Shiite politicians okay with Abdul-Mahdi deadline to rein in Iraq's Hashd

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Several of Iraq's top Shiite political leaders are reacting positively to a decree by Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi to give Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries a deadline of July 31 to incorporate into the Iraqi Army. However former premier Haider al-Abadi is arguing that the Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga should also be incorporated.

"What has been issued by the Iraqi Prime Minister regarding the Hashd Al-Shaabi is quite an important step toward a stronger Iraq," Muqtada al-Sadr, the head of Saraya Al-Salam (Peace Brigades) tweeted on Tuesday.

Sadr also heads the Sayirun bloc, the largest in the Iraqi parliament.

"I would like to announce that the Saraya al-Salam fighters are under the command of Adil Abdul-Mahdi from now on. Finally, I would like to thank the Iraqi Prime Minister for this initiative and I hope he keeps working for the sake of Iraq's unity and the unity of its police, army and forces," he added. 

Sadr's support of Abdul-Mahdi's decision may help the process of unifying the Iraqi Army project and to put all paramilitias like the Hashd under the command of the government. 

Abdul-Mahdi announced on Monday that July 31 is the deadline for all the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries) to integrate into the Iraqi Army. 

Additionally the leader of the of Asaib Ahl al-Haq Qais al-Khazali sees the initiative as a way to salvage the predominately Shiite forces more than 18 months after the Iraqi government announced the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS).

"The recent decision of Adil Abdul-Mahdi is welcomed and it is a correct step to take in order to make Hashd al-Shaabi an active and essential part of the National Iraqi Army, and prevent Hashd from dissolving," he tweeted on Tuesday. 

Shiite politician Ammar al-Hakim also came out in favor of the premier's initiative.

 

"We are fully supporting the decision by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi for implementing the straegy of restricting of weapons back to the hands of the government," said Hakim on Twitter on Tuesday. 

 

Hikma is currently on the opposition side of the Abdul-Mahdi led government. 

 

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi who is currently the head of Nasr coalition in parliament said that his government tried to take similar steps while he was in office.

 

"We welcome their implementation of integrating the PMF into the Iraqi Army a process that we started last year and decided to make it happen," Abadi said in a statement on Monday.

 

Pundits believe Abadi could be trying to make a political comeback less than a year into Abdul-Mahdi's premiership. 

 

"This decree or law should include the Kurdish Peshmerga forces," he said, referring to the constitutionally-enshrined armed forces of the Kurdistan Region which are already a part of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).

 

Abadi tried to unify ISF and have more influence over the PMF last year. However, the attempts failed miserably because Iran has tremendous influence over many of the leaders of the units. At the same time, Baghdad was pressured by Washington to unify command of its armed forces.

 

Many of the allegiances of Hashd fighters and their leaders pre-date the "new Iraq" and were formed when many Shiites in Iraq were opposed to the former Baath regime of Saddam Hussein.

 

In their current iteration, the Hashd were formed during the ISIS conflict following a fatwa by Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highest religious authority for Iraq's Shiites. Iraqi parliament and government recognized the Hashd as a part of the PMF in late 2016.

 

The prime minister in Iraq constitutionally is the supreme commander of all armed forces; however, direct command and control of groups like the Hashd by Abdul-Mahdi and his predecessors has been difficult to achieve.

 

"All Hashd al-Shaabi forces will work as an inseparable part of the armed forces. All rules applied to the armed forces will be applied to them, unless special letters decree otherwise," read the first section of a decree released by the PM on Monday evening.

 

The Hashd, while predominately Shiite, do include other Iraqi components including Sunnis and Christians.

 

Abdul-Mahdi has been under pressure to limit the actions of the Iran-affiliated groups after a spate of rocket attacks against Western military and economic targets in Iraq. 

 

Additionally, an attack against US-ally Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure on May 14, has been attributed to Iran-backed Houthis and suspected by US officials to have been launched from Iraq.