist Firas Elias said the fact that the Iraqi city of Mosul is located in the middle of the road between Iran and Syria will put it also in the middle of the conflict between Baghdad and Tehran.

“Security conditions in the city are bad and there are frictions between law-enforcement personnel, on one hand, and the members of the Popular Mobilization Forces,” Elias said.

He added that the presence of American troops near Mosul and the city’s proximity to areas considered by Iran as “strategic” will also bring the city to the center of any conflicts in the region.

Elias noted that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has already turned into a pressure card in the hands of the Revolutionary Guard Corpse, especially after many of the Kurdish militias had joined the Popular Mobilization Forces.

“Everybody knows that the presence of Popular Mobilization Forces in areas freed from the occupation of the Islamic State group is at the center of the conflict between the US and Iran,” Elias told The Reference.

He noted that the US considers the presence of the forces in some parts of Iraq an impediment to its presence in Iraq.

The presence of the Popular Mobilization Forces in the same areas, Elias added, gives Iran leverage in Iran.

“Iran says the forces are present in these areas to protect Shiite minorities in them,” Elias said. “It also claims that the withdrawal of the forces from these areas would open the door for massacres against the Shiites.”