Popular Mobilization Forces:‎

Daesh attacks part of American plot to extend military presence in Iraq

The recent Daesh attacks on Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) positions are ‎part of an American plot to extend the American troops’ presence in the Arab country, a ‎senior PMF commander said.‎

News ID: 450083

Date: 04 May 2020 - 03:50

RNA – The recent Daesh attacks on Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) positions are ‎part of an American plot to extend the American troops’ presence in the Arab country, a ‎senior PMF commander said.‎
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At least 10 members of the PMF were killed in a coordinated attack carried out by Daesh in ‎Iraq’s north-central province of Salahuddin, the group said earlier on Saturday.‎

Speaking to Iraq’s al-Ahad TV, Hujjat al-Islam Qays al-Khazali, the leader of Iraq’s Asa’ib Ahl ‎al-Haq movement, strongly condemned the attack and described it as an attempt by the ‎American government to bring terrorists back to Iraq and use it as a pretext to prolong its ‎own presence in the Arab country.‎

‎“The recent Daesh attacks are part of the American government’s scenario to help the ‎terrorist group resume its activities and presence in Iraq,” Hujjat al-Islam al-Khazali said.‎

At this juncture, he added, such attacks are only aimed at providing justification for the ‎American occupation of Iraq, which serves to ensure Israel’s security and at the same time ‎control the Arab country’s oil resources.‎

The top Iraqi leader then drew a connection between the growing number of Daesh terrorist ‎attacks in Iraq and the increase in calls for the continuation of the American presence made ‎by certain “mercenaries”, and said the attacks might be related to the July negotiations ‎between Baghdad and Washington over the presence of American troops in the Arab ‎country, Press TV reported.‎

Hujjat al-Islam al-Khazali’s comments came shortly after the other PMF group Harakat ‎Hezbollah al-Nujaba warned about a fiendish plot by the United States to transfer members ‎and field commanders of Daesh from neighboring Syria to Iraq.‎

In a statement, the group expressed serious concerns over latest American military activities ‎in Iraq, among them the transfer and relocation of troops and military hardware.‎

The group then dismissed the withdrawal of American troops from a number of bases across ‎Iraq as “a smoke screen operation,” adding that Washington is hatching a new plot for the ‎Arab country.‎

PMF fighters have played a major role in the liberation of Daesh-held areas to the south, ‎northeast and north of the Iraqi capital, ever since the terrorists launched an offensive in the ‎country, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.‎

In November 2016, the Iraqi parliament voted to integrate the PMF, which was formed ‎shortly after the emergence of Daesh in Iraq in 2014, into the military.‎

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