International and Regional Agendas Seek to Weaken Popular Mobilization Forces

The Popular Mobilization Forces were established in June 2014 after ISIS terrorists advanced towards Sunni-majority provinces.

Ahmed al-Asad Courtesy: iraqinews.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Ahmed al-Asadi, spokesman for the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, issued a warning about the existence of political agendas that are trying to weaken the people's mobilization.

“The international and regional political agendas with the support from the political parties inside Iraq, which does not hide its hostility towards the Popular Mobilization Forces, are trying to weaken the people's mobilization and to diminish its role,” al-Asadi said in a press conference.

Al-Asadi pointed to the reliance of the Popular Mobilization Forces on the Iraqi people's will, adding, “the Popular Mobilization Forces would stand in front of all these attempts and will prevent them from achieving their goals in political interests of foreign countries”.

On the other hand, Hadi al-Amiri the secretary general of the Badr Organization stressed that thwarting a plot by the people's mobilization nearly overthrew Gulf States.

Al-Amiri said in television interview, "our presence with brothers in the people's mobilization came within the call of al-Marja'iyah (the Shiite scholars) in the country to defend Islam, Islamic holy sites and stability in Iraq."

“The Popular Mobilization Forces thwarted plots hatched against the Gulf states and tried to destroy them,” Al-Ameri added.

Al-Amiri criticized the media campaign against the people's mobilization, saying that opponents of the popular mobilization units' operations are ignorant and they do not know the facts about the people's mobilization and the importance of battles between the group and ISIS terrorists.

Following the crushing victories of Iraqi security apparatus— supported by Iraqi mobilization units and Sunni tribes— and the heavy losses inflicted on terrorists, the remnants of former Ba'ath regime and media outlets in Saudi Arabia and Qatar embarked a vicious campaign against the Iraqi mobilization units fighting the terrorism.

Observers say the accusations promoted by the media affiliated with Saudi Arabia and Qatar were prepared in advance, and launched with calculated, strategic timing, at the time of the victories achieved by the Iraqi popular forces which included purging Tikrit and the cities in Salahuddin and Diyala.

The Popular Mobilization Forces were established in June 2014 after ISIS terrorists advanced towards Sunni-majority provinces with the cooperation of its political wings and figures such as Iyad Allawi, and the two al-Nujaifi brothers and other Saudi, Qatari and Turkish affiliated movements.