Iraqi PM says Hashd al-Shaabi should participate in Mosul liberation
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday that he doesn't accept the Nineveh provincial councils call to exclude the Hashd al-Shaabi from the upcoming liberation of Mosul from Islamic State (ISIS). Instead Abadi insists that all Iraqis should participate in the operation.
"Nobody can stop Iraqis from participating in the liberation of their land," Abadi said, at a conference in the Iraqi province of Anbar, according to Anadolu news, before adding that sectarian interests should not trump necessary military action when it comes to forcing ISIS out of Mosul.
This was a clear response to the Nineveh provincial councils belief that having the Shiite militia-majority Hashd al-Shaabi enter Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could have a potentially incendiary sectarian backlash. Abadi rejects this notion and wants the Iraqi Army, the Hashd al-Shaabi and the Kurdish Peshmerga to work together to pry that major metropolis from ISIS's hands.
"Nobody can stop Iraqis from participating in the liberation of their land," Abadi said, at a conference in the Iraqi province of Anbar, according to Anadolu news, before adding that sectarian interests should not trump necessary military action when it comes to forcing ISIS out of Mosul.
This was a clear response to the Nineveh provincial councils belief that having the Shiite militia-majority Hashd al-Shaabi enter Mosul, a Sunni-majority city, could have a potentially incendiary sectarian backlash. Abadi rejects this notion and wants the Iraqi Army, the Hashd al-Shaabi and the Kurdish Peshmerga to work together to pry that major metropolis from ISIS's hands.