ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — One question remains more central than any other when it comes to Mosul. Will the Shiite militia known as Hashd al-Shaabi be allowed to participate or not in the final offensive to take back the city from its Islamic State (ISIS) occupiers? Sunni leaders strongly reject any such idea while Shiite officials say the militia have the right to fight anywhere in Iraq.
“We reject the participation of Hashd al-Shaabi,” says Sheik Muzahim al-Huwiyat, the spokesman for the tribal forces of Nineveh. He is confident that his 15,000 strong tribal force can lead the fight for their city with help from legitimate forces such as “the Iraqi army, Peshmerga, and the coalition,”
A date for the final offensive has not been set yet, but members of the Nineveh provincial council—in exile in Kurdistan Region—forestalled Iraqi leaders and decided unanimously earlier this year that the Shiite militia will have no place in Mosul or in the fight for it.
We reject the participation of Hashd al-Shaabi. 
“They committed crimes in other areas such as Ramadi and Fallujah,” said the Sunni sheikh of the role of the Shiite militia in other parts of the country. “We are concerned that they will do the same in Mosul if they get in.”
There have been reports of mass imprisonment, torture and killing of Fallujah civilians during the Iraqi army and Shiite militia operation last month which rattled the Sunni community including Anbar governor and international organizations in and outside Iraq.
The Hashd al-Shaabi was formed on a fatwa from Iraq’s grand cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani in 2014 shortly after the ISIS invasion of Iraq and its rapid advance towards the capital Baghdad. The militia force has since become too powerful for the government to rein in.
Dr. Dylan O’Driscoll, research fellow at the Erbil-based Middle East Research Institute (MERI) believes that the ISIS threat and Shiite militia’s quick reaction has given the group much credit in the eyes of Iraqi leaders.
“The Islamic State and its occupation of Mosul is the main threat in Iraq today, therefore if Hashd al-Shaabi does not participate its legitimacy and thus its future as an armed force in Iraq is at threat. Of course, the fact that Baghdad needs Hashd al-Shaabi does not help, as this has allowed for them to dictate terms, rather than the other way around,” O’Driscoll told Rudaw.
The participation of Hashd al-Shaabi threatens both bringing Justice and reconciliation processes in Mosul,
He argues however, that their participation in the battle for Mosul might drive more of the local population to join ISIS for self-protection.
“The participation of Hashd al-Shaabi threatens both bringing Justice and reconciliation processes in Mosul, as the acts of revenge that they have carried out have been well documented,” O’Driscoll said. “Due to these acts of revenge, people of Mosul might join the Islamic State to fight, as they truly fear the Hashd al-Shaabi and this will exacerbate the issue of sectarian conflict.”
Shiite leaders and Iraqi government officials will have none of it. The Hashd is an essential segment in what forces Baghdad has assembled against ISIS and that they can go and fight wherever they are needed, they say.
“Those who are calling to exclude us from the Mosul operation have political goals,” the Shiite militia spokesperson Karim Nuri says. “We will participate in the operation.”
“ISIS is afraid of us, that’s why our participation is very important and liberating other areas including Fallujah would have been impossible without us,” he told Rudaw.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued a similar statement this week in which he called the militia forces legitimate and that any insult against them is an insult against Iraq. Abadi’s statement came after the Saudi foreign minister said the Shiite militia were a sectarian force trained and led by Iran.
To get around this impasse, Renad Mansur, El-Erian fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center proposes a possible solution. “For some residents, it is problematic for the Hashd to enter into their cities. As such, the emphasis in Fallujah, and later in Mosul, has been on sending Iraqi security forces into the cities whilst using Hashd for backup and keeping most groups outside.”
Those who are calling to exclude us from the Mosul operation have political goals,
Part of the controversy surrounding the Shiite militia is that they are on the Iraqi government payroll but PM Abadi himself, who is also the commander in chief of all Iraqi forces, does not seem to have any power over them.
“Abadi needs the Hashd to support the Iraqi security forces, but also, he can't go against the Hashd and invoke a conflict that may reveal his sense of powerlessness, so he cannot dictate to several of the groups,” said Mansur. “The Hashd is a decentralized umbrella that compromises of many groups. This means that all the good groups and the few bad groups are all fighting under one banner - complicating the group's discourse and actions.”
However, according to Brett McGurk, the US special envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, most of the Shiite militia are under state control.
“We think most of these popular mobilization forces do operate under the control of the Iraqi state, but about 15-20% of them actually do not,” McGurk said during a congressional hearing on Tuesday. “And those groups are a fundamental problem.”
Retired army major general and military analyst Abdulkhaliq Shahir rejects the militia claim that their direct role is necessary in order to defeat ISIS. He believes that the Iraqi army itself is now in a position to lead the fight in Mosul.
“If all the Iraqi forces participate to retake Mosul, then there is no need for the Hashd to participate,” Shahir told Rudaw. “The Iraqi army is now in good shape and more hopeful, especially after the recent victory in Fallujah,”
“I think they can lead the Mosul operation,” he said.
We think most of these popular mobilization forces do operate under the control of the Iraqi state,
Saeed Mamuzini, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official for the Mosul region believes that disagreement between Iraq’s Sunni and Shiite forces has been a reason behind the delayed Mosul operation.
“If the Hashd does not participate the problem won’t become bigger,” said Mamuzini. “This problem delayed the operation and will delay it more,” adding that the issue of Mosul is more political than military and that “the US should step in and convince them to reach a deal,”
Mamuzini said that the Kurdish forces—who are expected to play a major role in the battle—have remained neutral in the Shiite-Sunni tension and “we have tensions with neither side,”
Considering the Iraqi persistence on the militia role in the battle for Mosul, tribal leader Sheikh Muzahim takes a more realistic tone and says that there should be a solid agreement with clear terms between all three capitals of Erbil, Baghdad and Mosul.
“There should be a political agreement between Baghdad and Erbil on the Mosul battle, and if the Shiite militias are still going to take part it should be by the approval of Baghdad, KRG, the provincial council and governor of Nineveh, and the Hashed al- Asha’ari [tribal force],” he said.
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