Najaf Friday Prayer Leader:

Qatar's financial assistance to PMF ‘false’

Rasa – In response to interventionist remarks by the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hujjat al-Islam al-Qubanchi said that Qatar’s financial assistance to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces is “false.”

News ID: 436972

Date: 23 March 2018 - 23:56

RNA – During his Friday prayer sermon delivered to a large and fervent crowd of believers in the Iraqi city of Najaf’s al-Fatimiyah Husayniyah, Hujjat al-Islam Sayyid Sadruddin al-Qubanchi said, “Despite the fact that the military and direct struggle with the Daesh terrorist phenomenon has come to an end, elements of this movement are still present in Iraq and thus, the government must fight with its hidden and dependent elements.”

The Iraqi Shi’ah scholar added, “The Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice suffers from the high pressure by some elements affiliated with the Ba’ath Party and the commission must not surrender to its pressure.”

He stressed that we must not allow the entry of the Ba’ath party into government positions.

Referring to a request by some officials from Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region on the return of the city of Kirkuk to the control of the breakaway region, Hujjat al-Islam al-Qubanchi said, “Such words have led to the beginning of large-scale disputes, the incitement of different ethnic groups and has tarnished the sentiments of the Iraqi people.”

His Eminence reacted to the recent speech by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regarding the arrival of Turkish troops in the Sinjar region and demanded that such statements and decisions be stopped.

Referring to the assault by Turkish fighter aircraft on mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region and the resulting deaths and wounding of a number of people, he added, “Following Erdoğan’s threats ‘to clear the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorist group from Sinjar,’ Yezidi’s in the region in the area abandoned their homes and left the city.”

Hujjat al-Islam al-Qubanchi condemned the intervention of United Arab Emirate’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Anwar Qarqash, in regard to Qatar’s financial assistance to the Popular Mobilization Forces, and pointed out, “Such words are false.”

It is worth mentioning that on March 18th, Qarqash wrote on Twitter, without providing any evidence, that the Qatari government has provided $700 to one billion dollars to terrorist groups, such as the Popular Mobilization Forces, Hezbollah, and the al-Nusrah Front.”

Qarqash’s statements are made when Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi issued a decree on March 17th ordering the salaries and privileges of Popular Mobilization Forces to be placed under the General Command of the Armed Forces.

The Iraqi parliament also agreed to incorporate the Popular Mobilization Forces into the official Iraqi army on November 26, 2016.

Rasa News Agency

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