Iraq
Hashd al-Shaabi supporters mourn the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani. Photo via Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, has appointed Abdul Aziz al-Muhammadawi (Abu Fadak) as deputy commander and chief of staff, according to state media outlet Iraqi News Agency.
He will succeed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was assassinated in a U.S. airstrike alongside the IRGC’s Qassem Soleimani in early January.
Hashd al-Shaabi is a predominantly Shiite network of around 60 paramilitaries. While the militias have been incorporated on paper into Iraq’s armed forces since 2016 and received $2.16 billion dollars from Iraq’s defense budget in 2019, they do not report to the Iraqi Defense Ministry.
The PMF sidestep the Iraqi Army command structure and report to the prime minister’s office through Falih al-Fayyadh, chairman of the Mobilization Committee. Many of the militias have strong operational ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Activist Yasser Al-Jubouri said in a tweet on Thursday that the special committee which selected Muhandis’ successor included Abu Fadak, Abu Ali Al-Basri, Abu Muntazir Al-Husseini, Abu Iman Al-Bahli, and Abu Alaa Al-Wailai, and Laith Al-Khazali.
Abu Ali Al-Basri, deputy head of the committee, said on Thursday that "the Popular Mobilization Committee held a meeting in which they agreed to appoint Abdul Aziz (Abu Fadak) to the position of Chief of Staff to succeed the martyr Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis."
Al-Basri added, "We have been informed that the Diwani order for the appointment of Abu Fadak will be signed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces within the next two days after it is agreed upon by the Hashd."
According to Iraq’s constitution, the sitting prime minister is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
The PMF network was established during former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s tenure in 2014, after a fatwa (religious decree) by Ayatollah Sistani, the highest Shiite authority in Iraq, called for volunteers. Sistani’s fatwa came as the Islamic State (ISIS) began looming uncomfortably close to Baghdad. The paramilitary groups in the network include Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Badr Corps, and Kataib Hezbollah.
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