Iraqi Shiites raise their voices: "Ready to free the Golan from Israeli occupation"

(To Giampiero Venturi)
09/03/17

The war against ISIS in Iraq has highlighted the role of Shiite militias PMU (People's Mobilization Unit), paramilitary units trained and supported by Iran.

Like all predominantly Shiite units connected with Tehran, they have shown particular skill and fury in fighting Sunni militants of the Islamic State.

Their political weight within the great coalition that fights the Caliphate has grown in parallel with the military role, prominent especially in the western direction of Mosul, on the Tal Afar front.

Le Hashd al-Shaabi (Arabic name of the PMU) according to military sources more than 100.000 men and represent a double knot in the current Iraqi scenario.

Mosul is in fact a city with a Sunni majority that in the 2014 welcomed the militiamen of the Islamic State, which later became the Iraqi "capital", without any particular reluctance. Once Mosul is freed from ISIS, one of the biggest problems will be establishing the relationship that the Sunni population will have with Shiite forces and whether they will have the right to enter the city or not. The same problem was created in the 2016 when it was regained Falluja, another historic Sunni stronghold of Iraq: the Shiite militias involved in the final battle, in addition to fighting ISIS, also dealt with settling accounts with all the Sunni collaborators of the Islamic State. Ancient rivalries resurfaced.

Another knot is the relationship between Shiites and Iraqi Kurds, so far lined up side by side on the Mosul front. Al Saadi, spokeswoman for the PMU, has made it clear publicly that the Kurds have nothing to fear for the future, but on the effective stability of northern Iraq, doubts remain.

Le Hashd al-Shaabi they are aware of their political role, sponsored by Iran and Damascus. There are thousands of Iraqi volunteers fighting alongside government troops in Syria and the proximity of the Mosul front apprehends the Kurds of the Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) whose continuity with Iraqi Kurdish brothers is far from guaranteed.

In essence, today's political-military situation inherits an indisputable fact: Iraq is a country with a Shiite majority and since the fall of the Sunni Saddam onwards the new institutions have had to take this into account. It is no coincidence that the current Iraqi Prime Minister Al-'Abadi is Shiite.

This guarantees a space of maneuver to the PMU and to the Shiites in general who go far beyond the merits they have won on the battlefields. Once they defeat the Caliphate their weight will be decisive not only in the future of Iraq.

In this regard the news reported by Arab newspapers (AMN) of the formation of an Iraqi paramilitary unit ready to redirect itself in Syria to free the Golan Heights from the occupation of Israel. The unit, called Brigade for the Liberation of the Golan, would be a rib of Hakarat Hezbollah Al Nujaba, one of the first groups of Iraqi paramilitary volunteers lined up with the loyalists in Syria, at the outbreak of the war. They would be armed and trained directly from the Quds forces, the elite units of the Pasdaran Iranian.

No comment from Israel for now.

The current crisis in the Middle East and the final clash that will lead to the dissolution of the Islamic State, will have to deal sooner or later with all the reversal of balance following Iraqi Freedom of the 2003 and with the so-called Arab springs originated in the 2011. As mentioned several times on this column, removing a lid from a boiling pan is not always resolved as a congenial idea.  

(photo: Iraqi Shia Militia)