Members of a Baghdad-sanctioned umbrella organization of Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq are blocking Christian victims of the Islamic State (ISIS) from returning home and otherwise persecuting them, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) reported Thursday, echoing U.S. government warnings.
The 15th anniversary of the Iraq War finds Iran-allied Shiite militias with American blood on their hands operating as a powerful Baghdad-sanctioned component of the Iraqi military, enjoying the same rights as other members of the country’s armed forces, including salaries.
Tensions between Kurds and Iranian-backed Shiite militias sanctioned by Baghdad continue to intensify in northern Iraq, prompting young Kurdish men to fight back “the bullies” with RPGs and machine guns in the latest incident in a wave of clashes between the two groups, reports Kurdistan24.
A senior commander for the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) operating in Iraq, also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, demanded American military forces must leave Iraqi soil following the defeat of the Islamic State.
Russia has deemed the Iranian military presence in Syria “legitimate” and the U.S.-backed forces as the top threat facing the region, refuting claims that the Kremlin had agreed to ensure the withdrawal of Islamic Republic-allied troops from Syria, revealed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The Trump administration’s opposition to the independence referendum approved by northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has prompted the Kurds to consider “revising” its mutually beneficial relationship with the United States, according to the region’s former president.
The final stages of the battle to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS) will be “extremely violent,” according to a U.S. military commander advising Iraqi forces in the region.
Six armed Iraqi Kurdish parties have reportedly joined forces in advance of expected protests and clashes on Iranian soil on March 21, the Kurdish New Year known as Newroz.
