WASHINGTON \u2014 A top commander of the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria has publicly acknowledged that Iraq\u2019s Popular Mobilization Forces \u2014 a loose alliance of Iranian-backed Shiite militias \u2014 are \u201cincidentally\u201d benefiting from the extensive support provided to Iraqi security forces under the control of Baghdad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maj. Gen. Rupert Jones, deputy commander of the Combined Joint Task Force for Operation Inherent Resolve, noted that throughout the battle for Mosul, Iraq, and up until last week, the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, were not deployed as an integral part of those Iraqi security forces directly supported by coalition operations. But with the Aug. 20 launch of the offensive on Tal Afar, the PMF is operating in the same sector alongside three Iraqi divisions, Iraq\u2019s counterterrorism service, police units and the country\u2019s emergency response division to liberate Tal Afar and the remainder of Nineveh province from ISIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all under the command of Prime Minister [Haider al]-Abadi. They\u2019ve made a positive start, but we expect it to be a tough fight. And as always, the coalition will be there to support,\u201d Jones told Pentagon reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Estimated at some 20,000 fighters, the PMF was formally enshrined in a law signed late last year as part of the Iraqi security forces under the command of Abadi. It includes brigades of Iranian-backed Hezbollah and embedded operatives of the Quds force, the elite unit of Tehran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a meeting with Abadi in Tehran last June, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed the PMF as an \u201cimportant and blessed phenomenon.\u201d Conversely, Israeli leaders have assailed the force as a manifestation of Iran\u2019s strategy to establish a land corridor that extends from the Arabian Gulf through Iraq and Syria and then onto Lebanon\u2019s coast along the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his Pentagon briefing, Jones noted that throughout the battle for Mosul, the PMF operated far west of the city under orders from Abadi. Today, he said, PMF fighters remain on the outskirts of Mosul, although he conceded that \u201celements may have slipped into the city \u2026 but you won\u2019t find areas of the city held by the PMF.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for the battle for Tal Afar, which had been held by the PMF prior to the coalition-supported offensive, Jones insisted that U.S.-led support is indirect, yet inevitable due to what he called the congested battle space. \u201cThe Iraqi government made the decision that the PMF is to be integrated with elements of the Iraqi security forces. \u2026 So any support that we might provide to the PMF will be incidental to the fact that we are directly supporting the Iraqi Army, the counterterrorism force, the police and the like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked about what specific types of support may indirectly benefit the PMF, Jones replied: \u201cBy \u2018support\u2019 I mean if you conduct an airstrike or a ground artillery fires in support of the federal police, and the PMF are operating on that same axis, they are going to get incremental support from it. Because without it, the Iraqi police can\u2019t advance, nor can the PMF. \u2026 It\u2019s always impossible to make a complete distinction in a congested battle space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coalition commander noted that the Iraqi prime minister has used both the words \u201cdisciplined\u201d and \u201cnondisciplined\u201d to describe the PMF, and warned against painting the entire PMF with a negative, Iranian-linked brush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a risk in using a kind of blanket description of the PMF which creates a negative connotation. The PMF are now part of the Iraqi security forces. And forces which are moderate in their intent and forces that comply with the orders of Prime Minister Abadi rather than somebody else\u2019s instructions are potentially a positive influence,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are here as a military coalition to support our partner forces in defeating [ISIS]. Not to do anything else,\u201d he added. \u201dThere are other forces and influences at play, but that is not part of the operation and not what our mission is about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior Iran analyst for the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said incorporating the PMF into Iraq\u2019s institutions of state security may ultimately threaten Iraqi sovereignty once ISIS is defeated militarily. \u201cIraqi sovereignty, I\u2019m afraid, is like Swiss cheese, with a lot of the holes filled by Iranian influence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He insisted that U.S. policy and policy of other major coalition partners should be based on the political future of Iraq, after ISIS is defeated militarily. \u201cWe all should be wary of history repeating itself, where we win the battle militarily, yet lose it politically by allowing Iran to step in and fill the vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked if the U.S.-backed coalition would be working directly with the PMF on so-called stabilization operations after the fighting is over, Jones deferred to political leaders in world capitals. \u201cDo we have any freedoms at the moment to conduct that type of coordination? Absolutely not. And as a military man, I\u2019d frankly be surprised if we received those sorts of instruction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A top commander of the U.S.-led coalition battling ISIS has publicly acknowledged that a loose alliance of Iranian-backed Shiite militias are “incidentally” benefiting from U.S. support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":83310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2642],"class_list":["post-41269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"MKHP74CDLJDMHFXRBGEBGR7VOA","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/mideast-africa\/2017\/08\/25\/commander-us-led-assault-in-iraq-incidentally-benefits-iran-backed-militias\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n