ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Kurdish unit of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) militia network has been formed in the disputed province of Kirkuk.
“It’s for our own protection and the region’s protection,” Jabbar Ghazi, commander of the new force and a former Peshmerga intelligence commander in Dubiz, told Rudaw’s Hiwa Hussamadin on Saturday. “We don’t discriminate between any ethnicity, but this is especially for the protection of Kurds and our region.”
The force is made up of 150 young Kurds, according to Ghazi.
“It’s for our own protection and the region’s protection,” Jabbar Ghazi, commander of the new force and a former Peshmerga intelligence commander in Dubiz, told Rudaw’s Hiwa Hussamadin on Saturday. “We don’t discriminate between any ethnicity, but this is especially for the protection of Kurds and our region.”
The force is made up of 150 young Kurds, according to Ghazi.
The PMF is a mostly-Shia militia network formed in 2014 in response to a fatwa by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani calling for action against the Islamic State (ISIS) group. It is made up of around 60 units.
PMF units in the past have claimed to represent the interests of specific minority groups. The Babylon Brigade has been described as a Christian brigade, but experts question the unit's base of support. "The Babylon Brigade touts Rayan Kildani, a local Christian, as its leader, but he is merely seen as a Iran’s token figure in an attempt to broaden the political alliance’s appeal," reads an analysis piece by Paul Gadalla in the Atlantic Council.
“Kurdish Hashds will protect their residents in each Kurdish district in Kirkuk,” PMF head Adnan Najar Oughlu in Kirkuk, who commonly goes by Abu Imad, told Hussamadin on Rudaw.
Supposedly a second Kurdish unit will be formed in the Kirkuk’s district of Shwan, where the head of the Shwan tribe says 150 people are ready to take up arms against ISIS.
“We have 31,000 Hashd fighters in Kirkuk, none of them are Kurds,” Shaml Kwekha Ahmed Shwan, head of the Shwan tribe, told Rudaw. “This isn’t against anyone, this is against terrorism, this is just to protect ourselves.”
PMF leadership has denied the formation of a Kurdish unit in Kirkuk, according to a statement obtained by Rudaw from the KRG's Ministry of Interior on Sunday evening.
Security has been a contentious issue in disputed areas like Kirkuk. ISIS has exploited security gaps between Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga in the province, with its remaining fighters carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians.
Kirkuk, a diverse oil-rich province of Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen and Christian residents, is disputed between the federal Iraqi and Kurdish regional governments.
In 2014, joint administration of Kirkuk between Erbil and Baghdad came to an end when Islamic State (ISIS) militants seized control of a third of the country. When ISIS entered Kirkuk province, Iraqi forces dissipated and Peshmerga forces filled in the vacuum.
Kirkuk remained under full Kurdish control until October 2017, when Iraqi forces retook the territories following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum.
“The Kurds [in the PMF movement] who claim they are protecting the region … they are the ultimate traitors of Kurdistan,” said Kamal Kirkuki, head of the Kirkuk-Garmian Leadership Council from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), of the new PMF unit in an interview by Rudaw’s Shaho Amin on Saturday.
The role of the PMF, however, has been called into question after the territorial defeat of ISIS in Iraq in 2017. PMF units close to Iran are widely accused of abducting and killing protesters during Iraq’s recent wave of anti-government unrest. Several are also believed responsible for a spate of deadly rocket attacks targeting US and coalition personnel stationed at bases across Iraq.
Updated at 6:31pm
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