Iraqi PM Abadi: Shiite militia won’t join battle for Mosul
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Monday that the Shiite militia known as Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) will not take part in the battle for Mosul, adding that it is preferable if people in the city take on the task themselves.
“ISIS a threat to the Kurdistan Region, therefore the Peshmerga will play a vital role in the liberation of Mosul, but we think it is better if the people of Mosul themselves lead the fight and the PMF will not take part,” Abadi told Rudaw during his visit to Erbil on Monday.
The Iraqi premier who met with Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani, his Kurdish counterpart Nechirvan Barzani and other high-level security and military officials, said that the Shiite militia had achieved great “victory against ISIS” in the rest of the country.
He added that his government will prosecute members of the militia accused of violations, including the looting of people’s homes and business properties in Tikrit.
“Some violations were committed by some people, but I don’t want to accuse anyone,” he said. “Some of them have said they belong to the PMF and others are believed to be affiliated with the PMF,”
In response to a question from Rudaw on cutting off Kurdistan Region’s budget by Baghdad, Abadi said, “The Kurdistan Region and all other Iraqi provinces are unhappy with the share of the budget they receive and that is because the government does not have enough, therefore they complain,”