ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi government is working on forming a national guard force, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office revealed. “We are working on a new law to form a national guards force” in coordination with the defence ministry and other organizations, the PM said in a statement. He added that his government was waiting for lawmakers to approve a law authorizing the force before moving ahead. A source in the prime minister’s office disclosed that the local guard forces are expected to be “inclusive” of the Sunni Sahwa forces and Shiite volunteer militias. Iraq’s Army has been struggling to rebuild since a stunning defeat in June, when ISlamic State (ISIS) forces swept through a third of Iraq, including its second-largest city, Mosul. The Pentagon has said that 80,000 “competent” Iraqi troops will be needed to push ISIS out of Mosul. One of the conditions between Shiites and Sunnis in their agreement to form the Iraqi government was the formation of a national guard force.
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