Iraqi PM Abadi fires national security advisor for partisanship

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi sacked Falih Alfayyadh, the national security advisor, from his positions for his involvement in the government formation talks on Thursday, claiming this undermines the task of the security apparatus.

“In light of Mr. Falih Faisal Fahad Alfayyadh getting involved in practicing political and partisan work, and his wish to address political affairs, which goes against the critical national tasks he is holding…” read a decree released by the Facebook page for Abadi’s office.

Alfayyadh was the head of Hashd al-Shaabi commission and is affiliated with former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition.

“And according the Iraqi constitution in the neutrality of intelligence and security apparatus, the Hashd al-Shaabi commission law, the systems and instructions concerning this and our directives that prohibit exploiting critical security positions in party activities, and based on our authorized jurisdiction, we decided the following,” added the statement from Abadi.

Decree No. 286 sees that Alfayyadh — who holds the positions of national security advisor, the head of the Hashd al-Shaabi commission and national security apparatus — is sacked from all positions.

The decision is effective immediately. 

Alfayyadh reportedly was working with Fatih and Maliki to establish the largest parliamentary bloc.