Najaf Friday Prayer Leader:

Popular Mobilization Forces fighters are only Iraqi citizens

Rasa – Hujjat al-Islam al-Qubanchi denounced a report by the Washington Institute which claimed that foreign fighters are fighting alongside the Popular Mobilization Forces against Daesh in Tal Afar.

News ID: 431942

Date: 26 August 2017 - 00:27

RNA – In his Friday prayer sermon delivered to a large and fervent crowd of believers in the Iraqi city of Najaf’s al-Fatimiyah al-Kubra Husayniyah, Hujjat al-Islam Sayyid Sadruddin al-Qubanchi praised the progress of the Iraqi military in liberating Tal Afar from the Daesh Takfiri terrorists, saying, “31 districts of the city of Tal Afar have been liberated and the rest of the Daesh-controlled areas are besieged by warriors.”

The Iraq Shi’ah cleric denounced a report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy which says that 150 Kuwaiti and Bahraini fighters, along with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, contributed to the liberation of Tal Afar and said, “We have four million reservists waiting for the command and there is no place to accommodate them. It’s better for the Washington Institute to report on the different nationalities that are fighting in Daesh’s ranks.”

Iraqi forces have managed to wrest control over several neighbourhoods in their operation to liberate the northern city of Tal Afar from the grip of Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

Hujjat al-Islam al-Qubanchi added, “Some Iraqi parties have threatened to expel their employees if they join the Popular Mobilization Forces which is a great crime and an unfavourable act and any institution that uses this method will not succeed.”

Regarding the current situation in the southern city of Basrah, he called on Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi to form an anti-crisis group to address the deteriorating security and the service situations in Basrah in the absence of the governor, Majid al-Nasrawi, and the Basrah Provincial Council Chairman, Sabah al-Bazouni.

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