ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Christian officer has been appointed commander of the Sunni Hashd al-Watani militia, in an effort to improve the force’s image among residents of ISIS-occupied Mosul, the Iraqi defense ministry said. "The defense minister, Khalid al-Obeidi, received Gen. Luis Yousif Ishaq, commander of the Hashd al-Watani units in Nineveh province," the defense ministry said in a statement. It said that, during the appointment ceremony, a campaign to recruit young men in Mosul into the militia was discussed. “The defense minister and the newly elected Hashd al-Watani commander discussed ways to persuade the youth of Nineveh into joining the group," the statement read. According to the statement, Obeidi said: "Iraqi forces have all the military requirements in their hands, including the Hashd al-Watani; in the near future the entire Iraqi lands held by the Islamic State (ISIS) will be liberated." Sunni political leaders have frequently opposed the involvement of any Shiite group in the anticipated battle for Mosul, following reports that the Hashd committed atrocities against Sunnis in other battles. Iraqi forces are currently fighting on the Makhmour front to liberate villages that they say will be used to launch an offensive on Mosul, which the Islamic State (ISIS) seized in June 2014. In early February, the prominent Iraqi Sunni politician Osama Nujaifi said that various Sunni militias would take part in the Mosul offensive, claiming there was no need for Shiite participation. Last month, a vast majority of the members of the Mosul Provincial Council voiced their opposition to the Hashd al-Shaabi participating in the battle for Mosul.
