European Observatory to Combat Radicalization
Iraq Militia Defends Official Who Fought ISIS, Mistaken for Supporter by U.S.
BY TOM O’CONNOR
The commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces paramilitary collective has issued a defense of a senior militia official who headed an Iran-aligned group that fought the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) but was mistakenly accused by the U.S. Treasury of supporting the jihadis.
As part of a final flurry of foreign policy moves lashing out at foes of President Donald Trump‘s administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo branded Popular Mobilization Forces deputy commander Abdulaziz al-Muhammadawi, also known as Abu Fadak, a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” on Wednesday.
In addition to his previously leading the “Iran-backed terrorist organization” Kataib Hezbollah, Pompeo alleged he was “separately working in conjunction with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Qods Force to reshape official Iraqi state security institutions away from their true purpose of defending the Iraqi state and fighting ISIS.”But the Treasury Department initially carried a different accusation in a press release that accompanied his designation, linking him to ISIS itself, officially called “Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.” The online version of the report still includes the group’s name, but crossed out, and a notice replaces it with that of Kataib Hezbollah.
“It arouses disapproval to classify as terrorists those who faced terrorism and made tremendous sacrifices and fought the fiercest battles on behalf of the world in order to defeat the most powerful dark and extremist force represented by ISIS terrorists, and to abort their project to destroy Iraq and the region and to shed blood and dignity, and which America makes broad and empty claims that it is waging a war on them,” Fayyadh said in a statement sent to Newsweek by the Popular Mobilization Forces.He derided the U.S. for having proclaimed itself “the guardian of the world” and for making a habit out of “violating the sovereignty of states and violating the dignity of peoples,” including in Iraq, where lawmakers voted last year to expel U.S. troops following a deadly airstrike at Baghdad International Airport.
“We believe that the Iraqi state will be the deterrent to the repeated U.S. violations of Iraqi sovereignty, and we renew the covenant for our wise marjaeya,” he said in reference to the Shiite Islamic authority, “and our proud people to remain loyal soldiers and guerrillas and statesmen in the service of our great Iraq and to preserve its land, dignity and sanctities.”
The attack took out Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani and Muhammadawi’s predecessor, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, along with their entourage of several other men. Trump was recently found guilty of criminality in the act by an Iraqi judge, who dealt the U.S. leader a charge punishable by death.Of his own recent addition to the U.S. sanctions list, Fayyadh declined to comment. He said he was “satisfied” with the earlier reaction offered earlier by his organization.
