Conflicting reports emerged over the weekend on the withdrawal of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) from Iraq’s Nineveh province amid media reports that said Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi had ordered their pullout.
A document, widely circulated on the internet, showed that he had ordered that the PMF dissolve its operation centers in Baji and Nineveh and that it merge them in one headquarters.
The document was signed by deputy chief of the PMF, Abou Mehdi al-Mouhandes, citing “the stability in Nineveh and the orders of the prime minister,” in his position as commander of Iraq’s armed forces.
The document further shows that Abadi ordered that all PMF recruits in Nineveh be merged with the local operations command. Brigade 40 would be transferred from Sinjar to its original headquarters at the Speicher camp.
Mosul would also be emptied of all PMF members and its current command center in the area would be merged with that of Nineveh.
This last point was probably based on demands by Mosul residents for the PMF factions to leave the area given the crimes, including murder, blackmail and kidnapping, committed by some of its undisciplined members.
PMF official Jawad Qazem categorically denied the withdrawal of the force from Nineveh, saying that “all that took place was the redeployment of some units in coordination with the joint operations command.”
Meanwhile, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force Qassem Soleimani met last week with a number of armed factions linked to the PMF, revealed an informed source to Asharq Al-Awsat.
He demanded that they withdraw from cities and “stop causing trouble with the government and people,” he added on condition of anonymity.
“It seems that the Iranians are trying to send a message to the United States that they are reducing their influence in Iraq and rein in factions in order to contain American anger and the wave of sanctions against Tehran,” he continued.
