According to a document recently published in Iraqi media, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued Ministerial order No (91) on February 22. “Reorder and restructure the Hashd al-Shaabi and its affiliated forces based on article 78 of the constitution and in the interest of the public,” reads the order.
According to the order, the Shiite militia, known as the Hashd al-Shaabi, will officially become part of the Iraqi army and will play a similar role as the current Iraqi counter-terror agency. “The Hashd will become an independent military structure, and part of the Iraqi armed forces, with a direct link to the chief of the armed forces.”
“The agency will be comparable to the current counter-terror agency in structure, will consist of command, general staff and combat brigades.”
Recruited officials and members of this agency will work according to the applied Iraqi army rules, and should not have any political affiliations or become involved in any political activities, the order also stipulates.
Although the order was issued months ago, a Shiite militia spokesperson announced just recently that the order is now being implemented.
“The work has started to turn the Hashd into a military institution parallel to the counter-terror agency,” said Ahmed al-Asadi, spokesperson of the Hashd al-Shaabi in a statement to the media on Tuesday, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.
“The Hashd board will be directly linked to the prime minister, and like the counter-terror agency will be supplied and get training. But the order did not address the structure of the Hashd and the authority of its leader and deputy,” he added.
Iraqi national security advisor Falah Fayaz will become head of the Hashd board, and Shiite militia leader Mahdi al-Muhandis will serve as his deputy, according to a source who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat.
The decision to incorporate the Shiite militias into the national forces has raised worries that the move will stoke sectarian tensions.
An Iraqi source told Asharq Al-Awsat that, “The reveal of the document will deepen Iraqi disputes especially with the Hashd leaders and other Iraqi parties, and will lead Iraq towards an unknown fate in the shade of fighting, rivalry and use of those forces for sectarian purposes, as happened in Fallujah.”
“There is pressure on Abadi to speed up turning those militias into a new institution parallel to the army,” the source added.
Another source told the paper, “The goal of revealing the document is to push the prime minister to implement the order as soon as possible, since it has been issued but not been active. But announcing it now means starting to implement the order on a practical level.”
But according to the source there are challenges that must first be overcome.
“There are many obstacles to forming this agency similar to the counter-terror one, as Abadi wants to do, because the requirements for those who want to join the counter-terror agency do not exist among the majority of Shiite militia members, requirements such as the age should be between 18 and 28, they should hold a diploma, should not have committed a crime, was never arrested by coalition forces, and should not be affiliated with any political parties,” the source said.
“Also the number of militias is really high. We cannot put all of them into new squads and brigades.”
A copy of Abadi's order, in Arabic:
