ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – At least 15,000 volunteers have joined the Shiite militia movement known as the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units, signing up to fight in Iraq’s ongoing war against the Islamic State, a security official announced on Monday. Naman Ibrahimi, of the Ziqar province security committee, told local media on Monday that “at least 15,000 volunteers from Ziqar province and the capital city of Nasiriya have joined the Hashd al-Shaabi gunmen and will take up arems against Daesh [ISIS].” According to Ibrahimi, Iraqi police and military commanders in the Hashd al-Shaabi are currently training the arrivals and there are enough weapons for all the volunteers. He did not specify if the volunteers were to be paid for their service. Ibrahimi said a special committee has been established in Iraq’s southern province of Ziqar to monitor the volunteers. The Hashd al-Shaabi rose up last year at a call from Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shiite cleric in Iraq, when ISIS fighters overran much of country's western territory. The militias, some of which have known ties to Iran, took the lead in the liberation of Tikrit earlier this amid subsequent allegations the fighters marginalized Sunni residents of the area.
