Report: Iran-Allied Militias Increasing Presence in Disputed Kurdish Areas in Iraq

The Kurds in northern Iraq have accused the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a Baghdad-sanctioned umbrella organization largely made up of Iranian-backed Shiite militias, of carrying out an “Arabization” campaign in the disputed Kurdish areas in the region.

PMU, also known the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and Hashd al-Shaabi, are increasing their presence in northern Iraq, BasNews learned from Nasraddin Sindi, the chairman of the general board of Kurdistan areas outside the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)-ran area in northern Iraq.

Sindi reportedly indicated that “the [Iraqi] government-backed Iraqi Shi’ite militia groups of Hashd al-Shaabi are threatening the disputed Kurdish areas through an Arabization campaign.”

“In [northern Iraq’s] Tuz Khurmatu, for example, half of the city is under the control of Hashd al-Shaabi,” revealed the Kurdish official, noting that Baghdad is aware of the situation.

The KRG is expected to move ahead with its independence referendum later this year, which is opposed by the same Shiite-led Iraqi government that legalized the PMU as an official component of the country’s military late last year.

Sindi noted that the PMU threatens the referendum.

There has been friction between the Iraqi Kurds and PMU forces for months now.

Last week, a Kurdish military commander accused the Shiite force of arresting three of his fighters in northern Iraq.

The Iraqi Yazidi-majority towns of Sinjar and Bashiqa, which the Kurds claim as their own, appear to be at the epicenter of the hostility between the KRG and the PMU.

Both towns sit outside KRG-controlled Iraqi Kurdistan. In January, the Kurds accused a PMU-affiliated group of bombing their positions in Sinjar.

That same month, Iraqi Kurdish leaders expressed opposition towards the PMU presence in northern Iraq.

“They have come closer to here [Iraqi Kurdistan] in order to recruit Kurds and we should all stop that,” declared Sheikh Jaafar Mustafa, a top Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official.

“This will lead to trouble in the area and a limit should be put on these kinds of Hashd activities,” he added.

In its most recent World Threat Assessment, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), warned that the presence of the PMU would create tensions with other ethnic groups that “may lead to violent clashes.”

The PMU assisted the U.S.-backed Iraqi army and its Kurdish allies in liberating Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).